Heads of Operations - Financial Services

Are you looking to have an impact on the daily life of millions of entrepreneurs in France (and tomorrow in Europe)?

Are you looking for a work environment that values trust, proactivity, and autonomy?

Then Pennylane is the right place for you !

Our vision

We aim to become the most beloved financial Operating System of French SMEs and Accounting Firms (and soon, European ones).

We help entrepreneurs rid themselves of time\-consuming tasks related to accounting and finance while providing them with access to key financial information to assist in making the best decisions for their business.

About us

Pennylane is one of the fastest growing Fintechs in France (and soon to be in Europe!)

In 5 years of existence, we’ve managed to :

Make ourselves known as a groundbreaking accounting and financial software for small businesses and their accountants

Raise a total of €400 millions, including from Sequoia, the famous fund from the Silicon Valley who invested early in companies like Google, Facebook, Airbnb, Stripe, Paypal and much more...

Grow from 7 cofounders to 1000 happy Pennylaners : we’re now recognized as one of the greatest places to work in France (and also remotely), with a 4\.6/5 rating on Glassdoor.

Build an international environment with more than 25 nationalities, with a strong remote\-friendly culture, where 30% of the employees are already working from all parts of Europe

Earn the trust of thousands of customers and accounting firms and obtain outstanding ratings

Already more than 900,000 small and medium\-sized enterprises (SMEs) and over 6000 accounting firms use Pennylane in France!

Context
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We are currently operating approximately 30k business accounts under a BaaS model. The role of Financial Services in Pennylane’s strategy is set to grow, both in terms of revenue and product contribution, to serve our 750k\+ current customer base.

As such, we are initiating a process to get licensed as *Etablissement de paiement* et *Société de financement* to meet our current functional scope at the very least. Our ambition is to start onboarding new customers by early 2027 before starting migrating existing customers.

To meet this ambition, we are starting to hire our Tech, Product, Compliance and Ops leaders.

Reporting directly to the COO, you will be responsible for the application of the company LCB\-FT and risk policies on both payment \& credit scopes. You will be monitoring and optimizing the performance of the first line of defense, including onboarding, transaction monitoring, fraud \& risk.

Your mission would be to :

• Build \& lead three teams of analysts (KYB, Transaction monitoring, Risk \& Fraud)


• Deploy LCB\-FT policies \& control their proper application by your teams


• Contribute to KYB \& TM tooling implementation \& team training


• Optimize the efficiency of your teams and tools, leveraging AI and automating processes while protecting at all cost our risk appetite


• Work in close collaboration with the Compliance \& Fraud \& Risk teams of the LoD2

This is a greenfield project with high autonomy and responsibility, direct exposure to regulators, and the opportunity to shape the operations of a fast\-growing fintech with a robust pre\-existing customer base

Responsibilities phasing
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• Phase 1 (pre\-licence \& migration, 2026\-2027\) :

+ Work closely with the COO \& Strategic Project Manager to support licence application and customer migration from BaaS to EP
+ Focus 100% on payment operations (KYB, TM, Fraud) and building LoD1 infrastructure

• Phase 2 (post\-licence, 2027\+) :

+ Progressively integrate credit operations (credit assessment \& decisioning) as the Société de Financement scope ramps up
+ Scale LoD1 to support both payment and credit activities across a growing customer base

Missions \& objectives
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Operations program

• Build and scale LoD1 from 30k to 300k\+ accounts within 24 months post\-licence

+ Recruit, onboard and train 3 operational teams: KYB/KYC L1 (target: 15\-20 FTE), Transaction Monitoring L1 (target: 10\-15 FTE), Fraud \& Risk L1 (target: 5\-8 FTE)
+ Define team structures, roles, responsibilities, and career paths aligned with regulatory requirements
+ Establish SLAs and performance frameworks for each team
+ Define collaboration models with Pennylane SAS (agent of Pennylane Financial Services) and with the LoD2

• Own the full operational lifecycle: onboarding transaction monitoring fraud detection offboarding


• Manage budget and forecasting for LoD1 operations (headcount, tools, training)

Norms, Policies \& Procedures application

• Deploy and enforce LCB\-FT policies defined by translating regulatory obligations into daily operations

+ Ensure 100% compliance with KYB/KYC workflows: customer risk classification, high\-risk escalations, PEP screening, sanctions checks
+ Execute transaction monitoring rules as defined by Compliance, escalate L2 alerts to TM L2 within SLA
+ Apply fraud detection policies and manage escalation to Fraud \& Risk L2

