We are building the payment infrastructure for the largest marketplace of in-game items for CS2 / Dota 2: working with high-risk categories (gaming / virtual goods), integrating with the Steam economy, and international payouts to traders. We are looking for someone who knows how to negotiate with banks and PSPs in a complex vertical and thinks without limitations — from choosing a jurisdiction to the architecture of the payout infrastructure.

Scope of Responsibility:

Strategy and Development:

• Forming and implementing a payment strategy for a gaming marketplace with two-way flows (player deposits + trader payouts).
• Onboarding banks and financial institutions in the high-risk vertical (MCC 7995, gaming, virtual goods).
• Connecting new PSPs and local payment methods for key geographies: Russia, CIS, Europe, LATAM, SEA.
• Building a diversified infrastructure: cards, APMs, crypto payments, e-wallets, local methods.
• Payout infrastructure: mass payouts to traders in dozens of countries, minimizing fees and crediting time.
• Proactive solution finding: if a provider requires a legal entity in another jurisdiction, raise the issue for discussion with an economic calculation, rather than closing the deal.

Financial Control:

• Controlling conversion rates: verifying actual provider and bank rates against market rates, identifying hidden markups (especially critical for payout flows).
• Auditing fees: contractual rates vs. actual, hidden fees, rolling reserves, penalties.
• Negotiating improved terms: MDR, payout fees, reserves, limits, new geographies.
• Controlling payment unit economics: cost of acceptance + cost of payout in each market.

Operational Management:

• Daily monitoring of metrics: deposit conversion, chargeback rate, fraud rate, uptime, payout speed and success rate.
• Managing routing and fallback scenarios (critical when working with high-risk categories).
• Processes for refunds, chargebacks, disputes, AML alerts.
• Dashboards: Performance, Risk, Financial, Payout Operations.

Team Management:

• Team building: PSP Manager, Compliance Manager, Payout Operations, Technical Support.
• Setting KPIs and OKRs, quarterly roadmap.
• Regular reporting to management.

Geography of Operations:

• Russia — priority. Main market. Experience working with Russian banks and payment systems is mandatory.
• CIS — priority. Key growth direction. Knowledge of local specifics for deposits and payouts.
• Europe — development. Active scaling. Experience working with European PSPs and banks is a strong plus.
• Global — perspective. LATAM, SEA, MENA. Long-term goal — a fully functional global payment infrastructure.

Requirements:

1. Experience as Head of Payments / Payment Operations Lead — from 3 years, with banks and international PSPs.
2. Fluent English — mandatory. Extensive direct communication with foreign providers, negotiations, contracts.
3. Experience in classic merchant acquiring and onboarding legal entities into international payment systems. P2P experience is not considered — it's a different specialty.
4. Experience working with high-risk verticals is mandatory: gaming, gambling, crypto, virtual goods, digital content — any of the above. Understanding how to pass KYB and underwriting in these categories.
5. Experience in building payout infrastructure — mass payouts to individuals in different geographies (a critical part of the marketplace).
6. Understanding of direct onboarding with banks (not just through PSP aggregators): working with structures, compliance, KYB.
7. Proactiveness in working with providers: ability to find creative solutions, not get stuck on the first "no." If a provider only works with EU companies — raise the issue of opening a legal entity for discussion, rather than closing the deal.
8. Practical experience in the Russian and CIS markets — mandatory; knowledge of the European market is an advantage.
9. Ability to read contracts with banks and PSPs, identify hidden clauses.
10. Skill in verifying conversion rates and identifying discrepancies with market rates.
11. Knowledge of international payment specifics: MPS rules, chargeback processes, KYB, AML.
12. Ability to build processes from scratch in a growth environment.

Would be a plus:

• Experience working with gaming / gambling projects or crypto processing.
• Experience connecting crypto providers (USDT, stablecoins) for payouts.
• Understanding of the technical aspects of integrations: API, webhooks, routing logic.
• Experience entering European and global markets.

Conditions:

• Remote or office — by agreement.
• Full-time employment, competitive salary.
• Direct influence on the product and strategy.