Product Manager - Direct Debit & Alternate Payments

Job Description Xplor Pay is building the payments infrastructure of the future — embedded, intelligent, and designed for the verticals we serve. As Product Manager for Direct Debit & Alternate Payments, you will own the end-to-end product strategy and execution for our UK (Bacs) and EU (SEPA) Direct Debit rails, while simultaneously leading our expansion into Open Banking, account-to-account (A2A), and emerging payment methods across the UK and European markets. What You'll Do Direct Debit Product Ownership (UK & EU) - Own and evolve the product roadmap for Bacs Direct Debit (UK) and SEPA (EU), balancing merchant experience, operational efficiency, and regulatory compliance. - Reduce failure rates, improve reconciliation flows, and drive down cost-per-transaction through product-led initiatives. - Partner with Compliance and Legal to ensure adherence to UK FCA rules, EU PSD2/PSD3, GDPR, and scheme rules from Bacs, SEPA, and Pay.UK. - Work with the Commercial team to package and price Direct Debit as a competitive embedded payment option for Xplor's vertical SaaS partners. Open Banking & Alternate Payments - Lead the product development of Open Banking payment initiation (PIS) and account information (AIS) services under UK Open Banking standards and EU PSD2/PSD3 requirements. - Define the roadmap for A2A payments, Variable Recurring Payments (VRP), and Request-to-Pay (RtP) as these rails mature in the UK and EU. - Evaluate and integrate alternate payment methods (e.g., iDEAL, Bancontact, SEPA Instant, PayTo equivalents) relevant to Xplor's merchant base. Roadmap & Strategy - Define quarterly and annual plans for the Direct Debit and Alternate Payments portfolio; maintain and communicate a rolling 12-month roadmap. - Conduct competitive analysis across incumbent acquirers, neo-banks, and specialist payment providers operating in UK/EU markets. - Present strategy, progress, and investment cases to the Embedded Payments executive leadership team. Delivery & Stakeholder Management - Drive agile delivery with cross-functional squads — engineering, design, data, and QA — using clear PRDs, user stories, and acceptance criteria. - Build strong relationships with external scheme operators, banks, and open banking infrastructure providers. - Serve as the internal centre of excellence on UK/EU payment rails — educating sales, customer success, and commercial teams. - Monitor product health via dashboards covering transaction volumes, failure rates, settlement times, and revenue contribution. AI-Augmented Product Practice - Embed AI tools into every stage of the product lifecycle: use LLMs for rapid synthesis of merchant interview transcripts, competitor teardowns, and PRD first drafts; use AI coding assistants to prototype flows and validate API responses without full engineering overhead. - Champion AI adoption within the Embedded Payments product team — document effective prompting patterns, share workflows, and help upskill peers. - Use AI-powered analytics tools to monitor performance dashboards, surface anomalies in transaction data, and generate plain-language summaries for stakeholder updates. - Stay current with the evolving AI tooling landscape relevant to product management — proactively evaluate and propose new tools that can increase team velocity.