Expansion Lead

Location: London, UK

Employment Type: Full time

Location Type: Hybrid

Department: Founders Team

About Verto: At Verto, we are on a mission to democratise global finance and empower businesses in Emerging Markets to reach the world. Founded by British-Nigerian entrepreneurs Ola Oyetayo and Anthony Oduu, our roots in Africa provided a firsthand understanding of the significant challenges businesses face with cross-border payments, ranging from illiquid currencies and high fees to slow transactions. This deep-rooted insight is why Africa remains a core focus, as we are committed to bridging the gap between emerging and developed markets and fostering global economic growth.

What started as an FX solution for the Nigerian Naira has evolved into a market-leading platform, enabling thousands of businesses to seamlessly transfer billions of dollars annually. We believe that where you do business shouldn’t determine your success or ability to scale. We are creating equal access to the easy payment and liquidity solutions that are already a given in developed markets.

We are backed by world-class investors including Y-Combinator, Quona, and MEVP. With Verto receiving the Milken-Motsepe Prize, appearing on CNBC's list of fastest growing UK companies, the Deloitte Fast 50 and Sifted’s fastest-growing UK tech companies, we are building a seamless cross-border payment future. Join us as we continue to grow and transform global finance.

About the Role: We are seeking a results-driven Expansion Lead to orchestrate the delivery and scaling of our products across our global markets. This role is designed for a strategic operator who can navigate the complexities of international expansion, ensuring we launch and grow effectively across diverse regions including North America, the UAE, Francophone Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Role Overview: In this pivotal role, you will act as the central architect for Verto’s market entry and growth strategies. You will be responsible for harmonising cross-functional efforts, integrating insights from Banking Ops, Regulatory, and Legal teams into a unified execution plan. Your focus will be on building scalable frameworks and repeatable playbooks that empower our teams to move with speed and precision, reducing operational friction and establishing clear pathways for sustainable global growth.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Strategic Market Orchestration: Lead the end-to-end delivery of market launches. You will ensure all functional workstreams are aligned toward shared commercial milestones.
• Partnership Management: Proactively manage relationships with banking partners, legal advisors, and regulators in our expansion markets. You will be responsible for driving momentum with external stakeholders, ensuring that project timelines remain on track through clear communication and expectation setting.
• Expansion Playbook Development: Codify our market entry process into a repeatable, scalable playbook. You will document lessons learned from each launch to continuously improve our time-to-market and operational efficiency.
• Governance Frameworks: Establish and refine decision-making structures for every market. You will define internal roles and responsibilities to unblock tasks quickly, ensuring that key decisions are documented and shared to maintain organisational momentum.
• Product Localisation & Feedback: Act as the bridge between local market requirements and our global Product team. You will ensure that each market launch is supported by a product that meets local customer needs and regulatory standards.
• Knowledge Integration: Bridge information gaps by maintaining a comprehensive project view that encompasses the entire lifecycle of a market. You will ensure key stakeholders are consistently informed and that cross-functional teams are focused on the highest-impact priorities.
• Transition & Handover: Manage the critical phase between a market going live and the long-term handover to local Country Managers or Business-as-Usual (BAU) teams, ensuring no loss of momentum during the transition.

What You Need:

• Professional Experience: 5+ years’ experience in operations, expansion, or programme management, preferably within the fintech or payments sector.
• High Agency: A proven ability to take initiative and drive complex projects to completion. You are a self-starter who finds creative solutions to navigate obstacles and deliver results.
• Commercial Savvy: A strong understanding of how operational execution impacts the bottom line. You can balance high-level strategic goals with the granular details required for successful market entry.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Exceptional ability to build consensus across internal departments and influence external partners to meet Verto's expansion goals.
• Analytical & Organised: A rigorous approach to documentation and project tracking. You can synthesise fragmented information into clear, actionable roadmaps.
• Global Mindset: Experience working across diverse geographic markets and an understanding of the unique nuances involved in expanding across both emerging and developed economies.
• Builder Mindset: The agility to thrive in a fast-paced scale-up environment and the capability to create structure and clarity within ambiguous situations.

Life At Verto:

• Insurance paid by the company
• Health and wellness benefits (with specific added benefits depending on the location of the role)
• Yearly salary review based on inflation, personal and business performance
• Access to entire Udemy’s library
• Budget for professional development courses
• Work-From-Anywhere policy for certain durations
• Integration programme (opportunity to work from our global offices)
• Regular team social events
• Pension scheme (depending on the role location)
• Flexible work arrangements
• Location specific benefits like car lease policy, cycle to work, gym membership, etc.

You’ll Fit Right In If You:

• Love asking “why?”
• Value solving problems over just completing tasks
• Understand sync vs. async communication practices
• Thrive in ambiguity and change
• Actively seek feedback
• Prioritise impact over activity
• Are fun to work with - we love good humour!

Culture:

• Mission-Driven Impact Work: Be at the forefront of simplifying cross-border payments, directly contributing to a borderless future for global businesses, particularly in emerging markets.
• High Performance & Ownership: We empower you to take risks, be results-driven, and take ownership. Act fast, deliver impactful results, and make the impossible possible.
• Collaborative & Supportive Environment: We work “as one,” sharing successes and failures openly. We foster a transparent, supportive atmosphere where everyone does their best.
• Industry Competitive Compensation & Benefits: We compensate our employees in recognition of the great value they bring to the business; our compensation and benefits package are competitive in the industry across all our geographies.

Our Core Values:

• Champion the Mission: We are driven by curiosity and belief to solve cross-border payments pain points globally.
• Be the Best: We are open, take appropriate risks, adopt a results-driven approach, and are the best at what we do.
• Work as One: We are transparent with sharing failures and mistakes as well as successes.
• Go the Extra Mile: We deliver beyond what is possible. We make impossible possible.
• Customer First: We are creative in solving existing problems and bold in designing a new and better experience for customers.
• Run with It: We are determined, seek challenges, take ownership of tasks, act fast and deliver results.

Diversity & Inclusion at Verto: Verto is an equal opportunities employer and we value diversity. Anyone seeking employment at Verto is considered based on Merit, Competence, Qualifications and their Talent. We are proud to be a truly international team and we do not discriminate in our hiring process.