Founding Ops Lead – Regulated FinTech Payments Infrastructure

Founding Operations Lead – Regulated FinTech Payments InfrastructureEurope / UK · Remote · c.€120k + Equity The opportunityI'm proud to be partnering with one of Europe's most interesting early-stage fintechs - building regulated financial infrastructure that enables money to move seamlessly between traditional banking systems and blockchain networks. The platform combines Euro IBANs, stablecoin wallets, SEPA/SWIFT connectivity and cross-border settlement into a single programmable ecosystem. As one of only a handful of companies in Europe licensed to issue a euro stablecoin, this is genuinely rare infrastructure - built at the intersection of regulated banking and digital assets. Backed by institutional investment and operating across Europe and Asia, the business is founder-led, fast-moving and entering a critical stage of growth. They are now hiring their first Operations Lead. What this role actually isThis is not an Operations Manager role focused on running and maintaining processes that already exist. This is a 0→1 build role. The business needs someone who has joined a company before the operational infrastructure existed - who has written the first SOPs, designed the first workflows, figured out what needed to be built and then built it. If your career has been spent optimising and scaling within established, mature operational functions, this is probably not the right fit.If, on the other hand, you have been the person who built the operational foundation of a scaling fintech from scratch - and you are comfortable doing that inside a small, flat, founder-led team with very little hierarchy - this could be a strong match. The role spans operations, onboarding, customer lifecycle, compliance workflows and product-adjacent process improvement across multiple entities, including a Lithuanian EMI. You will sit at the centre of Operations, Compliance, Product and Commercial - helping turn a licensed platform into a scalable, revenue-generating infrastructure business. What you'll own→ Operational architecture across onboarding, payments, settlement and reconciliation→ Writing the first SOPs across the full customer lifecycle - from onboarding through to servicing and account closure→ KYB/KYC and onboarding workflows that reduce friction while maintaining robust controls→ Transaction monitoring, operational risk controls and compliance process design→ Efficiency and automation improvements across compliance and product operations→ Customer service standards, escalation frameworks and response procedures→ Roles, permissions and workflow design across a multi-entity, multi-licence structure→ Translating regulatory requirements (EMI, FCA, MiCA) into practical operational infrastructure→ Cross-functional alignment across Compliance, Product, Technology and Commercial teams→ Supporting early operational hiring as the team grows What we're looking forYou are likely from a payments, fintech, EMI or regulated financial services background - with demonstrable experience building operational infrastructure from scratch, not inheriting it.You are comfortable operating strategically and getting into the detail, and you know when each is required. Critically, you have done this inside a small, founder-led business where the pace is high, the structure is flat and the expectation is that you figure things out. Strongly aligned candidates will have:→ Direct experience within EMI, FCA, MiCA or digital asset-regulated environments→ A track record of building and documenting operational workflows from zero - not improving existing ones→ Experience writing original SOPs in a pre-process or early-stage environment→ Strong understanding of onboarding, KYC/KYB, customer lifecycle and process design→ Comfort working across compliance, product, operations and customer-facing functions simultaneously→ Experience in a founder-led or early-stage business where breadth, ownership and ambiguity are the norm→ Crypto, stablecoin or fiat-to-crypto exposure (advantageous but not essential) You'll thrive here if you:→ Have been the person who built the function, not the person who ran it→ Are naturally structured and systematic - but comfortable when the structure doesn't exist yet→ Can move between strategy and execution without needing to be told which is required→ Want significant ownership and direct founder exposure→ Are energised by building something rather than managing what is already built Why joinThis is a foundational hire at a pivotal stage of growth - with direct exposure to the founders, meaningful equity, genuine scope to grow into broader leadership as the business scales, and the chance to shape how an ambitious, globally positioned fintech operates from the inside.If you are the person who builds the infrastructure others later run, we would love to hear from you.