Chief Operating Officer

Global Fintech — Payments | Reports to CEO | Singapore or Hong Kong

About the company

We're partnering with a high growth global fintech that helps businesses move money across borders, with card issuing, cross-border payouts and treasury all built into one platform. The business is profitable, scaling fast, and now entering its next phase of international growth.

About the role

This is a newly created executive role built around the operating cadence of the business. The company has strong functional leaders across product, revenue and customer experience, each running their area well, but it does not yet have a senior operator pulling those threads together into one coherent rhythm. That is the gap this role fills.

You will own how the business sets goals, plans and tracks performance across functions, and hold those functions to it consistently, bringing structure to how the business operates as it scales. You will also work closely with the finance function, bringing enough commercial and financial rigour that decisions are grounded in the numbers, though this is fundamentally an operating role rather than a finance leadership one. This is a hands-on role: you need to be as comfortable in the detail, a resourcing call, a KPI dashboard, a process fix, as you are in the boardroom.

You will report directly to the CEO and sit on the leadership team as one of its most senior voices.

What you'll do

Operations & execution

Own the company's operating cadence, goal setting, business planning and performance tracking against targets, and make sure functions are held to it consistently.
Bring structure and consistency to how operations run day to day across the business, working across product, revenue and customer functions rather than owning a single one.
Own the systems, processes and resourcing decisions that let other functions move fast, with the ability to make calls with incomplete information and build the operational backbone the business needs as it scales into new markets.
Support the business through its next phase of international growth, including decisions on where and how to invest and how the operating model needs to evolve as the company scales.
Partner closely with the finance function to bring commercial rigour to planning and target setting, making sure operating decisions are grounded in the numbers.

Leadership & influence

Build enough trust and authority that people bring decisions to you before they need to, because they know you will have a view worth hearing.
Sit at the leadership table as a genuine partner to the CEO, bringing an operating lens to strategic decisions.

What we're looking for

A senior, seasoned operator who has run business operations before, ideally at a business of meaningful scale or complexity. This is not a stepping stone role: you need the credibility and presence to be trusted early and to hold your own with the CEO and leadership team.
Strong commercial judgement and comfort using data to inform decisions, even if finance isn't your core background.
A finance or accounting background is a genuine bonus.
High EQ. You need to be able to challenge people, including the CEO, and get compliance and commitment because people trust your judgement.
A willingness to be hands-on. This is not a role where you set the strategy and hand it off, you will roll up your sleeves, get into the detail, and work alongside the team on the operating rhythm.
Comfortable learning a new industry quickly if you have the underlying commercial and analytical horsepower to get up to speed fast.

Location

Ideally based in Singapore or Hong Kong. Candidates willing to relocate to Singapore or Hong Kong will also be considered.