Consultant - Travel Payments SME (Contract)

We are looking for a commercially-minded, senior Payment Consultant, to lead strategic payment initiatives for flight pay-outs. This role is ideal for a senior payments expert who combines strong commercial acumen with deep domain expertise in airline payments.

You will be working for a large online travel agent (OTA). This is a 12-month contract position, and we seek a candidate able to start swiftly.

This is a high-impact role within the OTA's Commercial Team, reporting to the Director of Commercial Payments. You will collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Tech, Risk, Finance, Legal, and external PSPs to drive performance across airline payment flows. You will be responsible for identifying revenue opportunities, advising on complex payment flows, and ensuring scalable, compliant, and customer-centric payment experiences globally.

The ideal candidate will be highly skilled in...

Payment Strategy & Commercial Enablement

• Act as the lead commercial advisor on all flight payment matters, with a focus on airline payouts.
• Define and support the execution of a strategic roadmap for flight payments based on customer behaviour, industry trends, and commercial priorities.

Opportunity Discovery

• Identify gaps and develop business cases
• Drive execution across various functional teams
• Identify and eliminate friction points in the payment journey that impact revenue or NPS

Stakeholder Engagement

• Work closely with internal stakeholders (Product, Tech, Finance, Legal, Risk) and external payment partners to deliver enhancements and solutions.
• Align cross-functional teams around shared goals related to payment strategy and performance.

It would be very beneficial if you are skilled and knowledgeable in...

Risk & Compliance Advisory

• Interpret and advise on global and regional payment regulations (e.g., SCA/PSD2, PCI DSS, IATA guidelines) from a commercial and operational perspective
• Ensure solutions are designed and implemented in line with industry compliance standards and airline-specific guidelines

Qualifications & Experience

• 8+ years, or equivalent, of experience in the payments ecosystem, with circa 4 years of that experience within the airline/travel vertical
• Strong understanding of airline-specific payment flows including GDS, NDC, BSP/ARC, interline
• Strong understanding of airline payment acceptance, especially on VCC
• Commercial mindset and experience building and presenting business cases to influence executive decision-making
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills
• Comfortable working with data to identify issues and opportunities