AVP, Group Payment Operations: AI, data analytics, digitalisation

Job description

WHO WE ARE: As Singapore’s longest established bank, we have been dedicated to enabling individuals and businesses to achieve their aspirations since 1932. How? By taking the time to truly understand people. From there, we provide support, services, solutions, and career paths that meet their individual needs and desires. Today, we’re on a journey of transformation. Leveraging technology and creativity to become a future-ready learning organisation. But for all that change, our strategic ambition is consistently clear and bold, which is to be Asia’s leading financial services partner for a sustainable future. We invite you to build the bank of the future. Innovate the way we deliver financial services. Work in friendly, supportive teams. Build lasting value in your community. Help people grow their assets, business, and investments. Take your learning as far as you can. Or simply enjoy a vibrant, future-ready career. Your Opportunity Starts Here. General Description We are seeking an inspiring and dynamic leader to drive the transformation of our Group Payment Operations into a client-centric, service-driven organization. This role will champion a culture of service excellence, embedding a “client first” mindset across all touchpoints of payment operations. You will serve as the ambassador for service innovation, collaborating closely with internal stakeholders and external partners. Your leadership will be instrumental in elevating the team’s reputation as a trusted, proactive partner dedicated to delivering an outstanding client experience and operational excellence. You will lead the development and execution of innovative solutions that address business and operational challenges while unlocking new capabilities through data and technology. This includes leveraging predictive analytics, intelligent automation, generative AI, workflow digitization, and operational insights to drive measurable improvements in productivity, quality, resilience, and scalability. With a regional mindset, you will design and implement scalable digital capabilities that can be adopted across markets and geographies while accommodating local regulatory and business requirements. Successful initiatives will serve as blueprints for broader regional deployment, accelerating the organization's digital maturity and transformation journey. As a key representative of Payment Operations, you will provide strong project and program leadership, guiding strategic initiatives from ideation and business case development through implementation, adoption, value realization, and regional rollout. Your leadership will be instrumental in fostering a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and technology-enabled transformation, positioning Payment Operations at the forefront of AI-powered and data-driven operational excellence. Key Responsibilities Payment Operations Leadership & Stakeholder Management Lead strategic Payment Operations initiatives to enhance operational efficiency, service quality, resilience, controls, and client outcomes. Serve as a trusted advisor and representative of Payment Operations in engagements with internal stakeholders, technology teams, external counterparties, financial institutions, and payment networks. Drive effective collaboration across Operations, Product, Technology, Risk, Compliance, and country teams to deliver business outcomes. Establish clear objectives, accountability, governance structures, and success measures for transformation initiatives. Lead issue resolution efforts through root cause analysis, process redesign, and implementation of sustainable corrective actions. Drive counterparties and stakeholders to meet agreed service levels, milestones, and continuous improvement commitments. AI, Data & Digital Transformation Champion the adoption of AI, Generative AI, advanced analytics, automation, APIs, and digital technologies to transform Payment Operations into a data-driven and intelligent operating model. Identify opportunities to leverage data, machine learning, predictive analytics, and digital capabilities to improve decision-making, productivity, risk management, service quality, and operational effectiveness. Drive the development and implementation of innovative solutions using Power Automate, Python, SQL, Power BI, AI/GenAI, APIs, and other emerging technologies. Partner with Technology and Data teams to establish scalable digital capabilities, data assets, and intelligent automation frameworks that support long-term business objectives. Promote a culture of innovation, experimentation, and continuous improvement through the adoption of new technologies and digital solutions. Ensure successful solutions are scalable, reusable, and suitable for regional deployment across multiple markets while accommodating local regulatory and operational requirements. Tactical & Strategic Solution Delivery Develop and implement tactical solutions to address immediate operational challenges where strategic technology capabilities are not yet available. Design solutions with a clear roadmap toward enterprise-grade, long-term strategic platforms and digital capabilities. Work closely with Technology teams to define business requirements, target operating models, and future-state solutions aligned with the bank's architecture and digital strategy. Ensure all tactical solutions are appropriately governed, documented, controlled, and supported, with clear ownership and operational accountability. Establish transition and migration plans to move tactical solutions into strategic platforms when permanent solutions become available. Drive standardization, simplification, and the adoption of common operating practices across countries and business units. Project & Program Management Lead complex transformation initiatives from ideation through implementation, stabilization, benefits realization, and regional rollout. Define project scope, business outcomes, success metrics, milestones, risks, dependencies, and governance requirements. Develop and manage project plans, steering forums, RAID logs, status reporting, stakeholder communications, and executive updates. Coordinate multiple workstreams across Operations, Technology, Product, Data, Risk, Compliance, vendors, and external counterparties. Drive timely decision-making and proactively manage risks, issues, dependencies, and resource constraints. Lead business analysis, process redesign, user acceptance testing, implementation, migration, change management, and operational readiness activities. Establish repeatable frameworks for scaling successful solutions from pilot to production and subsequently to regional deployment. Ensure all new capabilities are supported by appropriate operational procedures, controls, governance, auditability, exception management, and ownership models. Track and report benefits realization to ensure expected business, operational, and financial outcomes are achieved. Establish appropriate operational documentation, procedures, controls and governance for new and enhanced solutions, ensuring clear ownership, end-to-end process accountability, exception handling, auditability and operational readiness from a Payment Operations perspective. Qualifications Bachelor's Degree in Technology, Data Analytics, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline. Minimum 5-8 years of experience in banking, with strong exposure to Payment Operations, Transaction Banking, Financial Services, or Payments Transformation. Proven experience leading large-scale business transformation, digital transformation, or operational excellence programs. Demonstrated success delivering AI, data, analytics, automation, or digital initiatives from concept through implementation. Strong understanding of payment operations, payment investigations, exception handling, reconciliation processes, operational controls, and risk management. Hands-on experience with Power Automate, Python, SQL, Power BI, data analytics, and workflow automation technologies. Working knowledge of AI, Generative AI, Machine Learning, APIs, cloud platforms, data engineering, and digital architecture concepts. Experience working with external counterparties, payment networks, financial institutions, technology vendors, and strategic partners. Proven track record delivering multi-country, regional, or global initiatives. Strong project and program management skills, including governance, stakeholder management, change management, and benefits realization. Excellent communication, influencing, and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to communicate effectively from operational teams through to senior executives. Strong leadership capability with the ability to drive outcomes across multiple functions and geographies without direct authority. Passion for innovation, digital transformation, and leveraging emerging technologies to redefine the future of Payment Operations. Side note: This role requires 100% work in office, based at Tampines What we offer: Competitive base salary. A suite of holistic, flexible benefits to suit every lifestyle. Community initiatives. Industry-leading learning and professional development opportunities. Your wellbeing, growth and aspirations are every bit as cared for as the needs of our customers.