Chargeback & Disputes Subject Matter Expert (SME) 10 Years

• Location: Kochi (Infopark / Smartcity)
• Department: Operations
• Reports to: Global Delivery Officer / Head of Payments Delivery
• Experience: 10+ years in card disputes, with demonstrable scheme-level expertise

About The Role

We are seeking a Chargeback & Disputes Expert to serve as the authoritative voice on dispute operations across our payments engagements. This is not a case-processing role — you will define dispute strategy, own scheme compliance interpretation, design and optimise dispute operations for UK-regulated fintech clients, and act as the domain authority guiding our dispute platform build and automation roadmap. You will be the person clients, engineers, and leadership turn to when the answer isnt in the manual.

Key Responsibilities

Domain Authority & Advisory

• Act as the definitive internal and client-facing expert on Visa and Mastercard dispute rules, covering the full lifecycle from retrieval through arbitration and compliance cases
• Interpret ambiguous or edge-case scheme scenarios and provide defensible rulings on liability, reason code applicability, and representment strategy
• Advise clients on dispute strategy — win-rate optimisation, evidence standards, pre-dispute deflection (Ethoca/Verifi), and chargeback ratio management against scheme monitoring programmes (VDMP/VFMP, ECP/HECP)
• Track and interpret scheme rule releases (Visa Business Enhancements, Mastercard announcements) and translate them into operational and platform impact assessments

Operations Design & Leadership

• Design, document, and continuously improve end-to-end dispute operating models: workflows, SLAs, queue strategies, quality frameworks, and MI/reporting structures
• Build and mentor a disputes team — define competency frameworks, training curricula, and QA/calibration processes
• Own operational performance: win rates, cycle times, ageing, scheme timeline adherence, and financial recovery outcomes

Platform & Automation

• Serve as domain lead for dispute platform development — defining business rules, scheme integration requirements (VROL, Mastercom, Ethoca APIs), and automated adjudication logic
• Partner with AI/engineering teams to identify automation candidates (evidence assembly, reason code classification, representment drafting) and validate outputs against scheme standards
• Lead UAT and scheme certification activities for dispute workflows

Client & Stakeholder Engagement

• Represent the disputes practice in client governance forums, RFP responses, and solution design sessions
• Support pre-sales and business development with domain credibility — capability presentations, effort estimation, and solution architecture input

Required Expertise

• 10+ years in card disputes across issuing and/or acquiring, including significant time in senior/lead or advisory capacity
• Mastery of Visa Claims Resolution (VCR) and Mastercard dispute frameworks — reason codes, timeframes, arbitration/pre-arbitration mechanics, and compliance case processes — at the level of citing rule references, not just following procedure
• Deep hands-on history with VROL and Mastercom; strong working knowledge of Ethoca and Verifi (CDRN/RDR)
• Proven track record of measurably improving dispute outcomes (win rates, recovery values, ratio reduction) — be prepared to walk through the numbers
• Experience designing or transforming dispute operations, not just running them
• Understanding of issuer processor ecosystems and how disputes interact with authorisation, clearing, and settlement data
• Experience with UK/EU regulatory context: FCA consumer duty expectations, Section 75, PSD2 liability considerations

• Prior involvement in dispute platform builds, vendor selection, or scheme integration projects
• Scheme certifications or formal training (Visa/Mastercard dispute workshops)
• Experience testifying to or defending dispute positions in arbitration cases with strong outcomes
• Exposure to AI/ML applications in dispute management

What We Offer

• A genuine authority role — you set the standard rather than follow it
• Direct influence over a dispute platform and automation roadmap being built with modern AI tooling
• Engagement with leading UK payments brands at a strategic level

Skills: operations,subject matter experts,chargeback