General Manager - UK

Swan is Europe’s embedded banking specialist. We empower software companies to embed banking features like accounts, cards, and payments directly into their products, under their own brand. Swan processes over €1.5 billion in monthly transactions for more than 150 companies—like Pennylane, Indy, Agicap, Libeo, and Lucca. Founded in 2019, the company has received growth capital from leading investors such as Lakestar, Accel, Creandum, Bpifrance and Eight Roads. Swan is a principal member of Mastercard and a licensed financial institution, regulated by the French banking authority (ACPR).

Our mission: Banking belongs in business software. Many software companies already serve small businesses incredibly well: helping them send invoices, run payroll, manage inventory, and more. They’re on a mission to become the central hub for managing every aspect of business life. But when it comes to financial workflows, there’s still a gap. Too many critical tasks like managing cash flow, tracking payments, or reconciling accounts happen outside the software, across spreadsheets, email threads, banking portals. It’s a missed opportunity. Business software shouldn’t just record financial activity — it should run it.

Swan is heading to the UK and needs someone to pave the way for the company to become a key player in the UK FinTech ecosystem. Swan is looking for a General Manager based in London to lead the launch and growth of our new UK branch. You will be responsible for establishing the branch from the ground up, setting operation, assisting the AMLRO in obtaining the full license, hiring the local team, driving business growth (Sales and Account Management), and ensuring cooperation and alignment with the European entity — all in preparation for a Q1 2026 launch.

As an Electronic Money Institution, Swan faces many product, legal and regulatory challenges when conducting its business and operations: explaining embedded finance to potential partners, localising its product to each market, fighting money laundering, protecting clients' funds, working with legitimate partners, etc.

• Gain full authorization: Assist the AMLRO by being the payment and safeguarding expert to answer the FCA to be authorized with restriction at first, then having restriction lifted.
• Strategic Leadership: Develop and execute the branch’s business strategy, ensuring it aligns with the company’s overall vision and objectives. Lead the establishment of the branch, from infrastructure setup to operational strategy formulation. Run the company corporate obligation with the leadership team from Europe.
• Business Development: Identify and capitalize on business opportunities in the UK, to engage, sign and onboard our UK first customers. Build and maintain strong relationships with key players in the ecosystem (e.g., thought leader, public official, adjacent player, competitor).
• Operations Management: Oversee the daily operations of the branch, ensuring efficiency, quality, and cost-effective management of resources. Localise European processes and systems to support business operations and report on operational performance.
• Sponsor Bank Management: Ensure full working integration with the selected sponsor bank, validating safeguarding process and indirect participation to UK rails, and manage day-to-day relationship once fully authorized.
• Compliance and Regulation: Support the Compliance team to gain the FCA approval. Ensure the branch operates in compliance with all local regulatory requirements and laws, as well as internal policies. Adapt Swan’s use cases to the UK regulation, with the support of the Compliance team. Stay updated with changes in the financial regulatory environment to adjust strategies accordingly.
• Team Leadership: Recruit, train, and manage a high-performing team to achieve the branch’s goals. Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and teamwork. The team will start with the leadership group, that will expand as business grows (sales, finance, account manager).
• Financial Management: Develop and manage the branch’s budget, ensuring financial objectives are met. Monitor financial performance, make adjustments to operations and strategies, and report financial status to senior management.
• Product Development and Innovation: Work closely with the product development team to include UK key product requirements in the company roadmap.
• Marketing and Branding: Collaborate with the marketing team to develop and implement marketing strategies that align with the branch goals and increase brand visibility within the UK market.
• Risk Management: Identify potential risks related to business operations and implement effective mitigation strategies. Ensure a framework for risk assessment and management is in place.

• You have 6–10 years of experience in Product or business launches in the UK FinTech market, and are ready for a Head of or VP-level role.
• You’re hands-on and thrive on building from scratch — from launching operations and hiring teams to securing regulatory approvals.
• You bring strategic vision, can define and communicate a clear market plan, and align it with a broader European strategy.
• You’re a strong leader who inspires, hires for potential and culture fit, and develops high-performing teams.
• You have deep knowledge of payments, compliance, and regulations, and know how to turn constraints into opportunities.
• You’re financially savvy, experienced in managing budgets, forecasting, and owning P&L responsibilities.
• You’re customer-focused, using feedback to guide product priorities and strengthen long-term relationships.
• You’re adaptable, a problem-solver who prioritizes action based on customer impact and strategic value, and have a proven track record of successfully launching and scaling businesses.
• You’re a clear communicator and skilled negotiator, able to secure favorable deals and convey complex ideas to diverse stakeholders.

It’s okay if you don’t tick all the boxes — don’t let imposter syndrome prevent you from applying! Swan is committed to providing a caring work environment for all employees, regardless of age, sex, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion, or belief. When it comes to recruitment, we’re interested in your work experience, skills, and overall personality. Because diversity makes the workplace stronger and is necessary for Swan’s success, we are intensifying efforts to incorporate concrete actions to help us improve in this area.

Swan’s core values guide our actions daily. Individually, they may seem obvious, but together, they form a unique culture.

• Simplicity: Making complex things simple is what we do.
• Long Term: We always play the long game.
• Excellence: We are a team of experts who consistently go all out to create pixel-perfect banking services.
• Be Human: We believe in the power of kindness and the importance of acting with integrity.