Operations Director

Data Science UA is a service company with deep expertise in AI and Data Science. Our story started in 2016 with the first Data Science UA Conference in Kyiv, and since then, we've built one of the largest AI communities in Europe.

About the Role:
We are looking for an Operations Director to the client’s team.
The operations directorate will be built from scratch.
This is a senior build mandate. We are looking for an operator who has consolidated scattered operational functions into a managed directorate before, and who can do it in an organisation that has not previously had documented processes.
 

Responsibilities:
- Build and consolidate the service perimeter.
- Branch network: format, operating standards, cash discipline, limits, service speed.
- Cash logistics and transportation, resource availability across locations.
- Payment infrastructure: consolidation from business lines, legal and electronic rails.
- Customer support, customer experience and the contact centre.
- Define the target operating model for the directorate and build the management team under it.
- Create a single point of resolution for client requests, replacing the current sequential chain of approvals between units.
- Define service levels towards business lines and the commercial function: targets, measurement, impact on remuneration.
- Document and standardise core operational processes where none currently exist.
- Own cost per transaction and the operational cost base.
- Build the performance measurement system for service functions and the reporting behind it.
- Cascade group objectives into operational units.
- Arbitrate priorities between business lines and shared infrastructure.
- Operational readiness for entry into new markets.
- Automation of operational processes together with the product and technology functions.
- Build and develop the operations leadership bench.
 

Requirements:
Must have:
- 12+ years in operations, including 5+ years leading operations in an organisation of 500+ employees.
- Built an operations function from a low base — not inherited a mature one.
- Consolidated operational functions out of business units into a shared directorate, including managing the political resistance that comes with it.
- Managed a distributed network: branches, service points or regional operations.
- Implemented service levels and performance metrics for internal service functions.
- Documented and standardised processes in an environment where none existed.
- Owned operational cost and unit economics of transactions.
- Working English.
 

Nice to have:
- Financial services, banking, payments or a retail network with cash operations.
- Experience with cash handling, cash logistics and custody of valuables.
- Operational support of expansion into new jurisdictions.
- Process automation and systems implementation experience.
 

What the client offers:
- A directorate to design and build from the ground up.
- Direct reporting line to the CEO and a seat at the management committee.
- Full authority over the service perimeter and the mandate to consolidate it.
- A visible, measurable problem to solve with clear commercial impact.