Payments and Partnerships Lead

over 2 years ago
Full time role
London, England, GB... more
London, England, GB... more

Company

OVO Energy is an independent energy technology company and supplier. The company was launched in 2009. OVO Energy is set ...

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Job Description

Location: London / Bristol / Flexible

The OVO Group’s purpose is to drive progress towards net zero carbon living. To reach Plan Zero, we need everyone to come together - not just as customers buying energy, but as members with a common goal. As part of this ambitious plan, our goal is to become the ‘Leading Employer in the UK’ by 2030. If you think you could be the talent we’re looking for, then come and join the adventure!

We launched in 2009 with a mission to change energy for the better. Since then, we’ve welcomed over a million members, planted a million trees, and set our sights on helping save the planet.

As a Group, we’re working to become a net zero carbon business by 2030, while helping our OVO Energy members halve their carbon footprints at the same time. 

Green energy and technology are great tools to fight the climate crisis with. But it’s people power that will rewrite history.  

So we’re building a zero carbon team inside and out. Of people who share our values, feel inspired by our mission, and want to make change happen. When you work for OVO, it’s not just a job. It’s the work of a lifetime. And we want the sharpest minds to help. 

Up for the challenge?

Where in the world of OVO will I be working? 

We are looking for a talented Payments and Partnerships Lead to help define, deliver and manage our payments strategy across a wide range of business areas and commercial relationships with external supplier partnerships. These 3rd parties will include payment service providers, lenders, banks and other innovative payment services (e.g., Open Banking providers, bureaus etc.).

You will work in the OVO Operations Business Group and report into the Director of Data, Payments and Zero Carbon Living Enablement. You will work closely with our external payment partners and internal commercial teams, procurement team, billing platform owners and software engineering managers to optimise our payments strategy and delivery roadmaps.

We've embraced remote working – and we collaborate with teams across the UK. Your colleagues are based out of Bristol and London and we’d encourage you to be flexible in spending time with them.

What will I be doing?

  • Support the evolution of our Payments strategy, from Direct Debits and Card Acquiring to future innovations around PISP and micro payments
    • Keep the team informed on industry innovation, potential partnership opportunities and pilots that reduce payment friction for our members
    • Work with billing platform teams and Product Managers to improve payment processing and lead any new supplier implementations
    • Contribute to our payment roadmap to evolve and innovate our
      customer payment capabilities
  • Develop and own our payments risk framework, from PCI Compliance to ensuring appropriate fraud controls are in place across our brands
  • Run projects to support the choice of our Payment Service Providers
    • Effectively Project Manage RFP processes end-to-end
    • Negotiate sustainable pricing outcomes for OVO and our PSPs
    •  Review new technology providers and launch pilots
  • Work with tech, procurement, legal, info-security and other internal teams to rapidly and robustly onboard 3rd parties. Manage supplier onboarding processes (contractual and sign-offs)
  • Manage existing supplier contracts alongside procurement, acting as the subject matter expert on individual contractual payment terms and other contractual elements
  • Manage resources who maintain a view of our end-to-end payment costs to inform our payments strategies and budgeting processes
  • Support on the selection, onboarding and management of other partners, e.g., Open Banking providers etc.
    • Project Manage the end-to-end onboarding of other innovative partners
    • Manage the process to bring a 3rd partner’s proposition from concept to proof of concept and eventually customer product
  • Play a consulting-type role in supporting the enablement of our Zero Carbon Living ambitions - e.g., the consumer financing of decarbonisation hardware

Is this the job for me? 

Role specifics
● Deep knowledge of card payments and the ways in which OVO can improve its card payment experience (e.g. auth optimisation, chargeback defence, fraud, etc.), ideally a track record of successfully launching APMs
● Experience of managing or selecting payment providers, or successfully onboarding and working alongside innovative partners, including collaborating with legal on negotiations and running RFPs.
● The ability to get the best out of third party suppliers including improving payment acceptance rates, costs of payments, and securing support from vendors to launch new innovations and build new services for OVO.
● Understanding of the regulatory environment impacting payments and the OVO business (Ofgem, FCA, PSD2, etc.)
● Knowledge of best practices in payments at a large merchant, including refunds, internal account reconciliation, fraud, risk and payments
orchestration/direction.
● Ideally, experience in securing and implementing new, regulated financial services solutions including credit brokering, insurance, and lending


More generally we are looking for:
● Previous experience managing a team of direct reports and managing large, matrixed project teams in an environment of change.
● High comfort level effectively, utilising modern collaboration tools (e.g. Google Suite, Jira, Slack, Confluence, etc.)
● Experience building out a data strategy to support business growth ambitions and utilizing analytical skills to cut through opinions, experience
with SQL would be a plus.
● The ability to strike a balance between operational activities and longer term strategic direction.
● You are able to demonstrate the ability to provide clarity in a complex and changing environment;able to present opinions succinctly and clearly

● You’re passionate about working in a dynamic environment and thrive off responding quickly to changing information;

● You’re able to grasp new concepts quickly, and show the tenacity to keep asking until clarity is achieved;
● A team player who encourages and facilitates collaboration within your team and across the OVO Group and builds credibility for the Payments Team across the OVO business.
● A strong relationship builder with the ability to empathise and collaborate across the business; being tuned to some of the challenges of remote/hybrid working. 

From us you’ll get* 

  • An annual discretionary bonus
  • 4% of your salary to spend on flexible lifestyle benefits
  • 5% matched employer contribution to your pension
  • 25 days holiday + 1 for your birthday
  • And many more... 

(*) Please note that certain benefits kick-in once you have passed probation which can be up to 6 months after your start date.

We want the best people 

At OVO, we empower our people to have choice around where and when they work - flexible working arrangements can be discussed for all of our roles. Please speak to the Talent Acquisition team for more info.

We’re keen to meet people with varied backgrounds - our view is the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We want to build teams which represent a variety of experiences, perspectives and skills, and we recognise talent on the basis of merit and potential.

We understand some people may not apply for jobs unless they tick every box. If you're excited about joining us and think you have much of what we're looking for, even if you're not 100% sure… we'd love to hear from you.

Learn more about working in the OVO family of companies on our careers page and Glassdoor. We’re also delighted to have received a Top Employers certificate in 2018, 2019 and 2020!

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