A job posting could be the beginning of the Google Wallet unveiling, or it could be a need for a pointy-haired boss type to handle ad billing issues.
Search pundit Danny Sullivan notes the posting of job openings for a Fraud Operations Director, Merchant Payment Solutions’ on Yahoo’s HotJobs and on Craigslist. It may or may not be related to the many swirling rumors of a potential online payment service.
This text, identical in both job listings, seems to indicate the formation of a new position at the Googleplex instead of filling an existing position (emphasis added):
They must be able to handle highly sensitive, confidential and non-routine information in a rapidly growing organization as well as be flexible with changing job requirements as the team grows.
Google recently became an accredited ICANN registrar, but reportedly did not plan to get into the domain sales business. AOL and Amazon.com hold similar accreditations and do not sell domain names.
If that isn’t the plan, a couple of other possibilities exist. Google could be encountering a greater need to deal with fraud incidents in its ad programs. As a publicly-traded company, Google has to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley regulations, and Google may feel it needs to improve some internal processes dealing with billing account security.
Another could have Google becoming a credit card payment processor for AdSense and AdWords account holders, instead of relying on a third-party to do the job. Google would then need a fraud department to handle issues arising with its advertiser accounts. Revenue that would have to be shared as part of a payment transaction would remain in-house.
David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
