Client Solutions – Authorisation & Optimisation Specialist

Job Title: Client Solutions Authorisation & Optimisation Specialist (PMO)

Employment type: Contract

Contract length: 3 months

Location: Abu Dhabi UAE

PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT

As the Authorisation & Optimisation Specialist the responsible will lead the payment optimisation initiatives for issuer clients by leveraging advanced analytics and deep transaction expertise. Driving end-to-end program delivery through strong PMO discipline identifying approval rate opportunities reducing declines and enhancing transaction efficiency. Partner with internal and external stakeholders to implement data-driven strategies that improve authorisation performance customer experience and overall payment success rates.

Core Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

• Lead and improve issuer authorisation approval rates by analysing transaction data identifying decline drivers and implementing optimisation strategies across the payment lifecycle.
• Leverage advanced analytics to generate actionable insights on transaction performance customer behaviour and authorisation trends translating findings into measurable improvements.
• Partner with issuer clients to diagnose performance gaps recommend tailored authorisation strategies and support implementation to enhance payment success rates and customer experience.
• Drive the end-to-end delivery of optimisation initiatives using strong PMO practices ensuring timely execution stakeholder alignment and tracking of KPIs and outcomes.
• Collaborate with internal teams (product risk technology) and external partners to align on solutions resolve issues and continuously improve authorisation processes and payment performance.

Knowledge and Experience:

• Strong understanding of card transaction flows authorisation logic decline codes and issuer/acquirer interactions with hands-on experience in optimising approval rates and payment performance.
• Proven ability to analyse large transaction datasets identify performance drivers and translate insights into actionable strategies using data-driven methodologies.
• Demonstrated experience in managing end-to-end initiatives with strong governance stakeholder management and delivery tracking to ensure successful execution of complex programs.

Mandatory Skills:

• Bachelors degree in Finance Business Technology or a related field (Masters preferred).
• Previous experience within Banking Digital Payment & Card solutions or the FinTech industry.
• Regional experience across the GCC including working in a faced-paced matrix organisation.
• Excellent communication skills in English (written verbal and presentation); fluency in Arabic is nice to have.

Preferred Skills:

• Good understanding of payment systems digital platforms system workflows security basics and industry technologies.
• An understanding of regional regulations across financial services or payment networks.