High-Risk Card Acquiring Operations Lead

JOB TITLE: HIGH - RISK CARD ACQUIRING OPERATIONS LEAD

REMOTE: UK (LONDON)

WORK SCHEDULE: 8AM - 5PM UK TIME (FULL - TIME)

ABOUT THE ROLE

As we scale our card acquiring business, we are hiring a High-Risk Card Acquiring Operations Lead to manage our merchant acquiring programme, with a specific focus on high-risk merchant categories. You will be responsible for the full merchant lifecycle — from onboarding and underwriting through to chargeback management, scheme compliance, and ongoing risk monitoring — across Visa and Mastercard card networks.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead the operational management of high-risk card acquiring programme, ensuring full Visa and Mastercard scheme compliance.

• Oversee merchant underwriting and onboarding processes, including risk assessments, business model reviews, and compliance checks for high-risk merchant categories (including iGaming, forex, nutraceuticals, travel, and adult content).

• Manage the end-to-end chargeback dispute process — monitoring chargeback ratios, leading retrievals, and ensuring merchant ratios remain within scheme thresholds.

• Monitor and manage fraud rates, decline rates, and risk exposure across the merchant portfolio, implementing timely interventions when KPIs breach acceptable limits.

• Build and maintain relationships with card scheme representatives (Visa, Mastercard), acquiring banks, and payment processors.

• Ensure merchants remain compliant with PCI-DSS standards, scheme rules, and BlinqPay's internal risk policies.

• Lead investigations into suspicious merchant activity, coordinate with the AML/Fraud team on escalations, and manage merchant suspensions or terminations.

• Develop and maintain reporting dashboards tracking chargeback ratios, fraud rates, approval rates, and revenue per merchant.

• Create and refine operational SOPs for merchant risk reviews, chargeback handling, and scheme audit responses.

• Liaise with the legal and compliance teams to ensure all acquiring activities align with FCA regulations and applicable jurisdictional requirements.

• Identify opportunities to expand BlinqPay's acquiring portfolio into new high-risk verticals with appropriate risk controls in place.

REQUIREMENTS

• 5+ years of experience in card acquiring operations, with a minimum of 3 years focused on high-risk or specialist merchant categories.

• Extensive knowledge of Visa and Mastercard scheme rules, dispute resolution frameworks, and chargeback management.

• Experience managing high-risk merchant portfolios, including underwriting, monitoring, and remediation.

• Strong understanding of fraud prevention tools, 3DS authentication, and risk scoring systems.

• Familiarity with PCI-DSS compliance requirements and their application in acquiring environments.

• Experience working with or at an FCA-regulated payment institution is highly desirable.

• Data-driven mindset with the ability to analyse acquiring metrics and translate insights into actionable risk controls.

• Excellent stakeholder management skills, including comfort dealing directly with Visa/Mastercard representatives.

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Business, or a related field; relevant certifications (e.g., Certified Payments Professional) are advantageous.

• Demonstrated ability to manage pressure and make timely decisions in a high-stakes acquiring