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

• Groundbreaking accounting and financial software for small businesses and their accountants.
• Raised €400 million including from Sequoia.
• Growth from 7 cofounders to 1000 employees; recognized as one of the greatest places to work in France (4.6/5 rating on Glassdoor).
• International environment: more than 25 nationalities, 30% remote across Europe.
• Earned trust of thousands of customers and accounting firms with outstanding ratings.
• Over 900,000 SMEs and 6,000 accounting firms use Pennylane in France.

Context

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 in terms of revenue and product contribution to serve our 750k+ current customer base. To meet this ambit, we are initiating the process to become licensed as an établissement de paiement and société de financement to meet our functional scope. Our ambition is to start onboarding new customers by early 2027 before starting migrating existing customers. To meet this ambition, we are hiring our Tech, Product, Compliance and Ops leaders.

Mission

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 monitor and optimize the performance of the first line of defense, including onboarding, transaction monitoring, fraud & risk.

• 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.

Responsibilities phasing

• 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

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, escalating 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 around 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.

Experience

Profile & Must‑Have 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 contracts, lead integrations with Tech teams.
• Process automation and AI: understanding of ML‑based fraud detection, RPA for document processing, chatbots for L1 support.
• Risk appetite calibration: able to balance compliance rigor with operational efficiency without compromising risk posture.

Soft Skills

• Strong leadership and ability to influence.
• Excellent communication skills across all levels (Board, regulators, operational teams).
• Rigorous, principled, and accountable.
• Pragmatic, impact‑driven approach, capable of operating under strong regulatory constraints without blocking innovation.
• Comfortable operating in a dual posture of operations and advisory, with clear boundaries between the two.
• Strong pedagogy: able to explain complex operations to product managers, engineers and founders in simple, actionable terms.
• Challenging yet constructive: comfortable questioning senior leaders, while remaining solution‑oriented and business‑minded.

Languages, Presence & Location

• Languages: Fluent French and English are mandatory.
• Location:
  • Based in France, with a strong preference for Paris.
  • Regular on‑site presence in Paris is expected; partial remote is possible, but this is not a fully remote role.

Why Join Us?

• Greenfield regulatory project: Be the architect of a new regulated entity, from licence application to operational rollout.
• Massive impact: Shape the way financial services are delivered to hundreds of thousands of French SMEs.
• High autonomy & influence:
  • Direct, regular interaction with the COO.
  • Central role in sustaining the scale of the entity while applying its risk classification.
• Fast‑growing fintech environment:
  • Work closely with top‑tier product and engineering teams.
  • Help invent the next generation of SME financial services under a robust, modern compliance and risk framework.
• Competitive compensation package, including equity components aligned with impact and responsibility.

Hiring process

• HR interview with Simon (Senior Recruiter).
• Interview with Stanislas de Villoutreys (Head of Legal, Compliance and Risk) and Maxime Leclercq (General Manager Financial Services).
• Case with Stanislas and Eric Scaramozzino (VP Strategic Initiatives).
• Fit interview with Felix Blossier (COO and cofounder) and Guillaume Nicolle (Lead Internal Control & Risk).

What do we do to make your work life easier

• 25 vacation days paid by Pennylane.
• Competitive compensation package.
• Company shares.
• Budget to turn your home into a more comfortable workspace, as well as a monthly allowance to work from a coworking space whenever you feel like it.
• Access to 8000 fitness spaces in Europe and more than 300 activities related to wellness.
• Latest Apple equipment.
• Option to work remotely from your country of residence, as long as it is in Europe and within a maximum time difference of two hours from the CET time zone.
• Regular company events such as Tech Days (which bring remote Pennylaners together every 3 months) and an annual company seminar.
• For employees based in France, a French contract following French regulation, plus additional perks: 6 to 12 RTT, 5 weeks PTO, lunch credits (Swile), Alan Blue healthcare cover and regular events in cities where Pennylaners are mostly present (Lyon, Bordeaux, Nantes).
• We are working to provide those last advantages to people based outside France as well.

Who are we looking for ?

• To speak English (level is assessed and appreciated according to the department you’re applying to).
• To be energized by an ever‑shifting work environment.
• To be highly collaborative (within your team or other stakeholders).
• Sufficiently experienced to prioritize business‑led actions on your day to day activity.

We know that some people are less likely to apply than others, if they don’t feel like they meet the full list of criteria. If you’re hesitating, we encourage you to apply: who knows, it might be the start of a meaningful and long‑lasting collaboration.

Important information for candidates

• Recruitment scam attempts are on the rise. We invite you to remain vigilant during your exchanges.
• Applications through official channels only: apply exclusively through our job postings published on our official platforms (career site, official partner pages).
• Always verify the sender's email address: our communications are sent from professional email addresses with the domains @pennylane.com or @pennylane-partners.com.
• We will never ask you for payment or financial information (bank details, payment for an interview, equipment purchases, etc.) as part of the recruitment process. If such a request is made to you, it is fraudulent. We invite you not to respond and to report it to us immediately.
• We fully embrace diversity, equity and inclusion and we’re doing our best to create a safe and inclusive environment.
• We are committed to providing an equal employment opportunity regardless of gender, sexual orientation, origin, disabilities, or any other traits that make you who you are. If anything, diversity makes us a more fun place to work at.