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VP of Payment Operations

Remote - USA

Company Description

Candidly was founded in 2016 to flip the script on what it means to plan, borrow, repay, and save for college. Today, we’re the category leader with the market’s most comprehensive AI-driven student debt and savings optimization platform. We partner with hundreds of top employers, financial institutions, and retirement record keepers, positioning Candidly to serve more than 35 million Americans. 

We’re already achieving incredible results — to date, we’ve helped our users get on track to eliminate more than $1.8B in student debt and pay off their loans 175,000 years quicker — and we’re seeking movers, shakers, innovators, and problem solvers to help take our mission even further. 

Candidly is a high-growth, Series B startup, funded by leading investors including Altos Ventures, Aflac, Salesforce Ventures, UBS, Equal Opportunity Ventures, Impact Engine, Rethink Impact, Unum, and Cercano Management. Our fully remote, international team of 70 (and counting) includes alumni from Google, UBS, Twitter, Plaid, Prudential, LendingTree, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, and more.

Role Overview

As a key member of our executive team, you will drive innovation in our payment systems while ensuring compliance, security, and exceptional user experience. You will oversee all aspects of our payment infrastructure, develop strategic partnerships, and ensure our payment solutions meet evolving market demands and regulatory requirements. You will work collaboratively with Candidly leadership to design and drive the payments roadmap. This role requires cross-functional engagement and maintaining strong communications and relationships with other Candidly leadership. You will be required to identify best practices across your areas of responsibility and deliver proactive insights and solutions across the organization. This position comes with broad autonomy and discretion to ensure effective execution of duties, with an expectation to demonstrate strong business knowledge and understanding. This position reports directly to the COO.

Key Responsibilities

  • Oversee all payment operations, ensuring efficient, secure, and compliant transaction processing
  • Lead and manage the payment operations team, providing mentorship, setting performance goals, and fostering a high-performing culture
  • Lead the modernization of the payments platform to enhance operational efficiency, improve user experience, and support scalable transaction processing
  • Manage banking partnerships and vendor relationships, negotiating agreements and ensuring seamless integration with financial institutions
  • Ensure compliance with BSA/AML, KYC, and regulatory requirements, collaborating with Legal and Compliance teams to uphold industry standards
  • Supervise all payment cycles and reconciliation processes, monitoring transactions, resolving discrepancies, and enhancing financial controls
  • Partner with Customer Success and Support teams to streamline client onboarding, resolve payment issues, and enhance the customer experience
  • Develop and maintain policies, procedures, and internal controls to ensure consistency, compliance, and operational efficiency
  • Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Compliance teams to enhance payment infrastructure, improve security, and optimize system performance
  • Monitor and analyze payment system performance, tracking ACH transactions, API integrations, payment volume trends, and fraud detection
  • Contribute to annual bank partner audits, as well as Nacha and SOC 1 Type 2 audits and risk assessments, ensuring compliance with industry regulations, implementing corrective actions, and continuously improving processes

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in a business-related field 
  • 8+ years industry experience in payments, banking, fintech, or financial services
  • Strong knowledge of lending, banking, and payments regulations, including AML, KYC, and NACHA Operating Rules, with experience ensuring compliance in a financial environment
  • Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and risk management skills with a track record of optimizing payment operations and mitigating financial risks
  • Strong project management and organizational skills, with attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced setting
  • Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to present complex financial concepts to executives and cross-functional teams
  • Proficiency in Atlassian tools (JIRA, Confluence), Slack, and Google Enterprise for collaboration, project tracking, and documentation
  • Self-starter with the ability to work independently, manage competing priorities, and drive initiatives to completion with minimal supervision
  • Collaborative team player who can build strong relationships across Product, Engineering, Compliance, and Customer Success teams
  • Interest or experience in financial services and student debt is a plus, with a passion for fintech innovation and process improvement

Background and EEOC

Candidly offers for employment are conditioned upon satisfactory completion of our employment screening process (including, but not limited to, a review of past employment and education records, background investigation, and/or credit check & fingerprints).

Candidly strives to foster an environment where every employee can succeed. As an Equal Opportunity Employer we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, non-disqualifying physical or mental disability, veteran status, or any other basis covered by applicable law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need.

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