Underwriting Manager

payabl. empowers businesses to grow through payments innovation and banking services. Our ambition is to expand our strong portfolio of global financial services that we provide to businesses and make them all available in one place on our platform we call payabl.one. As a licensed financial company with principal membership with card schemes, we specialise in global payments and providing businesses with multi‑currency accounts.

The Underwriting Manager will play a critical role in the company’s risk management process, overseeing the end‑to‑end underwriting workflow – from merchant assessments and onboarding reviews to ongoing portfolio monitoring. The role combines strategic thinking with hands‑on analytical execution, requiring strong skills in analysing transaction data, identifying suspicious activities or red flags, and ensuring compliance with the card schemes rules and internal risk policies.

Location: Limassol, Cyprus or London Office

Reporting line: Head of Underwriting & Monitoring

• Facilitate merchant underwriting and onboarding assessments
• Monitor merchant portfolios to flag or identify suspicious activity, reviewing transaction data to detect risk patterns, anomalies, and potential red flags
• Conduct risk assessment, registration, and monitoring of third‑party agents, ensuring compliance with Card Scheme regulations, internal policies, procedures, and APM requirements
• Investigate any transactional patterns that deviate from expected activity and recommend appropriate risk mitigation controls
• Handle queries and resolve risk‑related issues with prospective and existing merchants
• Ensure adherence to company, Card Scheme, and payment provider rules and policies
• Generate reports and insights regarding merchant activity, supporting periodic and ad‑hoc reviews and audits
• Refine and enhance internal underwriting processes, playbooks, and documentation, contributing to continuous improvement and sharing best practices
• Collaborate closely with Risk, Compliance, Operations and Sales teams to ensure alignment on risk appetite, decisions, and portfolio management
• Handle complex or escalated underwriting cases, providing data‑backed recommendations
• Provide subject‑matter expertise and guidance to junior underwriters or analysts
• Contribute to tool and system improvements to optimise transaction monitoring and decision‑making efficiency
• Support training and knowledge‑sharing initiatives within the Risk team to maintain and build a strong risk culture.

You are a detail‑oriented and analytical risk professional with hands‑on experience in merchant underwriting, online due diligence, and fraud risk assessment. You understand how to identify red flags, assess credit and transaction laundering risk, and have strong knowledge of Card Scheme rules (Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX) as well as internal policies, ensuring safe and compliant merchant onboarding.

• Minimum of 1 year of experience in a similar role, preferably in merchant underwriting, credit risk, or transaction monitoring within a financial services or fintech environment
• Prior experience in Acquiring, Payment Facilitator, or Card Schemes operations is highly desirable
• Proven experience in merchant underwriting, including onboarding, CDD, KYB, and managing high‑risk or low‑risk merchant portfolios
• Familiarity with underwriting tools such as Webshield, Truebiz, G2, LegitScript, EverC, and Ballerine; relevant tool certifications are a plus
• Solid understanding of Card Processing and experience working with Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX regulations, including detecting non‑compliance and escalating appropriately
• Strong analytical skills to flag suspicious activities, identify risk patterns, interpret transactional and financial data, and recommend appropriate mitigation strategies
• Proven ability to follow procedures, manage workloads under deadlines, and handle stress effectively
• Excellent collaboration and teamwork skills, with experience working closely with Risk, Compliance, Operations, Sales and other cross‑functional teams
• High levels of organisational skills, attention to detail, observation, and diligence
• Familiarity…