Head of Payments Operations (London)

The AI-powered OS for beauty, wellness and self-care.

About Fresha

Fresha is the AI-powered operating system for the global beauty, wellness and self-care industry, connecting and powering everything from salons and barbers to spas, medspas, fitness studios and health practices.

Trusted by millions of consumers and businesses worldwide. Fresha is used by 140,000+ businesses and 450,000+ stylists and professionals worldwide, processing over 1 billion appointments to date.

The company is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with 15 global offices located across North America, EMEA and APAC.

Fresha allows consumers to discover, book and pay for beauty and wellness appointments with local businesses via its marketplace, while beauty and wellness businesses and professionals use an all-in-one platform to manage their entire operations with an intuitive business software and financial technology solutions.

Fresha’s ecosystem gives merchants everything they need to run their business seamlessly by facilitating appointment bookings, point-of-sale, customer records management, marketing automation, loyalty, beauty products inventory and team management.

The consumer marketplace unlocks revenue potential for partner businesses by leveraging the power of online bookings and automated marketing through mobile apps and advanced integrations with major tech brands including Instagram, Facebook and Google.

The Role

Reporting directly to the Chief Payments Officer, the Head of Payments Operations will lead the operational execution of Fresha’s global payments strategy.

This role sits at the centre of Payments, Commercial, Product, Finance, and Operations - acting as the operational engine behind the payments organisation and ensuring strategic priorities are translated into scalable execution and measurable business outcomes.

You’ll lead high-impact initiatives across payment acceptance, terminals, pricing, optimisation, and merchant adoption, bringing structure to ambiguity and driving delivery across multiple concurrent priorities.

This is a highly strategic and execution-focused role suited to someone who thrives in fast-moving, high-growth environments and has deep experience operating within payments, fintech, acquiring, or POS ecosystems.

While initially structured as a highly autonomous individual contributor role, this position carries significant cross-functional leadership responsibility and has strong scope to evolve as the payments organisation scales.

Core Responsibilities & Outcomes

• Translate payments strategy into clear operational priorities, execution plans, and measurable business outcomes
• Drive delivery across key initiatives including payment acceptance, terminals, pricing, optimisation, and merchant adoption
• Build scalable operational processes, governance frameworks, and execution cadence across the payments organisation
• Create visibility and reporting across all active payments initiatives, operational performance, and strategic priorities
• Lead terminal and hardware initiatives including device rollouts, upgrade cycles, replacement strategies, and optimisation programmes
• Act as the operational bridge across Payments, Commercial, Product, Finance, and Operations teams to ensure alignment and accountability
• Define ownership, timelines, KPIs, and delivery frameworks across complex cross-functional programmes
• Proactively identify blockers, risks, and dependencies and drive resolution to maintain execution momentum
• Deliver measurable improvements in payment adoption, wallet share, operational efficiency, and execution performance
• Improve cross-functional collaboration, delivery predictability, and operational scalability across the payments function
• Provide clear, regular updates and actionable insights to the Chief Payments Officer and broader leadership team
• Become a trusted operational partner to leadership, helping scale and strengthen Fresha’s global payments organisation

What We’re Looking For

Essential:

• Significant experience in payments, fintech, acquiring, merchant services, or POS/terminal environments
• Proven track record delivering complex cross-functional initiatives at scale within high-growth businesses
• Strong operational leadership capability with the ability to drive execution across multiple concurrent priorities
• Deep understanding of payment acceptance, acquiring, payment optimisation, merchant operations, or terminal ecosystems
• Experience working closely with commercial and go-to-market teams to drive adoption, revenue growth, wallet share, or pricing initiatives
• Exceptional ability to bring structure to ambiguity and drive execution with limited direction
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills across Product, Commercial, Operations, and Executive leadership
• Commercially minded with strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities
• Highly execution-oriented with a strong sense of ownership, pace, and accountability
• Comfortable operating in fast-moving, evolving environments with high levels of autonomy

Nice to Have:

• Experience within global or multi-market payments organisations
• Exposure to payment hardware, terminal estate management, or in-person commerce
• Experience working within a scaling fintech or marketplace business
• Familiarity with acquiring, PSPs, payment optimisation, or merchant growth strategies

Inclusive workforce

At Fresha, we are creating a culture where individuals of all backgrounds feel comfortable.

We want all Fresha people to feel included and truly empowered to contribute fully to our vision and goals. Everyone who applies will receive fair consideration for employment.

We do not discriminate based on race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, gender identity, national origin, disability, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics in the location in which the candidate is applying.

If you have any accessibility requirements that would make you more comfortable during the interview process and/or once you join, please let us know so that we can support you.