Lex Ledger moves on up at Spotify with Global Head of Payments role at digital music giant Spotify

Lex Ledger has been appointed Global Head of Payments at Spotify. He has spent just over six years at the company, previously serving as Senior Director, Payments & Fraid Prevention.

In a LinkedIn post, he said: "I’m honoured and excited to be stepping into the role of Global Head of Payments at Spotify. leading the payments capability that supports one of the world’s largest and fastest growing subscription businesses."

"At Spotify, our mission is to deliver creativity to the world - connecting millions of artists, creators and authors with hundreds of millions of fans globally. Payments plays a critical role in enabling those connections to scale seamlessly across markets and experiences. Today, Spotify serves over 290 million Premium subscribers and more than 750 million users worldwide, continuing to grow while expanding into new markets and formats."

He added: "Over the past six years, I’ve worked with an exceptional team - and outstanding colleagues across the business - to scale payments from 80 to 180+ markets, strengthen our global partner ecosystem, and deliver meaningful improvements across performance, cost and fraud prevention. Having spent the past 18 years in payments, it remains one of the most dynamic and important areas in global commerce."

Payments, he observed, is evolving fast. AI is driving new levels of optimisation and productivity. Agentic commerce is starting to reshape how transactions are initiated and managed. Identity and authentication are being redefined. Fraud and dispute landscapes continue to grow in sophistication. Local payment experiences are critical to unlocking growth in emerging markets.

"At the same time, Spotify continues to innovate in how fans and creators connect - with payments at the centre of enabling that," Ledger said.

He will focus on: building and empowering a world class global payments team; partnering across Spotify to deliver seamless, localised payment experiences; using data and AI to drive step-change improvements in performance and efficiency; navigating an increasingly complex global and regulatory landscape; maintaining strong control across fraud, risk and disputes at scale.

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

Payments will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.

Check out our 2025 winners here.

Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”

“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”

He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.