Director of Business Operations - North America

Wise • Austin, TX

4d • Hybrid

About The Position

Wise is seeking a Director of Business Operations (NorthAm) to shape the future of its operations across North America. This strategic and hands-on leadership role involves leading business operations, identifying improvement opportunities, and guiding a team of BizOps managers. The position offers high visibility and a potential succession pathway to senior executive entity leadership in North America. The Director will also serve as the primary operational representative to regulators and the regional Board of Directors.

Requirements

• A minimum of 7+ years of experience in senior operational leadership roles within FinTech or at US banks.
• A highly successful track record in senior operational leadership, with a sophisticated approach to managing people, processes, and fast-moving organizational change.
• Demonstrated ability to execute and scale within complex, tech-driven operations or product-led servicing environments.
• Proven experience representing operations to regulators and a board of directors.
• A track record of working in true partnership with product teams to build effective solutions for support challenges.
• Ability to build and execute against KPIs and use data to solve complex problems and find insights.
• A strong understanding of the laws, culture, and regulations within the US market.

Responsibilities

• Lead the North American operational strategy, directing a matrixed footprint of over 1,000 support and servicing team members located in European hubs (Budapest and Tallinn), while building out local teams in Austin and São Paulo.
• Lead the business operations organization in the region, identifying and capitalizing on opportunities to enhance efficiency and performance.
• Work closely with global heads to shape the future of the region, including location strategy and capacity planning.
• Lead and develop a small team of high-performing BizOps managers, guiding them to execute on key operational improvements.
• Represent operations confidently and credibly in front of regulators and the board of directors.
• Collaborate with the North American leadership team on strategic expansion into new markets and regions.
• Grow and mentor local operational leaders, hire new talent, and establish effective local ways of working, including hybrid models and career growth opportunities.
• Embrace a flat organizational structure by being a leader who can both strategize and execute, getting hands-on to solve problems and drive projects forward.
• Scale regional operations efficiently and sustainably.
• Drive structural improvements, holding accountability for regional servicing metrics (including SLAs, efficiency targets and resolution quality).
• Work in lockstep with product teams to build forward-looking infrastructure that upgrades operations.
• Proactively identify systemic operational vulnerabilities, lead high-impact automation projects, and drive contact deflection strategies to scale volume without linearly scaling headcount.
• Translate product requirements into a sustainable servicing model and formulate both long-term strategies and actionable 6-month plans.
• Build, track and execute against robust KPIs, using data to uncover operational insights and eliminate customer friction points.
• Act as a 'local office leader', owning decisions on location changes, and contributing to the hybrid work strategy.
• Provide key input into forecasting and hiring decisions.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed