Settlement & Transfers 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 160+ 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 ABN Amro 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 offering a wide range of efficient and transparent investment products, such as stocks and ETFs in nominal, portfolio, and fractional form. Our mission and vision is to make investing as easy as spending money.

We’re based in Berlin but are also open to hiring remotely in Germany or Estonia for this role. If you're currently based elsewhere but would like to move to Germany, we’re happy to support your relocation.

Your mission:

We are seeking an experienced leader to head Upvest’s Settlement & Transfers team. In this role, you will manage and expand Upvest’s clearing and settlement processes, build and mentor a team of specialists, and take a leading stake in developing our custody setup in the future. You’ll drive workflow optimization to enhance efficiency, ensure compliance, collaborate with key departments, and leverage your analytical skills to implement innovative solutions that strengthen operational performance. Join us to shape and elevate our settlement, transfer, and custody operations.

This role will give you the opportunity to:

1. Lead Upvest’s Settlement & Transfers function, managing and expanding clearing, settlement, and transfer processes.
2. Take a leading stake in the development and future growth of Upvest’s custody setup, positioning it as a key component of our service offering.
3. Build and lead a team of settlement specialists, fostering development and expertise.
4. Drive operational efficiency by implementing optimized workflows and automation solutions to enhance accuracy, reduce settlement and transfer times, and increase overall operational efficiency.
5. Ensure compliance and manage risk by overseeing adherence to regulations and internal policies, addressing potential risks to maintain reliable, secure, and compliant operations.
6. Collaborate closely with Product, Engineering, Compliance, Treasury and other teams to ensure smooth, efficient processes and proactively address any challenges.
7. Lead projects to scale and improve clearing, settlement, and transfer processes, leveraging technology and industry best practices to keep operations efficient and resilient.
8. Monitor and analyze key metrics across clearing, settlement, and transfers, providing insights to inform business decisions and strengthen operational capabilities.

Job requirements:

1. Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Economics, or a related field.
2. At least 5 years of relevant work experience with a focus on Clearing and Settlement or related fields.
3. Proven leader with a track record of managing teams and driving operational excellence.
4. Strong investigative and analytical skills; ability to identify errors.
5. Exceptional ability to communicate and foster positive business relationships with both internal and external stakeholders.
6. Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
7. Fluent in English - both written and verbal.
8. Experience in data analysis and process automation using data visualization tools, SQL, Python, or similar is a plus.

Why Upvest?

• 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.
• We invest in you. From access to a personal coach, development budget and plenty of opportunities to grow in your role.
• 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).
• 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.
• 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:

• Learn and grow. We aim high to shape our future. We give and request honest feedback knowing that we develop together. Progression over Perfection.
• 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.
• Own the outcome. Whether we win or we lose, we stand together. We are proactive and get the job done. Outcome over Process.
• 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.