Head of Business Operations - North America - Wise Platform

We are seeking a Head of Business Operations to serve as the regional operational engine and strategic lead for Wise Platform in North America. In this high-visibility leadership role, you will step into a critical environment to transform regional partner operations, turning and keeping operational metrics consistently "green" and transitioning manual workflows into automated infrastructure. Your role entails balancing high-level regional strategy with hands-on execution. You will drive cross-functional alignment across product, compliance, and core servicing teams (KYC, Support, Payment Operations), directly lead an established Partner Operations team, and partner with commercial leads to scale operating models for new banking and enterprise partners. Responsibilities • Regional Operational Governance & Turnaround: Own regional servicing performance and SLAs across North America, performing deep-dive diagnostic assessments to isolate root causes and restore distressed partner operations. • Cross-Functional Influence Without Authority: Establish matrix leadership over non-direct reporting servicing domains (Payment Operations, Enterprise Support, KYC/FinCrime, Compliance) to align roadmaps, capacity planning, and SLA prioritization. • Product & Engineering Alignment: Build rigorous, data-driven ROI business cases comparing operational capacity trade-offs against engineering hours to convince Product teams to automate systemic operational bottlenecks and case-routing flaws. • Customer Success Management: Directly lead, mentor, and scale an established team of 4-5 Partner Operations Managers, steering regional operations away from reactive firefighting toward structured, long-term scalable partnerships. • Commercial Integration & Scaling: Partner with regional Commercial, Deal-Flow, and Delivery teams to build scalable operational frameworks and incubate setups for new enterprise clients and platform feature launches. • Incident & Escalation Management: Serve as the senior operational escalation point for Tier 1 bank partners during high-stakes situations, structuring post-mortems and preventative frameworks to systematically eliminate repeating operational failures. Qualifications • 8+ Years of Fintech & Payments Operational Leadership: Proven track record of managing and scaling operations within fintechs, regulated financial services, or tech corporations housing a dedicated payments arm. • Proven SLA & Metric Turnaround: Documented experience independently owning complex operational KPIs (resolution time, handling time, quality scores) and executing turnarounds from "red" to "green". • Matrixed Leadership Across Regulated Domains: Demonstrated ability to navigate matrix organizations and drive operational alignment across non-direct reporting teams (technical KYC, FinCrime, Compliance, Product) without direct line authority. • Data Literacy & Business Case Modeling: Proficiency with data analytics dashboards and spreadsheets to conduct cost-per-service analyses and build persuasive ROI cases for Product and Engineering investment. • Enterprise Partner Depth & Incident Management: Deep operational experience handling high-stakes enterprise/banking relationships, backend payment workflows, cross-border infrastructure, and structuring root-cause post-mortems. • Strategic & Methodical Problem-Solving: Ability to cut through operational noise, maintain long-term platform strategy, and establish scalable operating frameworks amid day-to-day business-as-usual noise. Additional Information This is a hybrid position located in New York City, New York, and not fully remote (minimum 3 days at office).