Senior Onboarding Specialist

The Senior Onboarding Specialist is responsible for end-to-end merchant onboarding in a UK FCA-regulated EMI/card acquiring context, with a strong focus on KYB, underwriting, and card scheme compliance (Visa/Mastercard). The role combines detailed due diligence, risk assessment, and underwriting decision-making, ensuring that new merchants meet internal risk appetite, regulatory expectations, and relevant card scheme rules.

The successful candidate will lead complex KYB assessments, perform acquiring underwriting for higher-risk verticals, and act as a subject-matter expert on onboarding flows, documentation standards, and risk controls.

Key responsibilities:

• Perform comprehensive KYB due diligence on prospective merchants, including corporate structure analysis, UBO/PSC identification, source of funds/wealth indicators, and sector-specific risk factors.
• Lead underwriting assessments for merchants in line with card acquiring risk appetite, including evaluation of business model, vertical, geography, transaction profile, chargeback exposure, and operational resilience
• Assess merchant applications against Visa and Mastercard rules and scheme expectations, including appropriate MCC assignment, prohibited business checks, and scheme compliance considerations.
• Review and validate merchant documentation (corporate docs, financial statements, processing history, policies, website/app flows, T&Cs, refund/cancellation policies) to ensure completeness and consistency.
• Use and manage onboarding and risk tools such as SumSub, G2 Risk Solutions, VISA VMSS, Mastercard MATCH, and SimilarWeb as part of the due diligence, risk assessment, and underwriting process.
• Perform detailed online footprint checks (website, app, social media, ratings, traffic via tools such as SimilarWeb) to validate the declared business model and detect potential transaction laundering or undisclosed activity.
• Calibrate and apply merchant risk scoring logic, including initial risk rating, review cycles, and enhanced due diligence criteria for higher-risk segments.
• Work closely with Transaction Monitoring, Fraud, and Compliance teams to ensure onboarding decisions align with downstream monitoring scenarios and risk tolerances.
• Document onboarding decisions, rationale, and risk mitigants in a clear, audit-ready manner aligned with internal policies and regulatory expectations.
• Act as a key escalation point for complex or higher-risk applications, providing structured recommendations and risk-based mitigations to senior stakeholders.
• Support continuous improvement of onboarding policies, procedures, risk appetite statements, and playbooks, especially for new products, verticals, or jurisdictions.
• Provide training and guidance to junior onboarding analysts and operational staff on KYB standards, underwriting methodology, and card scheme rules.

Skills and experience:

• 4+ years of experience in merchant onboarding, KYB, or underwriting within card acquiring, payments, EMI, or similar regulated financial services.
• Strong KYB expertise, including legal entity structures, UBO identification, and corporate documentation review.
• Proven experience in card acquiring underwriting, including assessment of risk in various merchant verticals and familiarity with chargeback and fraud risk drivers.
• Good working knowledge of Visa and Mastercard rules relevant to acquiring, including MCC allocation, prohibited/regulated sectors, and scheme compliance frameworks.
• Hands-on experience using tools such as SumSub, G2 Risk Solutions, VISA VMSS, Mastercard MATCH, and SimilarWeb in onboarding and risk assessment workflows.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret merchant data, historical processing statements, traffic/volume projections, and financial information to inform underwriting decisions.
• High level of attention to detail and ability to spot inconsistencies between declared business models, documentation, and online presence.
• Solid understanding of how onboarding decisions interact with transaction monitoring, fraud controls, and overall risk management frameworks.
• Clear, structured written communication skills for documenting decisions and writing onboarding/underwriting rationales.

Desirable Skills & Experience:

• Experience in high-risk or complex verticals (e.g. digital goods, cross-border e-commerce, subscription, gambling, adult, crypto-adjacent) from an acquiring perspective.
• Exposure to UK/EU AML and financial crime frameworks as they relate to KYB and merchant risk.
• Experience contributing to the design or refinement of onboarding/KYB policies, procedures, and risk scoring models.
• Familiarity with broader payments and EMI regulatory context.
• Professional certifications such as ICA or ACAMS.

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