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Payment Operations Specialist

Utopia

Fully Remote
Remote - Worldwide
Worldwide
US hours

Hirezar Summary for South African Applicants

This fully remote full time position at Utopia is open worldwide, so South Africans can apply. As a remote position, you can work from anywhere in South Africa — whether you're based in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, or a smaller town.

Job Description

Utopia is an ultra-luxury hospitality and lifestyle brand creating a global ecosystem of properties and experiences.

We develop private villa retreats in beautiful locations around the world, each with high-end service. Utopia also offers a wider ecosystem of leisure experiences and services available both to those staying on property and to external visitors.

Utopia designs and builds its properties in-house. Our projects span the full journey: from concept and architecture to construction, interiors, landscape, guest experience, and long-term operation. For architects and designers, this means contributing on properties from the ground up, with the ability to influence how each place is planned, built, and experienced. For hospitality professionals, it means collaborating with a brand where service is personal, attentive, and built around each guest's stay.

We're a young, ambitious team with high standards and a hands-on approach. We value strong ideas, practical thinking, attention to detail, and people who are ready to take ownership of their part of each project. If you're interested in architecture, design, hospitality, or guest experience, we invite you to explore opportunities with Utopia.

About the role

We are looking for a detail-oriented and motivated Payment Operations Specialist to join our finance team. You will support the day-to-day execution of payment workflows, reconciliation processes, and financial reporting - playing a critical part in ensuring money moves accurately and on time.

You will collaborate closely with internal finance and accounting teams as well as external banking and payment providers. This is an excellent opportunity for someone early in their finance career who is eager to build hands-on experience in financial operations within a fast-paced, process-driven environment.

We value precision, ownership, and a proactive mindset. If you take pride in getting the details right and want to grow within a team that handles real financial responsibility, we'd love to hear from you.

Responsibilities
* Payment processing - execute domestic and international transactions; verify payment details and authorizations
* Exception handling - identify, investigate, and resolve payment failures, chargebacks, and discrepancies
* Reporting - prepare daily cash position reports, payment summaries, and operations dashboards
* Process improvement - document workflows; flag inefficiencies and suggest automation opportunities
* Compliance support - ensure transactions adhere to AML, KYC, and internal control policies
* Degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or Business
* 2-3 years of experience in similar role
* Experience with payment processing and bank reconciliation
* Comfortable meeting tight deadlines and high-volume work
* Demonstrated attention to detail - reconciliation, auditing, or data entry examples
* Fluency in English
Nice-to-have:

Fluency in one (or more) languages below:
* Russian
* Spanish
* Portuguese
* Remote first environment and collaboration in LATAM time zone
* Work on international luxury hospitality projects
* A truly global team (30+ nationalities)
* Growth opportunities within the Financial function as we scale
* The chance to help build a luxury hospitality brand aiming to become #1 worldwide
By submitting this application, I agree that my personal data will be collected, processed, and retained by the company solely for the purposes of managing and assessing my candidacy.

Tips for South African Applicants

Timezone Advantage

South Africa (SAST, UTC+2) overlaps well with European business hours and has a few hours of overlap with US East Coast. Mention your timezone flexibility in your application.

Salary in Context

Even without a listed salary, international remote roles typically pay 2-3x more than equivalent local positions in South Africa due to the exchange rate advantage.

Application Tips

Tailor your CV to international standards — use a clean format, highlight remote work experience, and include your English proficiency. Many SA applicants succeed by emphasising their strong work ethic and cultural adaptability.

Load Shedding Preparedness

If you're applying for a remote role, having a backup power solution (UPS, inverter, or generator) and mobile data as a backup internet connection shows employers you're prepared for South Africa's infrastructure challenges.

About Utopia

Utopia is a company in the design industry that hires remote workers from South Africa.