Payments & Fraud Operations Specialist (Out-of-Hours)

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are looking for a Payments & Fraud Operations Specialist to provide out-of-hours operational coverage , ensuring the stability, integrity, and security of our payment systems outside standard business hours (evenings, nights, and weekends).

This role sits at the intersection of customer support, payments operations and fraud and reports into the Head of Fraud Operations.

You will play a key role in maintaining service reliability, mitigating fraud risk, and responding to operational incidents in real time .

Working Hours

This role is specifically designed for out-of-hours coverage , including evenings, nights, weekends, and public holidays (as part of a team rotation). It operates on a dedicated shift-based schedule to ensure Pliant achieves a 24/7 Always On model.

• This role is specifically designed for out-of-hours coverage, including:
  • Evenings / nights
  • Weekends
  • Public holidays (as part of a rota)
• May operate on a shift-based schedule

WHAT YOU’LL DO

End-to-End Customer Support (Tier 1)

• Act as the primary front-line contact for urgent out-of-hours customer inquiries via phone, email, or ticketing systems.
• Handle critical real-time customer requests, including card blocking/unblocking, PIN resets, activation issues, and account access support.
• Manage merchant dispute intakes, triage customer issues, and handle high-priority weekend limit increase requests.
• Deliver empathetic, high-quality, and clear communication to customers under stressful financial situations.

Payments Operations

• Monitor payment processing, authorisations, and declines to ensure smooth operation outside core hours.
• Identify and investigate payment failures, delays, and system anomalies .
• Perform first-line incident triage and escalation for payment-related issues.
• Support reconciliation checks and exception handling where required.
• Maintain clear documentation of incidents, actions taken, and resolutions.

Fraud & Risk Operations

• Conduct real-time transaction monitoring to detect suspicious or fraudulent activity.
• Investigate alerts, flagged transactions, and unusual behavioural patterns .
• Take immediate action where necessary (e.g. blocking/unblocking cards, restricting accounts, escalating incidents).
• Escalate high-risk or complex cases to on-call risk/compliance teams.
• Contribute to improving fraud detection processes and playbooks .

Incident Management & Escalation

• Act as the primary operational contact during out-of-hours periods .
• Triage and prioritise incidents across payments and fraud domains in line with established processes.
• Follow defined escalation protocols for critical issues.
• Ensure timely communication with internal stakeholders (on-call teams, engineering, risk, etc.).
• Produce incident summaries and handovers for the next business day.

Process & Continuous Improvement

• Identify recurring issues and contribute to process improvements and automation .
• Help refine monitoring, alerting, and response procedures .
• Support the development of runbooks for out-of-hours operations .

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

• 3-4+ years in payments operations, fraud operations, or fintech operations .
• Experience with transaction monitoring, incident handling, or payment investigations .
• Familiarity with card payments, payment processors, or financial systems .
• The Hybrid Mindset: Equally comfortable jumping on an urgent customer phone call and diving into back-office fraud logs.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills .
• Ability to make confident, playbook-driven decisions independently under pressure.
• High attention to detail and structured approach to investigations.
• Clear written and verbal communication for incident reporting and escalation.
• Comfortable working independently during non-core hours.
• Strong sense of ownership and accountability.
• Proactive in identifying risks and operational issues.
• Comfortable working with ambiguity and limited immediate support.
• Experience with monitoring tools, ticketing systems, or fraud detection platforms i.e. Thredd, FraudAdvantage, Jira, Slack, Visa/MC Connect.
• Data analysis skills (e.g. Excel; SQL is a plus ).
• Chargeback knowledge desirable.