Japan Banking and Expansion Lead

Company Description

Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move and manage the world’s money.
Min fees. Max ease. Full speed.

Whether people and businesses are sending money to another country, spending abroad, or making and receiving international payments, Wise is on a mission to make their lives easier and save them money.

As part of our team, you will be helping us create an entirely new network for the world's money.
For everyone, everywhere.

More about our mission and what we offer.

Job Description

Salary: JPY 20 M - 23 M per annum + RSU

We’re looking for a Japan Expansion Lead to accelerate our expansion plans in Japan and APAC region. This is a very unique and exciting opportunity to grow Wise in the region, allowing millions more potential customers to save money by using our services.

This is not your typical business development or relationship role. You are responsible for accelerating the expansion in Japan being extremely hands-on to drive the expansion effort.  You will have full responsibility for overseeing our license acquisition, banking and payment scheme partnerships, figuring out a next level growth strategy and executing on it. Through your work, you will have the ability to directly influence our product capabilities in Japan.

What will you be doing?

• Responsible for daily banking operations and expansion plan and execution in Japan. 
• Work with the product team for any product launches in the market. You will be one of the product team’s go-to people for regulatory and Banking knowledge.
• Manage licensing process end-to-end: from preparing necessary documents, preparing internal policies, setting up the sufficient internal structure/governance to negotiate and prove our efficiency to obtain a license.
• Understand existing and new regulations, figuring out the best way in which our product and setup are compliant with them. We see regulation as an opportunity, and we want you to help us achieve that vision! 
• Manage the relationship with regulators and other important commercial relationships.

Your mission:

• Product evolution - Identify the most appropriate way to launch current and future Wise products in Japan,  then roll up your sleeves and make it happen. 
• Manage end-to-end licensing process - You will need to execute the process end-to-end: understand the regulations, do the application and get the regulatory buy-in.
• Financial services partnerships - Build and maintain relationships with financial institutions (banks, payment companies, card schemes) and lead commercial negotiations to drive down costs. You will monitor our economics to ensure that our service is competitive; if needed, onboard new Financial Institution partners.
• Understanding how our product works will be key to finding these new opportunities.

This role will give you the opportunity to:

• Choose your own path to success -  you’ll have the freedom to define the vision and the responsibility for making it happen
• Gain international exposure -  you will work with our teams in offices around the world as well as meet with regulators and partners across APAC
• Be a part of starting something new by helping launch new Wise products 
• We’re people without borders — and without prejudice too. We want to work with the best people, no matter their background. So if you’re passionate about learning new things and keen to join our mission, you’ll fit right in.
• Also, qualifications aren’t that important to us. If you’ve got great experience, and you’re great at articulating your thinking, we’d like to hear from you.
• And because we believe that diverse teams build better products, we’d especially love to hear from you if you’re from an under-represented demographic.

Qualifications

A bit about you:

• Proficiency in Japanese and English language required.
• Experience in regulation, licensing or payments in a fast paced professional environment.
• Min 10 years of working experience and with 4 recent years at senior level in the payment market to be knowledgeable enough about the market.
• Ability to get stuff done independently and thoroughly. Not afraid to get your hands dirty to deliver what is needed. Bonus points if you have completed a licence application or regulatory compliance experience in a highly regulated industry in the past. 
• Experience of building business relationships with financial institutions, and dealing with risk/compliance teams within these institutions.
• Ability to understand financial, payments and FX regulations in a changing regulatory environment and have an interest in AML/CFT and risk controls.
• An analytical and critical thinker, and problem solver. You have the ability to figure out the ideal operational and commercial process with every new partner
• Excellent at managing external relationships (regulators and financial institutions.) as well as internal relationships 
• Able to understand regulations, and make pragmatic, risk-based decisions on how these need to be implemented

Other good to have requirements:

• Attention to detail and shows initiative. 
• Willing to learn and help others.
• Passionate about transforming the financial industry for good.
• You are willing to travel to our global offices as needed.

Additional Information

For everyone, everywhere. We're people building money without borders  — without judgement or prejudice, too. We believe teams are strongest when they are diverse, equitable and inclusive.

We're proud to have a truly international team, and we celebrate our differences.
Inclusive teams help us live our values and make sure every Wiser feels respected, empowered to contribute towards our mission and able to progress in their careers.

If you want to find out more about what it's like to work at Wise visit Wise.Jobs.

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