Operations Excellence Lead

Clara is the leading spend management platform for companies in Latin America. Our end-to-end solution includes locally-issued corporate cards, bill pay, and our highly-rated software platform; already being used by thousands of the most successful companies across the region.

Clara is backed by top investors and strategics including Accial Capital, Canary, Citi Ventures, Coatue, DST Global, General Catalyst, Goldman Sachs, ICONIQ Growth, Kaszek, Monashees, and Notable Capital, as well as prominent angel investors.

This role is the “right hand” of the COO and will lead and help define the highest priority projects across the areas under this structure - operations, sales operations, growth marketing and customer service excellence. The Operations Excellence Lead will also coordinate with Risk, Fraud, Product, Marketing and top leadership teams to align operations to the wider organization. This role is expected to have the analytical know-how to identify opportunities to generate growth and improve economics, the project management skills to coordinate many stakeholders in capturing these opportunities, and the humility and work ethic to jump in the trenches and be willing to do front line operations work with our teams. 

We are looking for someone who will:

• Drive operational excellence across our Credit Desk, Back Office and Collections operations, ensuring that teams across Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia consistently follow established processes and standards. This role currently will have one direct report to execute auditing and quality control processes, and may grow this team if necessary.
• Continuously identify new opportunities to boost growth and reduce costs throughout the operations’ process, including opportunities for other teams involved with operations. This individual is expected to define and launch projects to capture these opportunities with little oversight from COO or other leaders
• Create a system for the sharing of best practices between the different operations teams, and support Ops leaders in defining their teams’ OKRs and measuring their performance against them
• Coordinate with legal, risk and fraud teams as well as finance and product to coordinate all audits and regulatory documentation processes that involve the Ops teams
• Assist global ops leaders in defining product roadmap for their squads, as well as raise any issues seen in new product releases, coordinate go to market efforts, assist with vendor reviews, and development of no-code solutions to issues not prioritized by product
• Support the COO areas in launching and coordinating strategic projects that go beyond the scope of operations areas but impact growth, risk, or costs

Our requirements for this position are:

• Experience: Minimum of 5 years in operational roles, with relevant experience in operations excellence in financial institutions, fintechs, or other regulated industries. Leadership of a team of analysts is highly desired.
• Self-driven: Ability to deliver outstanding results without the need of monitoring or guiding is necessary. Your biggest driver needs to be your own need to deliver results.
• Analytical & Detail-Oriented: Strong analytical skills to dissect processes, interpret data, pinpoint inefficiencies, and develop measurable improvement plans. Proficiency in BI software or SQL, as well as  Google Sheets (including scripts) is desired.
• Strategic Thinker: Deep understanding of product and growth strategies across all countries to inform the prioritization of key projects, product launches, and policy updates. Ideally, this individual challenges existing policies, processes, and product roadmaps to ensure alignment with the overarching global strategy.
• Leadership of diverse teams: Proven track record leading projects that touch several areas of a company necessary. Experience working with VPs and above in said initiatives desired
• Adaptability & Proactivity: Comfortable working in a fast-paced, evolving startup environment; able to pivot priorities and initiate new strategies independently. Willing to adapt to the needs of the business which may include extended hours, travel, etc. when the situation requires
• Language Skills: Professional proficiency in Spanish or Portuguese, as well as English, required; Proficiency in both Spanish and Portuguese is a plus.

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