About Us

BACB is a UK bank that offers trade finance and complementary products to clients in specialist markets, especially Africa and the Middle East.

We have been helping businesses with trade finance and complementary products for over half a century, focusing on trade flows to and from Africa and the Middle East as well as real estate in the UK.

Our in-depth knowledge of the countries and practices where our clients operate ensures that we put them first.

Additional Info

• Hybrid Working: 3 days onsite, 2 from home
• Location: City of London
• Contract Type: 6 month contract

Job Summary

The Payments Project Manager will lead the delivery of BACB’s strategic payments transformation initiative, overseeing the implementation of a new cloud-based payments solution and its integration with core banking systems. This role will be responsible for managing all aspects of the project lifecycle, from planning through to execution, ensuring alignment with business objectives, timelines, and regulatory expectations. The Payments PM will work closely with internal stakeholders, vendors, and delivery partners to coordinate resources, track progress, manage risks, and ensure successful cutover and adoption.

Key Work Outputs and Accountabilities

Programme & Project Delivery:

• Lead the end-to-end delivery of the Payments Transformation Project, including vendor onboarding, system implementation, and operational readiness.
• Own and maintain the project delivery plan, ensuring key milestones are met and dependencies are tracked and managed.
• Coordinate inputs across business, technology, and third-party vendors to ensure aligned and timely delivery.

Governance & Compliance:

• Ensure the payments implementation aligns with internal governance frameworks, change delivery standards, and external regulatory obligations (e.g. SWIFT, ISO 20022, FCA).
• Monitor and manage project risks, issues, and controls, escalating where required and ensuring mitigations are in place.
• Support audit readiness and contribute to regulatory submissions where relevant.

Stakeholder Engagement & Communication:

• Act as the central point of contact for all payments programme activities across internal teams (IT, Operations, Compliance, Risk) and external vendors.
• Provide regular progress updates to the Steering Committee and other senior stakeholders, including dashboards, risks, and decisions required.
• Maintain strong engagement with the vendor delivery teams and BACB SMEs to align design decisions with business outcomes.

Planning & Budget Management:

• Manage project budgets and ensure vendor invoicing aligns with contractual milestones.
• Support the development and tracking of implementation cost models, resource plans, and licensing/subscription forecasts.
• Work closely with the PMO and Finance to ensure costs are accurately reflected in programme reporting.

Testing & Cutover Coordination:

• Clear handover to BAU with support structures and controls in place.

• Lead planning for testing phases, including UAT, integration testing, and regression.
• Ensure cutover planning, dress rehearsals, and go-live activities are defined, coordinated, and executed successfully.
• Support business readiness and transition-to-support planning post-implementation.

Key Deliverables:

• Approved and tracked delivery plan for the Payments Programme.
• Risk, issue, dependency, and decision logs maintained and shared with governance forums.
• Successful implementation of the selected payments platform, meeting technical, operational, and regulatory requirements.

Required Qualifications and Experience

Knowledge & Experience

• Minimum 7 years of experience in project management within banking or financial services, ideally including payments transformation programmes.
• Strong understanding of UK and cross-border payment schemes (e.g. CHAPS, Faster Payments, BACS, SWIFT MT/MX, ISO 20022).
• Experience in implementing third-party or SaaS-based payments platforms.
• Familiarity with core banking systems (preferably Temenos Transact) and integration with payment engines.
• Demonstrated track record of managing multi-vendor programmes and third-party delivery models.
• Experience working in mid-sized or regulated financial institutions advantageous.

Technical Skills

• Proficiency in MS Office tools (Excel, PowerPoint, Project) and project collaboration platforms (e.g. SharePoint, Teams, Jira).
• Strong delivery management skills including planning, RAID management, and resource coordination.
• Understanding of integration approaches (e.g. APIs, file-based transfer, SFTP) and testing cycles (UAT, SIT, Regression).
• Budgeting and cost tracking experience, including vendor invoice and milestone management.

Soft Skills

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills; able to influence and engage with technical teams, SMEs, and senior stakeholders.
• High level of ownership, accountability, and self-direction.
• Structured, proactive, and delivery-focused with attention to detail.
• Calm under pressure and comfortable operating in evolving programme environments.

Qualifications

• Degree in Business, Technology, or related field preferred.
• Recognised project management qualification (e.g. PRINCE2, PMP, or Agile certification) are highly desirable.