Director of Operations

Why Collctiv?

This is a genuinely big deal.

Collctiv is a FinTech with a mission: make life easier for the people who organise everything for everyone else. We have 2.4 million users, £2m+ in revenue, and a team of 13. We know where we are going, and this hire is one of the most important steps in getting there.

Big visibility. Big responsibility.

There is nowhere to hide at Collctiv, and that is the point. Your decisions shape the company in ways that are simply not possible inside a 500-person business. You work directly alongside our CEO and CTO, with real ownership from day one: not a supporting role, a doing role.

Be genuinely part of it

Everyone at Collctiv receives equity options, regardless of role, because every role contributes to what we are building. Work when you work best. Take the holidays you need. We provide everything you need to do the job from home.

A path that grows with you

We are building toward a sale of the business in the next few years, and we are honest about that. This role grows in scope, seniority, and reward as you grow into it. We want someone who intends to step up to COO, and we will invest in making that happen.

The Role

Amy, our CEO, needs to focus on the things only she can do: commercial partnerships, product vision and business strategy. Everything else needs a home. This role is that home.

As Director of Operations, you own the governance, compliance, people, and financial infrastructure of the business. Not as a coordinator or a reviewer: as the person accountable for it. You make decisions. You fix things before anyone notices they need fixing. You build processes that outlast you and documentation that means Collctiv does not depend on any one person.

This role is designed to grow into COO. If you have the instincts of a strong operator but not yet the title, this is your moment.

Key Responsibilities

Compliance & Governance

• Run the day-to-day AML and financial crime compliance programme, owning the processes, decisions, and escalations that sit beneath MLRO level. Our frameworks are already strong: industry-beating dispute, complaint, and SAR rates, backed by proprietary fraud detection software. You are running a well-built machine, not fixing one;
• Act as our named internal Data Protection Officer. You handle DSAR responses, data incidents, and data governance independently. An external DPO supports you on specialist questions; you are the internal point of accountability;
• Own policy review and sign-off, working with our Compliance Manager and Operations Manager so policies no longer reach Amy;
• Handle legal drafting, contract review and regulatory correspondence, escalating to external legal only when genuinely necessary;
• Play a central role - alongside external advisors - on owning and evolving our regulatory position;
• Own the day-to-day relationship with our regulated payment partners (currently Nuvei and PayPoint) and act as the first point of contact for regulatory correspondence.

People & Internal Operations

• Own the people infrastructure: progression frameworks, performance reviews, and the 1:1 cadence for non-exec team members. Amy is in the loop only when a decision genuinely needs her;
• Hold the operational rhythm of the business: team cadence, cross-functional accountability, and the ambient awareness that means things get done without chasing;
• Build and maintain internal documentation and operational playbooks so the business does not depend on institutional memory sitting in one person's head;
• Be a line manager people want to work for: one who supports, stretches, and develops the team.

Finance & Commercial

• Own month end and financial reporting, working with our external accountants to produce accurate management information without Amy in the loop;
• Support budgeting, forecasting, and board reporting, taking more ownership as your context grows;
• Act as Amy's operational counterpart on commercial partnerships, helping structure, document, and execute the deals she leads;
• Help prepare Collctiv for acquisition: clean governance, clear metrics, documented processes, a strong narrative.

Product & Customer

• Represent the Organiser, our customer, in operational and governance decisions: keep the person who plans everything for everyone else at the centre of how we run the business, not just how we build the product;
• Work with Pete (CTO) where operational and product decisions intersect, able to hold a useful conversation about roadmap priorities and contribute where it counts.

Type of Person

• You notice things that need doing and do them: without being asked, without waiting for a brief, without needing it in your job title;
• You come from fintech, payments, or a regulated financial services background. You understand that compliance is a competitive advantage when you do it right;
• You are, have been, or could become our customer: an Organiser. The person who books the holiday, chases the money, buys the present. You feel the problem we solve;
• You are comfortable with legal and regulatory language. You can read a contract, draft a policy, and respond to a regulator without hand-holding;
• You communicate with clarity and warmth: open, honest, no ego, willing to get your hands dirty;
• Ambiguity and pace energise you. A small team moving fast is exciting, not daunting;
• You want to grow into this role and beyond it, and you want to be properly rewarded along the way.

Skills - Essential

We keep this list short deliberately. We want the right person, not a keyword match. That said, four things are non-negotiable:

• Prior experience in a regulated payments or fintech environment, FCA-regulated preferred;
• Working knowledge of AML and financial crime compliance: enough to own day-to-day operations and make sound decisions on escalations;
• Confidence with legal and contractual documents: able to draft, review, and progress without constant external support;
• Real ownership experience inside a startup or scale-up, not just responsibility.

Skills - Desirable

• CIMA, ACCA, or equivalent financial qualification (or working toward one);
• Experience as a named DPO or in a data governance role, comfortable handling DSARs and data incidents independently;
• Familiarity with FCA authorisation processes: you do not need to have led one, but you need to understand the landscape;
• Experience building internal documentation, playbooks, or operational wikis;
• Product management exposure: able to write a PRD and contribute meaningfully to roadmap conversations;
• B2B commercial experience: partnerships, contracts, new revenue lines.

Location & Hours

Collctiv is predominantly remote, with regular time in our Manchester office at a frequency we agree together. Work when you work best. We provide everything you need to do the job from home, and an unlimited holiday policy so you can be all the other versions of yourself that you need to be.

Because this role will be supporting Amy as her right-hand person, being able to come into the office 2-3 days a week would be preferable.

Salary

£85,000 to £116,000 plus meaningful equity options, monthly wellbeing budget and unlimited holidays. We are transparent about numbers early: we do not waste anyone's time. The package grows as the role grows.

Apply Because You Absolutely Want To…

• Own real operations at a FinTech with genuine traction and a clear path to exit;
• Take compliance, governance, and people infrastructure entirely off a founder's plate and make it yours;
• Work directly with a founding team who invest in your development, not just your output;
• Build the operational foundations of a business that is going somewhere, and be recognised for it;
• Grow into a COO role, with support, in a business scaling toward an exit;
• Make a real difference to the people who organise everything for everyone else.

How to Apply

Send an anonymised CV to adam@collctiv.com (we remove unconscious bias from the process from the start). Include brief answers to these two questions:

1. Tell us about something you fixed or built that nobody asked you to. What did you notice, what did you do, and what happened?
2. Why Collctiv, and why this role specifically?

No cover letter. No AI answers: we can tell, and we would rather hear from you.