Chief Operational Officer (Fintech)

About BankStore

BankStore is a global fintech platform that helps startups, SMEs, venture funds, and Web3 businesses access essential financial infrastructure. Our AI-driven matching engine connects clients to a curated network of 70+ banks, 90+ acquirers, and 180+ payment providers across 95+ currencies, alongside fast-track company incorporation in 8 startup-friendly jurisdictions and ongoing legal and compliance support. We operate across the UK, US, UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Europe, giving founders a single point of access to banking, payments, and legal searvices that would otherwise take months to assemble.

The Role

We're looking for a Chief Operating Officer to run the day-to-day engine of BankStore: the operational backbone connecting our clients to banks, acquirers, payment providers, and incorporation partners across multiple jurisdictions. You'll own operational strategy, scale our partner network and onboarding processes, and turn a fast-moving fintech marketplace into a predictable, efficient, and compliant operation. You will report directly to the CEO, sit on the leadership team, and work closely with Legal, Compliance, Product, and Partnerships.

What You'll Do

• Own end-to-end operations across BankStore's marketplace: client onboarding (KYB/KYC), bank and payment-provider matching, account opening, and incorporation fulfillment.
• Build and scale the operating processes and SLAs behind onboarding 100+ banks, 90+ acquirers, and 180+ payment providers across 95+ currencies.
• Manage and grow relationships with partner banks, acquirers, payment providers, and incorporation agents across the UK, US, UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Europe.
• Design and monitor operational KPIs (onboarding time, approval rates, turnaround SLAs, partner performance) and drive continuous improvement.
• Partner with Legal and Compliance to ensure operational processes meet KYB/KYC/AML requirements across all jurisdictions of operation.
• Lead and scale operations, customer success, and partnerships teams as the company grows headcount.
• Own the operating budget and resource planning across departments, working closely with Finance.
• Drive process automation and tooling improvements in partnership with Product and Engineering to reduce manual work in onboarding and account management.
• Oversee vendor and partner contract performance, escalations, and renewal strategy in coordination with Legal.
• Represent operations in leadership planning: pricing, market expansion (new jurisdictions/currencies), and new product launches (e.g., Web3 payments, banking cards).
• Build contingency and risk-mitigation plans for partner outages, compliance holds, or banking relationship disruptions.

• Report operational performance and business metrics to the CEO and board.

   

What We're Looking For

• 8+ years of operations leadership experience, with at least 3+ years in a senior operating role (COO, VP Ops, Head of Ops) at a fintech, payments, or banking-as-a-service company.
• Proven track record scaling multi-jurisdictional operations involving banking partners, payment providers, or acquirers.
• Working knowledge of KYB/KYC/AML onboarding processes and how they intersect with operational workflows.
• Experience managing partner and vendor relationships with financial institutions.
• Strong analytical skills with a track record of building KPIs, dashboards, and SLAs that drive measurable operational improvement.
• Experience building and leading cross-functional teams (operations, customer success, partnerships) in a fast-growing startup environment.
• Comfortable operating with ambiguity, building processes from scratch, and iterating quickly.
• Excellent written and spoken English; additional languages are a plus.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, able to work closely with Legal, Compliance, Product, and Finance leaders.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Web3/crypto client operations or compliance considerations.
• Prior experience at a banking-as-a-service, embedded finance, or fintech marketplace company.
• Experience operating across the UK, US, UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore, or EU markets specifically.
• Experience with company incorporation or corporate services operations.