Fintech sits inside financial services, and the way firms hire there gives you a useful reference point for your first payments product owner. Government analysis of shortage roles in financial services found that recruitment was generally for Regulatory Qualification Framework (RQF) level 6 and above, rather than the level 3 to 5 bands the GOV.UK Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report (2026). In plain terms, RQF 6 maps to degree-level work, so the demand skews towards experienced, higher-qualified people.
That matters when you size a payments role. A product owner who shapes how money moves sits close to compliance, risk and regulated flows. The market is already leaning towards that higher band, so a junior-only spec is likely to miss the weight the work actually carries.
Start with the roles that are already live, both yours and the wider market's. A live job spec is a signal: it tells you the seniority, the qualifications and the scope that teams expect for comparable work. The same government analysis that points to RQF 6 and above in financial services the GOV.UK Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report (2026) is a reminder to check the qualification band real employers are writing into their adverts, not the one you assume.
Read five to ten current payments product owner adverts and note the pattern. Look at who they report to, how much regulatory language appears, whether they own a roadmap or just a backlog, and how hands-on the technical detail is. Those four signals tell you whether you are sizing a first hire who builds the function or a specialist who slots into one.
A first payments product owner is a foundation hire, so scope them for breadth before depth. They should own the payments roadmap, translate regulatory requirements into product decisions, and work across engineering, compliance and commercial teams. Because the financial services market leans towards RQF 6 and above the GOV.UK Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report (2026), expect to pay for someone who can hold that regulated complexity without constant supervision.
If a single person cannot credibly cover all four, that is your signal to split the role or hire slightly more senior. Sizing is as much about what you leave out as what you include.
Write the spec around outcomes, not a wish list. Name the first two or three problems the hire will own in their first six months, then test for those directly. For a regulated, higher-band role, interview for judgement: give real scenarios where a payment flow, a compliance rule and a commercial deadline pull in different directions, and listen to how the person reasons.
Keep the process short and move quickly. Strong payments people are rarely on the market for long, so a slow, multi-round process loses the very people you want. Agree your must-haves before you start, and separate them clearly from the nice-to-haves so you can make a confident decision fast.
Once you have sized the role, we help you fill it. We search a database of 15 million candidates to surface people who match the scope and seniority you have defined, then rank a shortlist so you can act quickly. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Tell us what your first payments product owner needs to own, and we will start the search today.
