Job title: Cards Technical Specialist Department: PSR – Policy Salary: National (Edinburgh and Leeds) ranging from £74,900 to £93,400 and London ranging from £82,300 to £102,000 (salary offered will be based on skills and experience) This role is graded as: Technical Specialist, Regulatory
About the PSR and the team We regulate financial services firms in the UK, to keep payment systems and markets fair, thriving and effective. By joining us, you’ll play a key part in protecting consumers, driving economic growth and shaping the future of UK payment services. Operationally the PSR is currently an independent subsidiary of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). However, in March 2025 the Prime Minister announced that the PSR would be consolidated into the FCA. This transition will follow a Government consultation and legislation, and the Government has already been clear that payment systems must continue to be effectively regulated. Therefore, the PSR continues to focus on delivering its important and impactful programme of work, collaborating closely with the FCA and other regulators, such as the Bank of England and Competition and Markets Authority. The Cards team that you are applying to join will ultimately move into the FCA. This is a collegiate and proactive team composed of policy specialists, lawyers and economists. They are entrusted with responsibility for policy relating to the card schemes that operate in the UK, with a focus on competition, innovation and service users’ interests. Recently, this team has been conducting two extensive market reviews looking at both cross-border interchange fees and scheme processing fees. It is currently focussed on delivering the remedies that arose from these market reviews, with a focus on the acquiring side of the market and on increased transparency for the industry. We are also scoping further work in the cards space, as well as working on the interaction between our work and developments in, e.g., Open Banking, the CMA’s work on digital markets, and other emerging issues in the payments industry, such as Agentic AI.
Role responsibilities
- Providing expert advice and industry insight on technical aspects of payments (with a focus on card payments)
- Collaboratively working with colleagues to develop policy proposals and take them through internal and external processes (e.g. writing documents, engaging with industry, governance, consultation, assessing the impact of our policies)
- Drafting briefings and papers to explain complex issues, often within tight timeframes
- Presenting recommendations to the PSR Board and Executive Committee
- Maintaining a deep understanding of developments in payments, identifying areas which could impact on the PSR’s responsibilities and areas where the PSR should be acting, including to promote competition and innovation
- Working with external stakeholders (e.g. payments industry, the Bank of England, FCA, HM Treasury, CMA, European Commission and overseas central banks and other regulators) to promote our objectives
- Sharing your cards expertise with colleagues to support policy development
Skills required
- Minimum: Significant experience within the payments industry, particularly card payments, with deep knowledge of UK card payment systems, card scheme economics, commercial models and the roles of key market participants, including Visa, Mastercard, issuers, acquirers, payment facilitators and merchants
- Strong understanding of payment services regulation and the regulatory landscape, including UK payments regulation and its impact on payment firms, card schemes and market participants
- Essential: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical and commercial payment issues clearly to both specialist and non-specialist audiences
- Experience producing high-quality papers, briefings, recommendations, or policy-related documents for senior stakeholders within tight deadlines
- Experience influencing and engaging a broad range of stakeholders, including industry participants, regulators, government bodies and senior decision-makers, to develop consensus and drive outcomes
- Knowledge of policy development, consultation, governance, or regulatory decision-making processes, including assessing impacts and supporting evidence-based recommendations
- Demonstrable ability to analyse complex payments issues and translate technical, commercial and regulatory considerations into practical recommendations
- Knowledge of emerging payment technologies and business models, including Open Banking, APIs, digital wallets, embedded finance, real-time payments and AI-related developments within payments
- Knowledge of European and international payments regulation, including PSD, IFR, SEPA and broader global payments developments
- Experience working effectively within multidisciplinary teams and managing competing priorities in a fast-paced environment
Benefits
- 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays
- Non-contributory pension (8–12% depending on age) and life assurance at eight times your salary
- Private healthcare with Bupa, income protection and 24/7 Employee Assistance
- 35 hours of paid volunteering annually
- Colleagues spend a minimum of 50% of their working time in the office each month (60% for Directors and Executive Directors) across our London, Leeds and Edinburgh offices.
- A flexible benefits scheme designed around your lifestyle
- For a full list of our benefits and our recruitment process as a whole visit our benefits page.
Our values and culture
Our colleagues are the key to our success as a regulator. We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture: one that’s free from discrimination and bias, celebrates difference and supports colleagues to deliver at their best. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation and delivers better regulation. If you require any adjustments due to a disability or condition, your recruiter is here to help – reach out for tailored support. We welcome diverse working styles and aim to find flexible solutions that suit both the role and individual needs, including options like part-time and job sharing where applicable. Disability confident: our hiring approach We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Employer and therefore, people or individuals with disabilities and long-term conditions who best meet the minimum criteria for a role will go through to the next stage of the recruitment process. In cases of high application volumes we may progress applicants whose experience most closely matches the role’s key requirements.
Useful information and timelines
Timeline: Job advert closes: Midnight, 5th November 2026 CV Review/Shortlist: 6th November 2026 Interview: w/c 9th November 2026 Your Recruiter will discuss the process in detail with you during screening for the role, therefore, please make them aware if you are going to be unavailable for any date during this time.
Every time anyone uses a cash machine, transfers money, uses contactless, or gets paid, they use a payment system. The PSR is here to make sure payment systems work well for everyone In a fast-moving environment, we challenge the industry to adapt by supporting innovation and improving competition so that the UK benefits from world-leading payment systems. We encourage collaboration to help solve problems and when we need to, we take difficult decisions and use our powers. We’re a subsidiary of the FCA but are fully independent with our own Managing Director and Board. We’re funded by the payments industry and are directly accountable to parliament. To learn more about who we are.
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