The UK Treasury has launched the UK Payments Vision with the aim of modernising the nation’s payments system. A robust and secure payments ecosystem is critical to support the government’s ambition for the UK’s economic growth and innovation.
The Payments Vision aims to provide a wide choice of payment methods for both customers and businesses. To achieve this, we need robust infrastructure on the one hand, and a well-structured regulatory framework on the other.
According to FDM’s Chief Operating Officer Sheila Flavell CBE, “The UK’s payments infrastructure needs to modernise, but businesses don’t currently have the workforce to deliver the required transformation.”
This begs the question: What are the top skills and jobs in demand within the payments industry?
But first, let’s consider: What’s shaping the future of payments
In the last decade, these seven developments have transformed the way we manage payments and transactions around the world:
- Open Banking
- Real-time payments
- Buy now, pay later
- Digital wallets
- Cross-border payments (Projected to grow from $194 trillion in 2024 to $320 trillion by 2032)
- Embedded payments
- Digital currencies
These innovations have transformed the financial services landscape. But with AI and automation now deeply embedded across these capabilities, organisations are facing a new level of complexity, that demands not just tech adoption, but more sophisticated skills and greater oversight.
Let’s consider The Klarna case.
The Swedish fintech company, popular for their “buy now, pay later” services had laid off 700 employees in 2022, replacing their roles with an AI assistant. The company’s AI tool could handle customer queries like refunds, returns and cancellations as well as resolve disputes and provide real-time updates on payment schedules. It was able to do this in over 35 different languages.
Fast forward to 2025: Klarna started rehiring human agents as a result of falling service standards and widespread customer complaints about automated responses that were unhelpful in providing solutions to real problems.
CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski later publicly admitted, “we went too far”. Klarna is a classic example of a company who prioritised cost-cutting through automation without considering the limitations of AI, particularly in jobs that require empathy and emotional intelligence.
Siemiatkowski has since emphasised the importance of striking the right balance between human-AI collaboration to boost efficiency without compromising on service quality.
From payments innovation to talent transformation
Jonathan Collinge, Consultancy Delivery Manager at FDM believes, “With initiatives like the National Payments Vision and UKPI, the focus is shifting toward more API-driven, real-time ecosystems rather than simply making payments faster.
There is a growing demand for professionals who understand how payments work, and can also operate in more agile, technology-led environments. That combination of skills is still relatively scarce across the industry.
For financial institutions, it’s not just about upgrading technology, it’s about having people who understand how payments work, but can also operate in more agile, technology-led environments. That combination of skills is still relatively scarce across the industry.
The biggest risk isn’t that modernisation fails, but that it succeeds technically without delivering real value, because organisations don’t yet have the capability to fully utilise and scale these new models.”
This is where the conversation shifts from what is changing in payments to who is needed to deliver it.
Payments transformation requires professionals who can work across:
- Legacy and modern payment architectures
- Regulatory frameworks and real-time data environments
- Customer experience and backend infrastructure
UKPI is fundamentally about expanding API-driven payments and data sharing, opening the market to a much broader range of third-party providers. That increased access is driving innovation and competition, but it also changes the capabilities financial services firms need to succeed.
In particular, a few key skills are becoming more important:
What skills will define the future payments workforce?
- API and integration skills
Firms need people who can design, build and manage integrations with third parties and external platforms. Open banking and embedded finance models rely on seamless connectivity between systems and partners. This is why skills in API design, integration and platform orchestration are becoming foundational.
2. Data, analytics and AI capability
With access to richer, real-time financial data through services like AIS, there’s growing demand for skills that can interpret and apply data effectively.
3. Regulatory and data governance awareness
Increased data sharing brings greater responsibility around consent, data protection and compliance, requiring strong understanding of regulatory expectations. Skills in ISO 20022, AML/KYC frameworks, and FCA and global regulatory standards are essential to ensure innovation does not outpace compliance.
4. Security expertise
Opening up payment and data ecosystems increases security risks, making real-time threat detection, and secure-by-design thinking, critical.
5. Product and user-centred design (UCD)
Open banking is heavily reliant on customer journeys and user experience, so firms need product and design roles that can translate APIs and data into simple, intuitive services for end users.
6. Agile delivery
Alongside technical and domain capabilities, firms also need strong agile delivery and operational resilience. Real-time, always-on payments require teams that can operate in fast-moving, highly regulated environments, with the ability to continuously deliver, support and evolve services without disruption.
7. Human capabilities
The Klarna example underscores a critical point: AI cannot replace human judgement entirely.
Skills such as problem-solving, communication and empathy remain essential, particularly in exception handling, dispute resolution and service design.
Emerging roles in payments
As these skills converge, we are seeing clear demand for a new set of roles across the payments ecosystem:
| JOB FUNCTIOn | sECTOR | SKILLS |
| Payments Business Analysts | Banks, Infrastructure, and FinTech | Payments lifecycle, ISO20022, open banking flows, regulatory expertise in FCA, AML, Agile delivery |
| AI FinCrime Analysts | Banks, Infrastructure, and FinTech | Transaction monitoring, AML/KYC, Analytics (Python, SQL), AI fraud detection |
| Data Analysts | Payment networks, banks, and FinTech | Transaction analytics, dashboarding, basic ML concepts |
| Cybersecurity Analysts | Banks, payments infrastructure, and networks | Vulnerability management and penetration testing, incident response and SOC operations, risk management/analysis, security auditing (e.g. ISO27001), cloud security (Azure/AWS), automation and scripting |
| Customer operations | Banks, payments infrastructure, and networks | Communication, problem-solving, empathy, critical thinking |
The importance of scalable talent
While the need for these roles is well understood, the challenge for many organisations lies in building and scaling this capability quickly enough.
A leading global bank wanted to modernise their payment platforms, migrate to the cloud and achieve ISO 20022 compliance, whilst accelerating their AI adoption. They approached FDM for a solution that would build their in-house talent pipeline while reducing their reliance on contractor-heavy models.
52 FDM Consultants were deployed in the bank in under a week, scaling to 129 within five months
Teams were pre-trained in critical skills including Agile delivery, DevOps, YAML and AI code validation
This resulted in reduced processing times through automated workflows and improved operational efficiency.
The bottom line
The transformation programmes succeed not just because of technology choices, but because of access to the right talent, at the right time, with the right skills.
32% of businesses cite a shortage of specialist skills as a top barrier to tech adoption.
For banks, fintechs and payment providers, the future will be defined by speed, intelligence and connectivity – delivered by people. The organisations that succeed will build teams capable of not just adopting the latest tech, but understanding, implementing and evolving them.
Find out how FDM can help power your next transformation project.