Product Manager - Direct Debit & Alternate Payments

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.