Payments Optimization Manager (Risk & Fraud)

This is Adyen

Adyen provides payments, data, and financial products in a single solution for customers like Meta, Uber, H&M, and Microsoft - making us the financial technology platform of choice. At Adyen, everything we do is engineered for ambition. 

For our teams, we create an environment with opportunities for our people to succeed, backed by the culture and support to ensure they are enabled to truly own their careers. We are motivated individuals who tackle unique technical challenges at scale and solve them as a team. Together, we deliver innovative and ethical solutions that help businesses achieve their ambitions faster.

Optimization Manager

We are looking for an experienced Optimization Manager (OM) to join our Performance Optimization team. The role of an OM is ideal for those who excel at managing the full funnel payments to create business impact, uncover growth opportunities, and optimize payments & fraud rate at scale. 

Excellent project management and planning skills are essential for success in this role. This includes the ability to effectively manage the interaction and collaboration between cross-functional teams, including Product, Commercial, Data Analytics and Operations. Additionally, strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and the ability to prioritize tasks and meet deadlines are crucial for juggling multiple projects and responsibilities.

As an OM, you will be a key contributor in delivering our optimization strategies and value add to our customers. You will partner with Commercial, Professional Services, and Product teams to develop data-driven insights, self-service analytics, and scalable automation solutions. You will also engage directly with key customers to enhance payment performance across risk, authentication, tokenization and authorization rates, driving higher approval rates, lower fraud, and cost efficiencies through optimization. Additionally, you will help upsell Adyen’s optimization products (e.g., Protect, Uplift) by acting as a bridge between customers , commercial and product teams, translating actionable data insights into value propositions that highlight Adyen’s capabilities.

The ideal candidate has a strong background in payments knowledge with focus on risk & fraud prevention, full funnel optimization strategies and cross-functional collaboration with the ability to translate complex findings into actionable recommendations.

What You'll Do

• Partner with commercial teams: Showcase Adyen’s value proposition and drive adoption within commercial environments and merchant facing communications.
• Leverage data-driven insights: in collaboration with Data Analysts to inform merchant conversations.
• Lead discussions: Hold expertise on leading discussions at a high level with existing and prospective customers , equipping commercial teams with tools and training to enhance their merchant engagements.
• Act as a payment optimization expert: SME in payment optimization strategies (e.g. risk & fraud prevention, conversion uplift, cost efficiencies) and be a go-to expert for both internal teams and external clients.
• Deploy sophisticated optimization playbooks: Analyse across Adyen’s customer portfolio using existing tools.
• Drive insights-led optimisation strategies: Leverage data-driven insights and analytical tools by running analysis on payment datasets to identify opportunities for performance improvement and risk mitigation across our merchant portfolio.
• Upselling Adyen’s Products: Identify opportunities to introduce and drive adoption of Adyen solutions (such as Protect and Uplift) by bridging the gap between customers and product teams, ensuring that key customers maximize their performance potential.
• Deliver scalable analytical solutions: Build and maintain analytical frameworks, dashboards, or tools that can be used across teams. Confidently manage and interpret large data sets to generate actionable insights that deliver value to both internal stakeholders and merchants.
• Lead with autonomy and global perspective: Operate independently with a strategic, global view — providing consultative guidance to high-value customers and collaborating closely with cross-functional teams.
• Support team operations: Assist with various tasks to help keep the Performance Optimization team running smoothly.
• Mentorship & Guidance: Provide mentorship to team members, fostering knowledge sharing culture within the team by sharing best practices, refining methodologies, and promoting optimization strategies.
• Build strong relationships: Develop positive relationships with key regional customers and stakeholders to become a trusted point of contact.

Who You Are

• Ideally 8+ years of experience in Risk & Fraud Prevention, Payment Performance, Data Analytics, Technical Account Executive or a similar role within the payments or fintech industry.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, engaging with customers and cross-functional teams to define needs and drive impact.
• Ownership and entrepreneurial mindset, with the ability to prioritize and drive execution independently.
• Business proficiency in verbal and written communication skills (English & Japanese), able to present insights and synthesize complex topics clearly to a technical and non-technical audience.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment with global teams and international customers.
• Strong knowledge of the regional payment landscape including staying current on Card Network Scheme Rules, local regulations and payment adoptions. Is able to effectively communicate the importance of risk management in payments optimization.
• High level of self-motivation and always looking for ways to improve and make our processes more efficient
• Strong data analysis and correlation skills with ability to work through complex and unfamiliar data sets. Experience creating impactful dashboards using BI tools (such as Looker or Tableau) is a plus.

Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion commitments 

Our unique approach is a product of our diverse perspectives. This diversity of backgrounds and cultures is essential in helping us maintain our momentum. Our business and technical challenges are unique, and we need as many different voices as possible to join us in solving them - voices like yours. No matter who you are or where you’re from, we welcome you to be your true self at Adyen. 

Studies show that women and members of underrepresented communities apply for jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. Does this sound like you? If so, Adyen encourages you to reconsider and apply. We look forward to your application!

What’s next?

Ensuring a smooth and enjoyable candidate experience is critical for us. We aim to get back to you regarding your application within 5 business days. Our interview process tends to take about 4 weeks to complete, but may fluctuate depending on the role. Learn more about our hiring process here. Don’t be afraid to let us know if you need more flexibility.

This role is based out of our Tokyo office. We are an office-first company and value in-person collaboration; we do not offer remote-only roles.