• Challenge policy applicability when operational friction is excessive; propose pragmatic adjustments to LoD2 while maintaining risk appetite


• Apply credit \& merchant risk policies as per our risk classification

Tools \& process automation

• Own vendors relationship for LoD1 tooling (SLAs monitoring, escalations, improvements)


• Deploy AI\-powered automation on repetitive tasks: document verification, anomaly detection, alert triage


• Own back\-office access management for all LoD1 teams (suspend, block, temporary wallets)


• Contribute to design the back\-office of your teams by collaborating with a dedicated Product squad

Performance optimization

• Own monitoring \& reporting KPIs : definition of metrics, development of performance dashboard \& reporting


• Identify bottlenecks in workflows and tooling and implement corrective actions


• Implement QA framework (random sampling, calibration sessions, peer reviews…)


• Run continuous improvement cycles by implementing red\-bin processes \& collaborating with LoD2


• Benchmark performance against industry standards (other EPs, fintechs)


• Leverage data analytics to predict operational load and adjust team capacity proactively


• Consider outsourcing to BPOs and own the integration \& deployment of this strategy

Training \& Advisory

• Train LoD1 teams on LCB\-FT requirements, tooling, escalation procedures


• Translate complex compliance requirements into simple, actionable guidance for product, business \& tech counterparts


• Act as operational advisor to Product on new features: assess feasibility, identify compliance risks, propose mitigations


• Develop training materials: playbooks, SOPs, decision trees for analysts

Governance \& Reporting

• Participate in quarterly risk committees with LoD2 and Executive Committee


• Maintain audit trails for all operational decisions (KYB rejections, TM escalations, fraud cases) to ensure regulatory traceability


• Coordinate with LoD2 on controls testing: provide evidence, remediate gaps identified by internal audits


• Support Lod2 on regulatory reporting (incidents escalation, statistics, potential support to LoD2 analysts for SAR)


• Defines \& executes operational crisis protocols, post\-mortem analysis \& remediation plans

Team Leadership

• Recruit and lead a multi\-layer organization of \~80 FTEs across KYB L1, TM L1, Fraud \& Risk L1 within 18 months


• Build your N\-1 lines with dedicated performance framework and dedicated team cultures


• Foster a culture of rigor, accountability, and continuous learning


• Ensure work\-life balance despite operational intensity; implement shift rotations, on\-call schedules


• Develop talent internally: promote high performers, create senior analyst / team lead roles


• Collaborate cross\-functionally with Tech, Product, Compliance, and Risk teams

Projects \& expansion

• Accompany licence passporting to other European markets, starting with Germany : own organization evolution, localization and process adaptation


• Plan \& accompany customers migration out of the BaaS model together with the Strategic Project Manager overseeing our licence project (knowledge transfer, incident management, coordination)

Credit risk assessment \& decisioning

• Deploy credit risk policies defined by LoD2 across all credit products (wallet financing, invoice financing, BNPL)


• Manage credit origination workflows


• Monitor active credit portfolio by tracking repayment schedules \& low signals


• Challenge risk policies when operational friction blocks growth


• Oversee credit risk performance and implement credit decisioning tools

Profile \& Must‑Have Experience
-----------------------------------

Experience

• 8\+ years in financial services operations, ideally in a regulated fintech, bank, or payment institution


• 3\+ years managing LoD1 operations (KYB/KYC, transaction monitoring, fraud \& risk) in a regulated environment


• Direct experience with ACPR or similar EU regulator (AMF, BaFin, FCA): licence application, audits, reporting


• Track record in scaling environment


• Hands\-on experience implementing and optimizing LCB\-FT tooling


• Experience working under dual reporting (operational \+ compliance) in a 3 Lines of Defense model


• Bonus: experience in credit operations (Société de financement scope) or BaaS partnerships

Technical Skills

• Deep knowledge of French AML/CTF regulations: ACPR requirements, TRACFIN obligations, FATF standards


• Operational expertise in KYB/KYC workflows, transaction monitoring rules (scenario design, thresholds), fraud typologies


• Data\-driven approach: proficient in analytics tools (SQL, BI dashboards), able to interpret operational metrics and drive decisions


• Tooling evaluation and implementation: ability to assess vendors, negotiate c

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