Chief Operating Officer, UK

Kraken

16d

About The Position

Payward, the parent company behind Kraken and other financial infrastructure platforms, is building the leading regulated crypto and payments platform in the UK. As the UK moves towards a full FSMA authorisation regime, Kraken is seeking a Chief Operating Officer to be the operational backbone of this transition. This is a hands-on individual contributor role with significant scope, responsible for the operational running of the UK business, including its EMI (Electronic Money Institution), supporting licensing workstreams, and driving special projects and growth initiatives. The role is designed for an operator with a background in strategy consulting who has transitioned to operational execution, is eager for a broad remit, and wants to build a regulated business from within during a critical period of regulatory crystallisation in the UK.

Requirements

8-12 years of experience, with roots in strategy consulting (MBB, Big 4 strategy, or boutique) and a proven track record of operational execution in-house/in industry.
Experience operating within a scaling UK fintech, bank, or crypto firm in roles such as special projects, chief of staff, operations strategy, or operations lead, with a history of taking on scope beyond the defined title.
Deep familiarity with the UK regulatory environment, having operated within an FCA regulated firm (ideally a MiFID investment firm, bank, or EMI).
Understanding of SMCR, safeguarding, financial promotions rules, Consumer Duty, operational resilience, and outsourcing rules.
Track record of running complex cross-functional programs without formal authority.
Ability to pick up work outside of the job description when necessary.
Structured and rigorous approach to governance and controls, with an aversion to bureaucracy.
Excellent communication skills across regulators, boards, engineers, and commercial partners.
Comfort with ambiguity, a broad remit, and a title signifying ownership.
Self-measurement based on shipped and landed results, not headcount.

Nice To Haves

Payments fluency, including understanding of EMIs, banks, PSPs, and fintechs, with deep knowledge of funding flows, safeguarding, and payment operations.
Crypto or digital assets experience, either in industry or through regulated product launches.
Exposure to SMCR environments.
Experience supporting or leading an authorisation, licence application, or regulatory change programme end-to-end.
Former founder, GM, or early operations hire at a fintech or crypto startup.

Responsibilities

Run day-to-day operations across UK entities, including EMI operations at Payward Services Limited, covering safeguarding, payment services requirements, operational risk and incident management, outsourcing and intra-group coordination, audit and regulatory readiness, and Board/ExCo/management reporting.
Lead the operational workstreams for FCA authorisation efforts, including crypto (CASP) authorisation and MiFID scope application.
Partner with Legal, Compliance, and the UK CEO to translate regulatory requirements into governance processes, controls, documentation, and evidence for the FCA.
Serve as the operational counterpart to the FCA, managing information requests, supervisory queries, incident notifications, and follow-up actions.
Identify and execute growth opportunities for the UK business, with a focus on payments, including scaling EMI and fiat rails, growing institutional and B2B payments, and landing commercial partnerships.
Own UK product operations and launch readiness, particularly for payments (on/off-ramp, fiat funding rails) and trading products.
Gate go-lives against regulatory and operational requirements, oversee financial promotions (three lines of defence), and build controls for regulated product launches.