Target2 Process Owner (Remote in Europe)

Target2 Process Owner
Location: Netherlands, Spain or Poland
Or: freelance agreement in other countries (CEST time zone or adjacent preferred)

Job description

We are hiring a Target2 Process Owner to own the operational side of this transition end to end. This is a hands-on, dedicated role: you will set up every Payment Operations process required for direct participation, maintain the operational infrastructure once live, and be the operational point of contact for the T2 scheme, DNB and partner banks.

Your remit spans the full lifecycle: designing and documenting the operating model before go-live, validating it in the August end-to-end UAT, cutting over BIC by BIC, and maintaining it as business-as-usual.

Payment operations processes

• Recalls — own incoming and outgoing SCT Inst recalls end to end, including the alert/customer-consent flow and full/partial refund outcomes.
• Inquiries and investigations — automate and support SCT/SCT Inst payment investigations directly with the scheme, including non-receipt investigations and pacs.028 status requests.
• SWIFT / ISO 20022 — own and automate SWIFT enquiry handling (MT199/MT999, RFIs) and pacs/camt/pain flows.
• Incoming/missing funds — own inbound RTGS monitoring, exception-handling and returns; confirm payments settle correctly, manage unmatched items and Escrow infrastructure.
• Rejects, returns and refunds — maintain decision and customer-handling processes, back-office visibility, codes and alerts.

T2 platform and infrastructure

• Operate and own the T2 GUI/dashboard (U2A and A2A) as senior authorised user — tracking, returns, liquidity visibility, fallback/manual actions.
• Maintain CRDM reference data (BICs, routing, accounts, users, roles, certificates), the TARGET authorization matrix and segregation of duties, and the manual-vs-automated split.
• Manage the dual-route transition from indirect to direct participation, ensuring traceability by BIC and payment path, and define retirement criteria for each BNPP-dependent step.
• Own the Payment Ops interface into daily reconciliation across MCA, RTGS DCA and TIPS DCA, escalating where liquidity affects execution or customers.

Incident management, contingency and reporting

• Redesign the incident process for direct participation, replacing BNPP escalation with DNB/FIS/TARGET routes.
• Own the Payment Ops role in DNB notifications and reporting, retaining evidence to DNB readiness standard.
• Define the Payment Ops role in the Eurosystem contingency solution (ECONS II), including training and test evidence.

Cross-functional and external coordination

• Act as operational point of contact for DNB, SWIFT/NSP (NEXI), FIS, and other banks/correspondents (including BNP Paribas during dual-run).
• Partner with Product and Engineering: test interfaces, define what stays automated vs. manual — these decisions sit with Ops.
• Work closely with the reconciliation team on liquidity management.

What success looks like

• Every process has a named owner, documented delta from existing process, confirmed manual/automated steps, agreed escalation/fallback, and passing UAT evidence.
• Full set of T2 procedures established: recalls, investigations/pacs.028, inbound RTGS/Escrow returns, rejects, reconciliation, incident and GUI fallback.
• Successful migration to direct participation with zero impact on customer experience and accurate Customer Support guidance.
• Post-go-live: stable BAU with Finom-controlled SLAs and no residual BNPP dependency.

Requirements

• 3+ years in payment operations at a bank, EMI or PSP, with hands-on exposure to SEPA schemes (SCT, SCT Inst) and TARGET Services (T2/RTGS, TIPS) direct connectivity.
• Working knowledge of investigations, recalls, returns/refunds, and SWIFT/ISO 20022 messaging (MT199/MT999, pacs/camt/pain).
• Comfortable operating central-infrastructure interfaces hands-on (T2 GUI, CRDM, reconciliation/liquidity tools), including U2A/A2A actions.
• Strong process design and documentation skills — SOPs, four-eyes controls, authorization matrices, audit-quality evidence.
• Confidence coordinating with regulators and external parties, and translating operational needs to Product and Engineering.
• Senior enough to own sign-offs, incident escalation and DNB-reporting decisions independently, across Ops, IT/Security, Compliance, Risk and Finance Ops.
• Familiarity with DNB/TARGET-NL conditions, IPR and EMI/PSD2 operational obligations.
• Professional fluency in English.

Nice to have

• Prior involvement in a direct TARGET/RTGS/TIPS onboarding or sponsor-bank-to-direct-participation migration.
• Experience standing up incident management and contingency (ECONS II) processes.