Senior Director, Financial Operations

Kraken

13h•Remote

About The Position

Kraken is a mission-focused, fully remote company with a world-class team dedicated to accelerating the global adoption of crypto and blockchain technology. Krakenites are industry pioneers developing premium crypto products for experienced traders, institutions, and newcomers. The Finance team operates with crypto-native speed and institutional-grade rigor, aiming to be a product-driven platform rather than a traditional back-office function. This involves designing systems from first principles, maintaining tight integration with product, data, risk, and operations, and leveraging automation and AI to continuously remove risk. This role is a hands-on builder position focused on a coordinated, multi-workstream finance operations transformation, spanning people, process, and automation, with direct accountability for outcomes across the Finance function. The team is remote-first, distributed across multiple time zones, with a bias for asynchronous communication, high agency, and work that compounds at scale.

Requirements

Proven track record as a hands-on finance operator who has driven real cost and efficiency outcomes — not a strategist, a builder
Deep experience across the full financial operations stack: AP, AR, Payroll, TOPS, Tax, close, reporting, and controls
Demonstrated ability to redesign financial workflows and operating models from first principles in a high-growth environment
Hands-on experience applying AI tools and automation to financial operations — shipped outcomes, not just awareness; comfortable building coordinated automation across multiple functions, not just point solutions
Strong track record designing and implementing KPIs, performance targets, and operational dashboards for finance teams
Proven ability to coordinate with and influence engineering and systems teams to prioritize and execute finance work — without direct line authority
Experience partnering with senior leaders on org design and headcount decisions in a Finance context
Strong cross-functional operator in a remote-first, distributed environment — able to influence without authority
High agency: drives outcomes without perfect conditions, ideal resourcing, or a large team beneath them

Nice To Haves

Experience in fintech, financial services, or crypto — particularly environments with complex money movement
Prior ERP transformation or financial systems implementation experience
Familiarity with SOX controls or audit remediation in a Finance context
Experience managing globally distributed finance teams

Responsibilities

Own the ongoing uplift of the Product – Finance operating model, ensuring it delivers real-time visibility, clear ownership, and tight integration between Finance and the business
Define and maintain the right KPIs and targets for each finance team, and build out the dashboards and reporting infrastructure needed to monitor progress and hold teams accountable
Partner closely with the CFO on headcount rationalization and org optimization across Finance
Identify and implement automation and efficiency opportunities across TOPS, Payroll, AP, Tax, and other finance workflows — targeting step-change outcomes, not incremental improvement
Build and own a coordinated automation and AI layer that simplifies work finance-wide — not fragmented point solutions
Eliminate manual and inefficient work across the full financial operations stack: AP, AR, close, reporting, and controls
Coordinate with internal technical teams — FinSys and Engineering — to prioritize and execute automation and systems work; drive alignment without direct line authority over those teams
Maintain working knowledge of how money moves through Kraken’s systems — system connectivity, architecture, and data flows — sufficient to identify gaps and work credibly with engineering partners on solutions
Execute directly — this leader will get their hands dirty and deliver outcomes with a lean team
Partner closely with the CFO and cross-functional leaders across systems, data, and operations to drive alignment