Senior Director, International Business Development

APEX Fintech Services • New York City, NY

7d • $220,000 - $275,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

As Senior Director, International Business Development at Apex, you will be instrumental in spearheading our global expansion strategy by establishing and launching broker-dealer operations in new international jurisdictions. This is a 0-to-100 role for a seasoned business builder who thrives in ambiguity and excels at transforming strategic vision into operational reality. You will lead the end-to-end process of establishing licensed entities in target markets—from initial market assessment and regulatory strategy through entity formation, license acquisition, and operational launch. While a Solution Architect focuses on platform localization and technical architecture for our Ascend platform, you will own the business establishment, regulatory compliance, and market entry strategy that enables our technology solutions to serve clients in new jurisdictions. This role demands a unique combination of regulatory expertise, financial acumen, diplomatic skills, and entrepreneurial spirit. You must be comfortable navigating complex regulatory landscapes, building relationships with foreign authorities, and orchestrating cross-functional efforts across Legal, Compliance, Finance, Operations, Technology, and Sales to successfully launch new international business lines.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required; MBA or Master’s in Finance, International Business, or related field strongly preferred.
• 12+ years leading international financial services operations, with expertise in broker-dealer/wealth management launches.
• FINRA Series 7, 24, and 27 licenses (or international equivalents) strongly preferred.
• Regulatory expertise across US, UK, EU, and APAC markets; proven success obtaining global licenses.
• Strong financial modeling, capital calculations, and financial statement analysis.
• Exceptional project management and stakeholder engagement across time zones.
• Skilled communicator and negotiator with regulators and executives.
• Proven leadership in aligning cross-functional teams and managing risks.

Responsibilities

• Create comprehensive Five-Year Business Plans tailored to target markets, including market size analysis, competitive positioning, client acquisition strategies, revenue projections, operational infrastructure needs, and risk mitigation frameworks.
• Develop sophisticated financial models forecasting revenue by product line and client segment, operating expenses, capital requirements, break-even analysis, and path to profitability.
• Prepare financial documentation such as Income Statements, Balance Sheets, Cash Flow projections, Regulatory Capital calculations, and Early Warning thresholds for business cases and regulatory submissions.
• Build investment cases for new market entry, outlining ROI, strategic rationale, and resource requirements to secure leadership buy-in and funding.
• Lead go-to-market strategy development for each jurisdiction, focusing on target client segments, value propositions, and competitive differentiators.
• Drive business development efforts by prospecting, pitching, and closing anchor clients to validate market fit and generate early revenue.
• Collaborate with Sales and Relationship Management teams to develop territory plans, sales enablement materials, and client success frameworks.
• Gather and synthesize client feedback on product requirements, service expectations, and competitive insights to inform platform development priorities.
• Define product and service requirements for new markets from scratch, translating regulatory mandates, client needs, and competitive dynamics into actionable specifications.
• Partner with the Global Wealth Services Solution Architect to ensure platform capabilities align with region-specific needs (e.g., account types, tax forms, payment rails, reporting standards).
• Develop business architecture outlining workflows, onboarding journeys, service delivery models, and integration points with local partners (clearing brokers, banks, custodians).
• Prioritize feature development based on regulatory requirements, competitive necessity, and revenue impact, creating clear roadmaps for MVP and subsequent releases.
• Facilitate requirements workshops across Technology, Product, Operations, and Compliance teams for shared understanding of market-specific needs and technical feasibility.
• Develop and execute detailed launch plans with milestones, dependencies, accountability structures, and contingency frameworks.
• Plan and execute phased rollout, starting with pilot clients to validate models, identify opportunities, and build case studies
• Monitor post-launch performance against business assumptions, adjusting strategies, pricing, or service allocation as needed.

Benefits

• We offer a robust package of employee perks and benefits, including healthcare benefits (medical, dental and vision, EAP), competitive PTO, 401k match, parental leave, and HSA contribution match.
• We also provide our employees with a paid subscription to the Calm app and offer generous external learning and tuition reimbursement benefits.
• At AFS , we offer a hybrid work schedule for most roles that allows employees to have the flexibility of working from home and one of our primary offices.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees