Operations Excellence Lead (f/m/d)

Upvest, founded in 2017, enables any financial institution to offer great investment experiences to its customers. Upvest is an investment firm regulated by the German Supervision Authority (BaFin). The company currently employs 170+ people across Europe with its headquarters based in Berlin, Germany.

The company is backed by the world’s largest venture capital funds and investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, BlackRock, Earlybird, HV Capital, Notion Capital, and Motive Ventures, as well as by renowned fintech entrepreneurs (including Maximilian Tayenthal, founder of N26, and Felix Haas, founder of IDnow).

We’re looking for fintech enthusiasts to join us in creating the financial infrastructure of tomorrow. We’re building the first European Investment API to enable any financial institution to offer a wide range of efficient and transparent investment products, such as stocks and ETFs in nominal, portfolio, and fractional forms. Our mission and vision is to make investing as easy as spending money.

We’re based in Berlin but would consider hiring remotely in Germany for this role. If you do want to move to Berlin though, we’re happy to support your relocation.

Your mission:

We are seeking an Operations Excellence Lead to join Upvest’s Operations team. In this role, you will drive strategic initiatives to optimize workflows, enhance efficiency, and ensure operational readiness. You’ll oversee daily operations, leverage data to implement impactful improvements, and collaborate across teams to support seamless product launches. Join us to shape and elevate our operational excellence.

This role will give you the opportunity to:

1. Define and manage strategic initiatives to streamline and enhance operational processes, aligning them with company objectives and growth strategies.
2. Own and oversee Upvest’s operational process landscape, ensuring workflows are documented, optimized, and compliant with regulations and internal policies.
3. Collaborate closely with product teams to ensure operational readiness and the seamless integration of new tools and product launches, whether driven by upstream or downstream initiatives.
4. Utilize data-driven analysis to identify inefficiencies, workload challenges, and cost drivers, implementing impactful solutions to improve performance.
5. Oversee and optimize daily operational execution, managing risks, maintaining metrics and KPIs, and ensuring seamless delivery across teams.
6. Conduct strategic workforce planning and resource allocation to address workload peaks, support team scalability, and enhance operational resilience.
7. Lead cross-functional training initiatives and foster a culture of continuous improvement to ensure team agility and adaptability to evolving business needs.

Job requirements:

1. Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, such as Business Administration or STEM.
2. At least 5 years of relevant work experience within Strategy & Operations, Investment Banking, Management Consulting, or a similar role.
3. Experience in Investment Banking Middle- and Backoffice Operations is a plus.
4. Strong data analysis skills with a proactive, self-driven approach to problem-solving.
5. Strong investigative and analytical abilities, with keen attention to detail and error identification.
6. Exceptional ability to communicate and foster positive business relationships with both internal and external stakeholders.
7. Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
8. Fluency in English (written and verbal); German proficiency is an advantage.

Why Upvest?

1. We're working on solving a hard problem: fixing the European securities financial infrastructure that empowers more people to be able to invest. You have the opportunity to contribute to this change.
2. We invest in you. From access to a personal coach, development budget and plenty of opportunities to grow in your role.
3. We take hiring seriously with a strong focus on keeping a high bar when interviewing (equally important is that we hire decent people, who are passionate about their craft and helping us achieve our shared mission).
4. While we're not quite fully-remote, we are committed to being a flexible employer, as we understand you don't have to be in the office to do your best work.
5. We live a culture of empowerment, trust (that we hire the best people and get out of their way) and openness (there's a greater advantage in sharing information than keeping it to ourselves).

Our values:

1. Learn and grow. We aim high to shape our future. We give and request honest feedback knowing that we develop together. Progression over Perfection.
2. Team first. We make it easy for others. We value our differences and are open to others' opinions. We win and celebrate together! Team over Egos.
3. Own the outcome. Whether we win or we lose, we stand together. We are proactive and get the job done. Outcome over Process.
4. Tell the story. We always start with the why. We share knowledge to empower others. Transparency over Complexity.

Upvest is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.