Strategic Operations Manager

Nodi; Ciudad de México; On-site; MXN 1,000,000 - 1,600,000; Full time

Job summary

dLocal is seeking a Strategic Operations Manager in Mexico City to drive efficiency, scale processes, and back strategic initiatives across the region. You will partner with the Country Manager, lead cross-functional projects, and optimize partner onboarding, regulatory compliance, and financial performance.

You will collaborate with Legal, Compliance, Product, Finance and IT to accelerate growth, manage risks, and ensure timely, compliant execution in a fast-paced fintech environment.

Qualifications

• Finance background with solid knowledge of industry trends and practices.
• Minimum of 6 years in operations management, strategy, or related roles.
• Experience in Payments, Fintechs, and Digital Banks.
• Familiarity with Legal, Finance, Product and IT functions.
• Strong professional network to drive opportunities.
• Data-driven, analytical, and capable of fast decision-making.
• Comfortable working across time zones with global teams.

Responsibilities

• Act as right-hand to the Country Manager, supporting daily operations and strategic initiatives.
• Lead cross-functional projects to drive growth, efficiency, and scalability.
• Build relationships with external partners including acquirers, banks, regulators.
• Analyze market dynamics and collaborate with Product, Operations, Finance, Legal.
• Support merchant relationships, expansion opportunities, and service delivery.
• Identify onboarding bottlenecks and speed up time-to-revenue.
• Ensure adherence to local regulatory, AML, KYC requirements with Legal/Compliance.
• Collaborate with Finance and FP&A to ensure budget alignment.
• Develop and refine playbooks for scalable country operations.

Skills

Finance background

6+ years experience

Payments industry

Cross-functional collaboration

Analytical mindset

Job description

As our Strategic Operations Manager, you will play a pivotal role in driving operational efficiency, scaling processes, and supporting strategic initiatives across the organization. The ideal candidate is a strategic thinker, detail-oriented executor, and skilled collaborator passionate about delivering impactful outcomes.

What will I be doing?

• Act as the right-hand person to the Country Manager, supporting daily operations, decision-making, and strategic initiatives across the region.
• Lead and manage high-impact, cross-functional strategic and operational projects that drive growth, efficiency, and scalability in the region.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key external partners, including acquirers, banks, regulators, and other stakeholders.
• Analyze market dynamics, identify growth opportunities, and collaborate with internal teams (Product, Operations, Finance, Legal) to execute country strategies.
• Support the Country Manager in managing relationships with key merchants, identifying expansion opportunities, and ensuring exceptional service delivery.
• Proactively identify, prioritize, and lead initiatives to improve the overall partners onboarding experience and reduce time-to-revenue.
• Drive the onboarding process for processors, ensuring all regulatory, compliance, and operational requirements are met efficiently and in accordance with local laws.
• Collaborate closely with the Legal and Compliance teams to ensure adherence to local regulatory frameworks, including licenses, tax requirements, AML, and KYC obligations.
• Work alongside the Compliance team to develop and implement robust frameworks for transaction monitoring and fraud prevention.
• Monitor tax regulations and coordinate with internal and external tax advisors to ensure compliance and identify opportunities for optimization.
• Analyze country performance metrics, including Total Payment Volume (TPV), revenue and cost targets, budget execution, and growth pipelines and translate insights into actionable business recommendations.
• Active engagement in daily operations, collaborating closely with the Payins and Payouts teams to oversee processing execution, control, and overall payments performance.
• Collaborate with Finance and FP&A teams to ensure budget accuracy and alignment with regional growth targets.
• Identify underperforming segments or countries and design turnaround strategies.
• Identify bottlenecks in merchant activation and processing go-lives; proactively work with relevant teams to resolve issues and accelerate time-to-market.
• Be the local owner for internal audit preparation and follow-ups.
• Develop and refine operational playbooks, frameworks, and best practices for country operations, with a focus on scalability and standardization.
• Prepare business cases and recommendations to support strategic decisions, including market entries, partnership opportunities, and product launches.
• Actively participate in regulatory meetings and industry forums, representing dLocal and strengthening our presence in the country.
• Act as an ambassador of dLocal’s culture and values, both internally and externally.

What skills do I need?

• Background in finance, with solid knowledge of industry trends and practices.
• Minimum of 6 years in operations management, strategy, or a related role.
• Experience in the Payments Industry, Fintechs, and Digital Banks.
• Familiarity with all business functions, including Legal, Finance, Product, and IT.
• Strong professional network with the ability to build and leverage relationships to drive opportunities and success.
• A hands on, results-oriented approach with strong ownership to lead and deliver efficiently within tight deadlines. Creative thinking with accountability in the execution.
• Proven ability to manage large-scale projects and deliver results in a fast-paced environment, with a track record of top performance.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a data-driven approach to decision-making.
• Open to constant change in an ambiguous, fast-paced environment, a self-starter, open to working across time zones with teams all over the world.