Group Operations Director – Payments

Company: Space Executive
Apply for the Group Operations Director – Payments
Location: London
Job Description:

The Company

This is a high-growth, profitable business operating at the heart of global financial services. With 250+ people across offices in the UK, Toronto, and Dubai, they deliver cross-border payment solutions, Virtual IBAN, and FX risk management capabilities to a diverse client base. With APAC expansion on the horizon and an active M&A strategy, the business is entering an exciting new phase of scale.

The Opportunity

This is a senior operational leadership role with a broad, global remit. As Group Operations Director, you will own and drive the performance of the operational function – spanning KYC/onboarding, customer support, treasury/safeguarding, and payments – as the business continues to grow in complexity and geographic reach.

This is a high-impact position for an operationally minded leader who understands how a best-in-class operations function should be structured, and who can bring the rigour, process, and people leadership to make it a reality.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Leadership

  • Own the end-to-end operational function, setting the strategy and standards across all teams
  • Act as the senior point of accountability for operational performance, risk, and continuous improvement
  • Partner closely with the COO and broader leadership team to ensure operations enables – rather than constrains – commercial growth

Team Leadership

  • Directly manage a team of 6 reports across Onboarding, Customer Support, Treasury/Safeguarding, and Payments
  • Build a high-performance culture: clear goals, strong accountability, and a genuine commitment to developing talent
  • Drive cross-functional collaboration and alignment across operational disciplines

KYC & Onboarding

  • Own first-line KYC and client onboarding processes, ensuring a frictionless yet compliant experience
  • Continuously refine onboarding workflows to improve speed, quality, and scalability
  • Work closely with compliance and risk to ensure regulatory obligations are met globally

Payments & Treasury / Safeguarding

  • Oversee payment operations and treasury/safeguarding functions, ensuring accuracy, efficiency, and regulatory compliance
  • Manage and develop key banking relationships, ensuring operational continuity and the ability to scale
  • Identify and mitigate operational risk across payment flows and treasury activities

Customer Support

  • Lead the implementation and ongoing development of the customer support function
  • Set and monitor service standards, driving a client-first culture across the team
  • Use client feedback and data to identify recurring issues and drive structural improvements

What We’re Looking For

Experience

  • Significant experience in an operational leadership role within FX, payments, or broader financial services
  • Proven track record managing multi-disciplinary teams across complex, regulated environments
  • Hands-on experience working with banking partners and navigating banking relationships at a senior level

Skills & Approach

  • A clear understanding of how a modern, scalable operations function should be structured and run
  • Strong process orientation – able to introduce structure and rigour without creating unnecessary bureaucracy
  • Commercially astute, with the ability to connect operational excellence to business outcomes
  • Exceptional stakeholder management and communication skills at all levels
  • A hands-on leader who leads by example and is comfortable rolling up their sleeves when needed

Posted: June 11th, 2026