About the Role

We are looking for an experienced and commercially minded Manager/Senior Manager to lead the merchant operations function within our Payment Acquiring Cross-Border (PACB) business. This is a leadership role with end-to-end ownership of the merchant lifecycle from acquisition and onboarding through compliance, activation, and ongoing account operations.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned payments skilled who understands the nuances of merchant onboarding at scale, brings strong regulatory and compliance awareness, and has a proven track record of building and developing high-performing operational teams. You will serve as the operational backbone of the PACB business, partnering closely with Sales, Product, Compliance, and Banking teams to ensure every merchant''s journey is seamless, compliant, and commercially impactful.

Key Responsibilities

Merchant Lifecycle Onboarding Operations

- Own the full merchant lifecycle from application, due diligence, and KYC/KYB processing through to activation, configuration, ongoing account management
- Ensure accuracy, completeness, and timeliness across all merchant onboarding stages, maintaining the highest standards of compliance and quality control.
- Design and govern onboarding workflows across merchant tiers and channels, adapting processes to accommodate varying risk profiles, business models, and payment corridors.
- Act as the senior escalation point for complex merchant cases, disputes, and onboarding exceptions requiring cross-functional resolution.

Compliance and Operational Adherence

- Ensure all merchant onboarding and lifecycle operations are conducted in strict alignment with KYC/KYB frameworks, RBI guidelines, FEMA regulations, and applicable cross-border compliance requirements.
- Oversee periodic merchant reviews, risk-triggered reassessments, and documentation audits to maintain a clean and compliant merchant portfolio.





- Oversee operational workflows supporting domestic acquiring and cross-border payment flows, including settlement, reconciliation, and exceptions
- Partner with Banking and Product teams to ensure operational readiness for new corridors, payment products, and acquiring partnerships.
- Monitor gateway and acquiring performance metrics, flagging issues and driving resolution in coordination with technology and banking partners.

Process Excellence Operational Governance

- Design, document, and own SOPs across the end-to-end merchant lifecycle, ensuring they are consistently followed and regularly reviewed.

- Lead root-cause analysis (RCA) on onboarding failures, escalations, and SLA breaches; implement robust corrective actions and track resolution effectiveness.
- Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement across all levels of the team.

- Build and maintain operational dashboards tracking merchant onboarding health, TAT, exception rates, and SLA performance

- Serve as the primary operational interface between Merchant Operations and internal teams including Sales, MHD, Product, Compliance, Finance, and Tech
- Manage banking partner and third-party vendor relationships relevant to merchant onboarding, ensuring quality, compliance, and cost-effectiveness.
- Oversee operational budgets and forecasts for the merchant operations function; identify and implement cost efficiency opportunities.

Experience Qualifications

- 610 years of progressive experience in payments operations or fintech, with at least 4 years in a leadership role managing multi-functional operations teams.
- Demonstrated, hands-on experience owning merchant onboarding, KYC/KYB operations, and merchant lifecycle management at scale.
- Strong working knowledge of payment acquiring, cross-border payment corridors, and associated compliance frameworks (RBI, FEMA, SWIFT).
- Bachelor''s degree in Business, Finance, or a related field; MBA or equivalent postgraduate qualification strongly preferred.

📌 Merchant Ops Professional (Uttar Pradesh)
🏢 Paytm
📍 Uttar Pradesh