Manager, Card Operations – Acquiring at NCBA Group

Job Purpose Statement

Card payment acquiring contributes a critical role in the current E-channel offering within the Loop DFS. Cards offer a pivotal driver in Loop DFS digital strategy to provide a common market place for consumers and merchants by introducing value to the Loop DFS customer wallets and providing a pool of consumers to merchants. In addition to offering convenient channels, card payment acquiring contributes to the Loop DFS revenue drivers including NFI through payment processing, interchange and commissions.

This position is to provide strong management and operational support to the Senior Manager, Card Operations to drive card acquiring operation management within the card business thus ensure maximum process efficiency as well as ensuring the acquiring operations performance meets internal and external customer expectations. This will include documentation and oversight of processes to ensure that they are financially and operationally sustainable.  The role entails process mapping, process modelling, work measures, volumes, standards and procedures to ensure pre-defined quality standards for acquiring operations are met.

Key Accountabilities (Duties and Responsibilities)

 Financial (20%)

• Optimize operational expenditure (OPEX), change request budgets, and manage write-offs, litigation, and operational losses.
• Ensure accuracy and timeliness in payment operations with minimal errors and risk exposure.
• Prevent income loss or revenue leakage from data errors, reconciliation, or settlement gaps.
• Oversee dispute resolution for card operations within defined SLAs.

 Internal Business Processes (30%)

• Ensure smooth operational performance of acquiring networks (e.g., Visa) to support business competitiveness.
• Manage team workload and incident resolution, ensuring root cause analysis and preventive measures.
• Oversee transaction processing, reconciliation, and settlement with accuracy and compliance.
• Analyze and mitigate card fraud losses through data-driven insights and collaboration with Engineering.
• Support merchant acquisition processes and improve automation, efficiency, and user experience.
• Drive continuous process improvement and execution of ad hoc projects within timelines.

Customer (30%)

• Strengthen and retain customer relationships by ensuring superior service delivery.
• Meet or exceed Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Turnaround Times (TATs).
• Achieve high Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) and support a customer-obsessed culture.

 Learning and Growth (20%)

• Lead and develop team capability through performance management and continuous learning.
• Foster high engagement and productivity across the team.
• Ensure adequate staffing levels and skill readiness to prevent business disruption.
• Maintain up-to-date competency assessments and actionable development plans.

Job Specifications

Academic:

• University degree or equivalent, with major study in finance, business and/or technology
• Certification in MasterCard or VISA Dispute Management, Compliance, Reconciliation and Settlement

Professional:

• At least 4 years’ experience in business operations functions, including various customer servicing channels, vendor management, fraud and business analytics.
• At least 2 years’ experience in a Card Acquiring Role.
• Must have 2 years’ experience in a Visa & MasterCard Operations role.

Desired work experience:

• Expansive knowledge of e-commerce and retail card transactions, merchant billing methods, interchange, network fees, statement analysis and pricing models.
• Working knowledge of traditional banking systems, for example: debit and credit card issuing, processing, ACH, wires, and ATM.
• Knowledge of the Banking and Payments Act - Secrecy, policy and guidelines, Information Security Policy, Anti-Money Laundering and Cyber Security Act
• Ability to perform job functions accurately and with attention to detail
• Maintain confidential customer and Bank information in a responsible and secure manner
• Have a strong control and process and risk management mindset, constantly paying attention to details and have ability to perform deep-dive investigation and crunching for control and process issues
• Proactive team player with ability to work with minimal supervision and equips with excellent communication (both spoken and written), presentation and business writing skills
• Flexibility and ability to multi-task and take on different types of roles and activities at the same time in a fast-paced environment. Able to effectively manage time and prioritize tasks and responsibilities
• Positive attitude and willing to take new challenges with an open-mind
• Creative, quick & systemic thinking with strong analytical, organizational, planning and strong problem-solving skills.