Business Compliance Lead - BPL

Business Compliance Lead, Barclaycard Payments - BPL

As Business Compliance lead, you will promote compliance excellence across Barclaycard Payments by providing expert advice to support informed business decisions, oversee the management of Compliance risks and controls, and lead Compliance’s monitoring activities.

What you’ll be responsible for:

Business oversight: provide constructive oversight and challenge on the design and operation of business initiatives, processes and controls to ensure adequate consideration of compliance policies and regulatory requirements.

Regulatory advice: act as a trusted advisor to the business, providing pragmatic, commercially aware guidance rooted in e-money and payments regulatory expertise.

Risk identification and review: support the identification and assessment of compliance risks, including through business ideation and design phases, required risk assessment processes and the remediation of issues and incidents.

Monitoring activities: lead and supervise high-quality, risk-based monitoring activities and reviews of business activities and the expected controls in place to mitigate compliance and regulatory risk.

Training: Assist in the design and delivery of the Compliance training programmes and drive awareness campaigns to ensure strong regulatory understanding across the business.

To succeed in this senior role, you should demonstrate (essential experience):

• Deep regulatory expertise relevant to e-money issuers and payment service providers, including PSRs, GDPR and DISP, with the authority to provide technical direction, training, oversight and senior business support.

• Extensive senior Compliance experience in payments, ideally within payment acquiring, supported by strong payment acquiring product, fintech industry and regulatory knowledge.

• Commercial judgement and credibility to balance regulatory obligations with business objectives, shaping and influencing the design and implementation of Compliance processes at senior level.

• Advanced problem-solving skills, initiative and independent judgement to identify, assess and resolve complex product and transaction issues.

• Executive-level stakeholder management and communication capability, with the confidence to deliver clear messages across functions, channels and senior audiences.

• Strong leadership presence, with the ability to set direction and work effectively across senior, cross-functional teams.

• Strong analytical capability to assess complex data, identify material risks and provide clear, actionable insights.

• Resilience and disciplined prioritisation to lead through significant organisational and business change, manage competing demands and deliver to deadlines.

• This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship and applicants must already hold the legal right to work in the UK.

• The suitable candidate needs to be based in the UK already and be able to work (with easy commuting distance) to in London or Northampton.

• This role is intended for candidates who are already operating at Director level.

About BPL:

Barclays’ payments acceptance business provides critical infrastructure to the UK economy, processing billions of pounds of payments annually for both small businesses and domestic and international corporate clients.

In April 2025, we announced a long-term partnership with Brookfield Asset Management to grow and transform the payments acceptance business by broadening the range of services offered, enhancing the experience for both existing and prospective clients. Leveraging extensive client relationships and deep experience of UK payments, we will create an environment of continuous innovation - activated by Brookfield’s global private equity expertise in payments, technology, operational transformation and corporate carve-outs - to ensure the business is strategically positioned for long-term growth.

Barclays will invest approximately £400m in the new business, the majority of which will be incurred during the first three years. Performance-linked incentives will drive greater alignment between the partners, underpinning the long-term commitment to the transformation. Barclays and Brookfield will work to create a standalone entity over time, continuing to use the Barclaycard Payments (BPL) brand and acting as the sole payments acceptance services provider to Barclays’ clients for a minimum of ten years. 

For more information on our partnership with Brookfield, please visit Barclays.com.

Purpose of the role

To provide data-led expert oversight and check and challenge on business and compliance matters to evidence that the organisation is operating in a compliance with Barclays legal, regulatory and ethical responsibilities. 

Accountabilities

• Identification and assessment of compliance risks through thorough reviews of business activities, changes, processes, testing and systems to.
• Identification and investigation of potential market abuse, including but not limited to, Insider Dealing, Unlawful Disclosure, Market Manipulation or Anti-Competitive Conduct.
• Conduct investigation of compliance risk events or breaches. Oversight and check and challenge of corrective actions and preventative measures to avoid future occurrences.
• Implementation of compliance policies and procedures in line with regulatory requirements and ensuring that the bank’s internal policies are aligned with international standards, including jurisdictional requirements.
• Collaboration with 1LOD, other relevant Compliance teams and legal, and relevant risk management functions to facilitate a comprehensive approach to compliance and risk management.
• Identification, investigation and oversight of potential money laundering, terrorist financing or other financial crime.

Director Expectations

• To manage a business function, providing significant input to function wide strategic initiatives. Contribute to and influence policy and procedures for the function and plan, manage and consult on multiple complex and critical strategic projects, which may be business wide..
• They manage the direction of a large team or sub-function, leading other people managers and embedding a performance culture aligned to the values of the business. Or for an individual contributor, they lead organisation wide projects and act as deep technical expert and thought leader, identifying new ways of working and collaborating cross functionally. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Provide expert advice to senior functional management and committees to influence decisions made outside of own function, offering significant input to function wide strategic initiatives.
• Manage, coordinate and enable resourcing, budgeting and policy creation for a significant sub-function.
• Escalates breaches of policies / procedure appropriately.
• Foster and guide compliance, ensure regulations are observed that relevant processes in place to facilitate adherence.
• Focus on the external environment, regulators, or advocacy groups to both monitor and influence on behalf of Barclays, when appropriate.
• Demonstrate extensive knowledge of how the function integrates with the business division / Group to achieve the overall business objectives.
• Maintain broad and comprehensive knowledge of industry theories and practices within own discipline alongside up-to-date relevant sector / functional knowledge, and insight into external market developments / initiatives.
• Use interpretative thinking and advanced analytical skills to solve problems and design solutions in often complex/ sensitive situations.
• Exercise management authority to make significant decisions and certain strategic decisions or recommendations within own area.
• Negotiate with and influence stakeholders at a senior level both internally and externally.
• Act as principal contact point for key clients and counterparts in other functions/ businesses divisions.
• Mandated as a spokesperson for the function and business division.

All Senior Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.