Vice President of Risk & Banking Operations, Mercury
$280.6-350.8k
+ Equity
More information about location
Banking services for startups and small businesses
Open for applications
Banking services for startups and small businesses
1001+ employees
Open for applications
$280.6-350.8k
+ Equity
More information about location
1001+ employees
Company mission
To make scaling tech companies simpler with a personalized banking stack for startups, and power the next generation of companies that will shape the American industry.
Role
Who you are
- 10+ years of experience working in an operational risk and/or banking management function, ideally in a financial technology company, large banking institution, or the payments industry. 15+ years of experience overall
- 7+ years of experience in a people leadership role, directly managing senior-level leaders who themselves manage operational functions across various risk domains
- Be a strong analytical thinker and have the ability to leverage data to develop team and organizational metrics, such as KPIs, SLAs, approval rates, fraud loss tracking, capacity planning, and other related team performance and risk indicators
- Experience building resilience and scalability of risk & banking operations using robust procedures, process automation, and effectively working with Product, Engineering, and Data teams to build capabilities and tools
- Bring an expert understanding of industry risk trends, and a deep respect for compliance and financial regulations, to work effectively across Mercury’s Compliance, Legal, and Audit teams, and banking and financial institutions partners
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to motivate and guide teams through complex situations, secure buy-in across levels and teams to deliver on risk operations initiatives at scale
- Ability to make decisions quickly and pivot, and demonstrate comfort in a fast-paced and rapidly changing business and regulatory environment
What the job involves
- As the VP - Risk & Banking Operations you will bring strategic and cohesive leadership across Mercury’s Risk & Banking Operations teams: Onboarding, KYC/KYB, EDD/ODD, Fraud & Disputes, Treasury Operations, Payments Operations, and Lifecycle Operations. You will lead a growing organization of 120+ people, and a direct team of experienced leaders across these functions, partner with peer executives across the company to build a resilient and scalable operational function, and help us navigate risk with precision and care
- Build and manage a Risk & Banking Operations organization that is known for setting standards within the banking and fintech industries, and is strong enough to differentiate Mercury in the long term solely on its own merits
- Hire, develop, lead, and create structure for talented operations teams, while building a culture of collaboration and strong risk thinking across the entire company
- Enable new customers, markets, or product features by balancing short- and long-term company goals, prioritizing what the most important risks are, and staying ahead of industry trends and emerging risk areas
- Work closely with our Legal and Compliance teams to uphold Mercury’s risk and compliance standards, and proactively build the operational systems to scale its impact
- Partner across our Product, Engineering, Design, and Data teams to amplify user experience through thoughtful, transparent product thinking, and enabling scalable operational automation across teams
- Driving sound, strategic decision-making with data and metrics, working closely with our Finance team to make decisions about organizational growth, headcount & capacity planning, and costs
- Take ownership of how Mercury thinks through, minimizes, and responds to fraud and financial loss
- Help expand Mercury’s BPO efforts, including partnering with internal teams to manage current partners, and help develop the strategy to identify, onboard, train, and provide ongoing oversight of new partners
- Building systems for efficient operations across a variety of risk-related product features (e.g. Onboarding, Disputes, Treasury, and Payments to name a few.)
- Finding and working closely with the strongest tooling and partners to enable a great Risk & Banking operations organization, and forming strong relationships with partner financial institutions and their executive counterparts
Our take
Frustrated by the archaic, fee-laden banking services offered to entrepreneurs, the founders of Mercury set out to create a better solution. They envisioned a platform that was dynamic, tech-driven, and free from unnecessary fees.
Mercury delivers on this vision by automating business payment processes, offering FDIC-insured accounts, and providing full API access, empowering entrepreneurs with greater control and efficiency. This approach stands in stark contrast to traditional startup banking, which often burdens young businesses with high fees and limited functionality.
By prioritizing user experience and offering a free service tier, Mercury has attracted over 200,000 businesses and achieved a $3.5B valuation as of 2025. As a rising unicorn in the stagnant world of startup banking, mercury is backed by substantial funding and poised for continued growth, constantly adding new features and expanding its team to further disrupt the industry.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
50% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 5 rounds)
Mar 2025
$300m
SERIES C
Jul 2021
$120m
SERIES B
Total funding: $450.9m
Company benefits
- Health, dental, & vision
- 12+ weeks of paid parental leave
- $600 USD custom WFH equipment setup
- Unlimited vacation policy (with a mandatory minimum)
- Annual $1K learning & development budget
- Paid 6-week sabbatical after the 5-year mark
- Weekly $100 food budget
- Monthly $100 wellness budget
- Monthly $50 cellphone reimbursement
- Pet-friendly offices with free tea and beverages, plus lunch and snacks
- Unlimited vacation policy (with a mandatory minimum)
- Retirement matching up to 4% of base salary (401K/RRSP)
- Inclusive fertility, hormonal health, and family-forming benefits through Carrot Fertility
Company HQ
SoMa, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Jason Zhang
(Co-Founder & COO)Jason graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology before spending over 4 years at Heyzap in Business Development.
Immad Akhund
(Co-Founder & CEO)Immad graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Masters in Computer Science. He then worked as a Software Developer at Aquila and Bloomberg. He also founded Clickpass and Heyzap, and was a Part-time Partner at Y Combinator.
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