Target2 Process Owner (Remote in Europe)

• 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.

You own the operational set-up for T2 and the processes and infrastructure that keep it running. 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 then 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 positive/negative outcomes with full and partial refunds.
• SCT / SCT Inst inquiries and investigations — automate and support payment investigations directly with the scheme, including outgoing non-receipt investigations and pacs.028 payment-status requests
• Incoming and outgoing SWIFT messages — own and automate SWIFT enquiry handling (MT199 / MT999, RFIs) and the relevant ISO 20022 flows (pacs, camt, pain)
• Incoming / missing funds — own the inbound RTGS payment monitoring, exception-handling and return SOP: confirm correctly addressed payments settle and book automatically, handle unmatched/pending items and establishment of Escrow infrastructure, and be able to state with confidence whether a payment has or has not reached Finom.
• Rejects, returns and refunds — maintain the operational decision and customer-handling processes; confirm back-office visibility, codes and alerts for abnormal exceptions.

T2 platform and operational infrastructure

• Direct platform access — operate and own the T2 GUI / dashboard directly (U2A and A2A), as senior authorised user, for payment tracking, returns, liquidity visibility and fallback/manual actions.
• Infrastructure maintenance — define and maintain the operational setup: CRDM reference-data maintenance (BICs, routing, accounts, users, roles, certificates), the TARGET access / four-eyes authorization matrix and production segregation of duties, and the manual-vs-automated split for day-one operations.
• Dual-route transition — manage migration from indirect participation, ensuring every item is routable and traceable by BIC and payment path, and define the criteria for retiring each BNPP-dependent step.
• Reconciliation and liquidity touchpoints — own the Payment Ops interface into daily reconciliation across MCA, RTGS DCA and TIPS DCA, and escalate where liquidity affects payment execution or customer outcomes (buffer funding/defunding remains a Finance Ops/Treasury responsibility).

Incident management, contingency and reporting

• Redesign the incident process for direct participation — replacing BNPP phone/email escalation with DNB, FIS and TARGET detection and escalation routes — and own operational payment-impact assessment.
• Own the Payment Ops role in DNB notifications and reporting (settlement mismatches, operational incidents) and retain evidence to the DNB readiness standard.
• Define the Payment Ops role in the Eurosystem contingency solution (ECONS II) for severe TARGET disruption, including training and test evidence.

Cross-functional and external coordination

• Work directly with the T2 scheme / Eurosystem on certification, registration and reference data, and act as an operational point of contact for DNB, SWIFT / the NSP (NEXI) and the FIS service provider.
• Handle communications with other banks and correspondents, including BNP Paribas during the dual-run period.
• Partner directly with the Product and Engineering teams: test interfaces, identify back-office development needs from dashboard testing, and specify what stays automated versus manual — you are the operational voice defining how the platform must behave, and these decisions sit with Ops, not with engineering.
• Work closely with our reconciliation team on liquidity management and forming operational processes around it

• Every Payment Ops process for direct participation has a named owner, a documented existing-process-plus-T2-delta, confirmed manual/automated steps, agreed escalation and fallback, and passing UAT evidence, meeting regulatory and customer expectations
• Full set of T2 procedures established and ownership → recalls, investigations/pacs.028, inbound RTGS credit and Escrow return, rejects, reconciliation, incident and GUI fallback
• Successful migration from indirect participation to direct, withdocumented and Customer Support equipped with accurate customer-facing guidance, and 0 impact on customer experience
• Post-go-live, T2 operations run as stable BAU with Finom-controlled investigation SLAs and no residual BNPP operational dependency.

• Experience in payment operations at a bank, EMI or PSP, ideally covering SEPA schemes (SCT, SCT Inst) and TARGET Services with direct connectivity
• Working knowledge of payment investigations, recalls, returns and SWIFT / ISO 20022 messaging (MT199/MT999, pacs/camt/pain).
• Comfort operating central-infrastructure interfaces hands-on (T2 GUI, CRDM, reconciliation and liquidity-monitoring tools), including U2A/A2A actions.
• Strong process design and documentation skills — able to author DNB-ready SOPs, define four-eyes controls and authorization matrices, and produce audit-quality evidence.
• Confidence coordinating with regulators and external parties (DNB, Eurosystem, SWIFT/NSP, service providers, correspondent banks) and translating operational needs to Product and Engineering.
• Senior enough to own sign-offs, incident escalation and DNB-reporting decisions independently, while working across Ops, IT/Security, Compliance, Risk and Finance Ops.
• Familiarity with DNB / TARGET-NL conditions, IPR (Instant Payments Regulation) and EMI/PSD2 operational obligations.

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

• Minimum 3+ years of experience 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.
• Practical knowledge of payment investigations, recalls, returns/refunds workflows, and SWIFT / ISO 20022 messaging standards (MT199/MT999, pacs, camt, pain).
• Demonstrated experience operating central financial-infrastructure interfaces directly (e.g., T2 GUI, CRDM, reconciliation or liquidity-monitoring tools), including U2A/A2A actions.
• Proven ability to design and document operational processes, including SOPs, four-eyes controls, and authorization matrices to audit/regulatory standard.
• Experience liaising directly with regulators or scheme operators (e.g., central banks, Eurosystem, SWIFT/NSP) and cross-functional teams such as Product, Engineering, Compliance, and Risk.
• Seniority sufficient to independently own sign-offs, incident escalation, and regulatory reporting decisions.
• Familiarity with relevant regulatory frameworks — DNB/TARGET-NL conditions, the Instant Payments Regulation (IPR), and EMI/PSD2 operational obligations.
• Professional fluency in English (written and spoken) for regulatory and cross-border coordination.