Head, IT / Operations Control at Unified Payments Services Limited

Unified Payments Services Limited is Nigeria’s premier Payments & Financial Technology company that operates as a shared infrastructure for the banking community in Nigeria and Payments Service Provider within and outside Nigeria, with a vision to be the most preferred e-payment service provider in Africa.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Head, IT / Operations Control

Location: Lagos Mainland, Lagos
Employment Type: Full-time

Duties and Responsibilities

• Develop and implement IT and operations control strategies aligned with organizational goals.
• Ensure IT infrastructure supports secure, efficient, and scalable payments operations.
• Execution of quality assurance processes (including user acceptance testing, change management controls and approvals) over the deployment of new information technology systems.
• Enforce cybersecurity policies, standards, and procedures.
• Oversee incidents management and root cause analysis for operational failures.
• Ensure business continuity and disaster recovery plans are tested and effective.
• Collaborate with IT teams to embed preventive controls into applications and platforms.
• Coordinating the conduct of forensic investigations into technology related frauds using specialized tools and techniques such as PL/SQL queries, ACL, operating system logs, SOC, DAM, Database Logs and Anti-fraud systems.
• Support the implementation of governance policies, procedures, and frameworks across business units.
• Monitor compliance with corporate policies, internal controls, and regulatory obligations (e.g., CBN, NDPR, NITDA, PCI-DSS).
• Conduct regular reviews to ensure processes are aligned with the company’s governance standards and ethical expectations.
• Perform control testing, risk assessments, and walkthroughs to identify control gaps in operational and support processes.
• Recommend and track remediation of control deficiencies.
• Ensure controls are in place to mitigate fraud, reputational, operational, and compliance risks.
• Maintain and update the internal control register and support the enterprise risk management process.
• Prepare regular control review reports with actionable recommendations and track implementation.
• Document policies, procedures, and standard operating manuals as part of the control environment.
• Assist in the preparation of governance-related reports for senior management, regulators, and auditors.
• Serve as a point of contact for audit exercises (internal, external, and regulatory).
• Support audit readiness and facilitate timely resolution of audit findings.
• Monitor regulatory changes and assist in updating control frameworks accordingly.
• Collaborate with department heads to ensure ownership and awareness of governance and control responsibilities to jointly design and enforce preventive controls to mitigate fraud, cyber threats, and unusual incidents.
• Conduct periodic audits and risk assessments of payment platforms.
• Assist in organizing training sessions and awareness programs on governance, compliance, and ethical practices

Requirements
Educational Qualification:

• Minimum of BSc in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related fields. Professional certifications such as CISA, CISM, CRISC, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, or COBIT. Additional qualifications in operations, process improvement, or audit (e.g., Lean Six Sigma, CIA) are an advantage.

Experience:

• Must have  9 -11 years of relevant IT audit, operational risk, or control experience (IT audit or IT internal control), with at least 5 years in assurance leadership or strategic role in payments industry or digital-first organization.
• Strong knowledge of digital payment systems, APIs, cloud infrastructure, and regulatory tech.
• Proven experience working with regulators (CBN, NDIC, NCC) and responding to audits (internal and external). Skill/Competencies:
• Strong understanding of internal control and risk management frameworks (e.g., COSO, COBIT).
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Strong communication and report-writing skills.
• Use of core banking application, Core Business Processes, Data Gathering and Analysis
• Proficiency in data analytics and audit technologies, including demonstrated use of ACL, IDEA, Power BI, and SQL.

Application Closing Date
30th June, 2026.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV to: recruitment@up-ng.com using the Job Title as the subject of the mail.