🌍 About the Company

The company is developing a regulated FinTech product focused on electronic money and payment services. The product is progressing through the EMI licensing process and preparing for market entry. The business is establishing the governance, controls, technology, partnerships, and operational capabilities required to operate as a regulated financial institution. This role offers the opportunity to build the operating model before launch and lead its execution as the product grows.

💼 About the Role

The company is seeking a full-time, fully dedicated Chief Operating Officer to complete the operational workstream of its EMI licence application and prepare the business for launch. You will turn the approved business plan and regulatory commitments into effective processes, systems, controls, and service standards. After authorisation, you will take full ownership of day-to-day operations, go-to-market readiness, partner delivery, and the continued development of a scalable operating model.

🔍 Responsibilities

• Take full ownership of the operational workstream required to complete the EMI licensing process;

• Design and implement the target operating model, organisational workflows, controls, and service standards;

• Translate licensing commitments and regulatory requirements into practical day-to-day procedures;

• Lead operational readiness across customer onboarding, payments, safeguarding, reconciliations, complaints, and incident management;

• Coordinate the go-to-market plan, ensuring that people, systems, partners, and processes are ready for launch;

• Select and manage banking, payment, technology, outsourcing, and other critical operational partners;

• Establish performance indicators, management reporting, capacity planning, and service-quality controls;

• Oversee outsourcing arrangements, business continuity, operational resilience, and third-party performance;

• Work closely with finance, legal, compliance, risk, product, and technology leaders to resolve operational dependencies;

• Build and lead the operations team, creating clear accountability and a culture of disciplined execution.

🎓 Requirements

• 5+ years of senior operations leadership experience within banking, payments, an EMI, a payment institution, or another regulated financial services business;

• Previous involvement in an EMI, payment institution, banking, or comparable licence application;

• Proven experience building or scaling operational processes for a regulated financial product;

• Strong understanding of payment operations, customer onboarding, reconciliations, safeguarding, complaints, and third-party oversight;

• Experience leading go-to-market readiness and coordinating complex cross-functional delivery;

• Ability to take full ownership of operations while remaining hands-on during licensing and launch;

• Professional proficiency in Latvian and English;

• Residence in Latvia and availability for a full-time, fully dedicated executive role.

Nice to Have

• Direct experience working with Latvijas Banka or another EU financial regulator;

• Knowledge of PSD2, EMD2, outsourcing, operational resilience, and safeguarding requirements;

• Experience launching payment accounts, e-money, cards, transfers, or related FinTech products;

• Familiarity with payment processors, banking partners, core platforms, and customer support operations.

🤝 Key Competencies

• Executive ownership and accountability for operational outcomes;

• Strong judgement when balancing regulatory requirements, customer needs, and commercial priorities;

• Ability to turn complex plans into clear processes, responsibilities, and delivery milestones;

• Confident leadership across internal teams, external partners, and senior stakeholders;

• Structured decision-making, prioritisation, and problem-solving;

• Calm, decisive management of incidents, dependencies, and changing launch requirements.

✨ The Employer Offers

• A competitive salary of €6,000–€9,000 gross per month, based on experience;

• A permanent, full-time COO mandate extending beyond the licensing phase;

• Full ownership of operations throughout authorisation, market launch, and growth;

• Direct influence over the operating model, customer experience, partnerships, and commercial execution;

• The opportunity to build operational processes, controls, and teams from their foundations;

• Close collaboration with senior professionals across finance, legal, compliance, risk, product, and technology;

• Long-term career scope as the regulated product enters the market and expands.

If you know how to turn a licensed business plan into reliable, scalable operations, apply to lead the journey from regulatory preparation through market launch and long-term growth.