Head of Operations

Job Description: Head of Operations - PPI

Department: Prepaid payment instruments

Location: Delhi

Reports To: Chief Executive Officer

The Head of Operations in a Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) company plays a critical role in ensuring smooth issuance, management, compliance, and transaction processing related to prepaid instruments like wallets, prepaid cards, vouchers, and gift cards. This role is highly regulated and operationally intensive, especially in countries with strict financial regulations (e.g., India under RBI guidelines).

Key Roles and Responsibilities of the Head of Operations – PPI

1. Prepaid Product Operations

• Oversee end-to-end lifecycle of prepaid instruments (issuance, usage, expiry, recharge).
• Manage operational workflows for open-loop, semi-closed, and closed-loop instruments.
• Coordinate with product teams to implement new features (e.g., card control, dynamic CVV, tokenization).

2. Transaction Processing & Reconciliation

• Ensure seamless authorization, clearing, and settlement of prepaid transactions.
• Monitor and resolve transaction failures, chargebacks, refunds, and disputes.
• Daily reconciliation between internal ledger, banks, networks, and issuer systems.

3. Regulatory Compliance (Especially RBI, PCI-DSS, etc.)

• Ensure all operational activities are in line with regulatory guidelines.
• Monitor limits (e.g., balance limits, transaction limits per RBI norms).
• Ensure full compliance with AML/CFT, KYC, and PMLA guidelines.
• Coordinate timely regulatory filings (e.g., quarterly reports to regulators, audits).

4. KYC and Customer Onboarding Oversight

• Ensure smooth and compliant onboarding of customers with appropriate KYC tiers (min KYC vs full KYC).
• Implement and monitor automated eKYC/CKYC processes.
• Interface with customer support and risk teams for onboarding escalations or fraud cases.

5. Partner & Vendor Management

• Manage bank integrations, BIN sponsors, card issuers, and technology providers.
• Ensure vendors (e.g., KYC providers, card printers, fraud tools) meet SLAs and compliance standards.

6. Fraud and Risk Management

• Implement systems to monitor suspicious transactions or account behaviour.
• Collaborate with fraud analytics and risk teams to proactively mitigate operational risks.
• Drive investigations and response mechanisms for fraud or AML flags.

7. Customer Experience Support

• Ensure smooth customer journey from onboarding to usage and support.
• Build SOPs for transaction issues, wallet funding failures, and expired card redemptions.
• Reduce friction in the customer lifecycle through process improvements.

8. Operational Reporting & Analytics

• Define and monitor KPIs: uptime, transaction success rate, reconciliation accuracy, TAT for disputes, etc.
• Report metrics to senior leadership and regulators as required.
• Use data to drive continuous improvement and scalability.

9. Business Continuity and Scalability

• Develop disaster recovery and business continuity plans for key systems.
• Plan and implement operational scalability for growth in transaction volume or user base.
• Ensure 24x7 operations coverage if needed (especially in consumer-facing PPIs).

10. Team Leadership

• Build and manage teams in charge of operations, customer support, KYC, dispute resolution, etc.
• Drive performance management, training, and cross-team collaboration.

🔹Core Skills and Competencies

• 15+ years of total experience, with at least 8-10 in payments or fintech industry, 5+ years in a leadership or senior operational role.
• MBA or equivalent with specialization in Operations, Finance or Technology Management is highly valued.
• Deep understanding of PPI regulations and guidelines.
• Strong background in payment processing, banking systems, and fintech operations.
• Hands-on experience with APIs, backend systems, reconciliation tools.
• Leadership and stakeholder management.
• Regulatory reporting and audit handling.