VP of Operations

Davis Talent Search (Payments, Wealth Management, Fintech, Crypto Jobs); Austin (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

401(k) with company match

PTO

Sick days

Fully stocked office kitchen

Onsite shower

Weekly company happy hours

Company-sponsored social events

Unlimited upward potential

Job summary

Davis Talent Search in Austin, TX, seeks a VP of Operations to lead and scale a payments platform initiative. This hands-on role drives end-to-end operations across sales, onboarding, client experience, and support, with a focus on efficiency, KPIs, and vendor management.

You will work onsite with a compact leadership team and engineers, reporting to the CEO, to build scalable, compliant payments infrastructure for growth and renewal.

Qualifications

• Minimum 3 years of operational experience in merchant services.
• Experience in high-risk payments.
• Experience growing and managing an ISO or similar payments organization.
• Strong underwriting concepts and payment operations knowledge.
• Proven metric-driven results.
• Hands-on leadership and team management.
• Ability to scale operations in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong communication skills.
• Tech-savvy with payments infrastructure experience.
• Alignment with performance-driven culture.

Responsibilities

• Manage and develop sales, account management, client experience, onboarding, and support teams (up to 15 onsite employees).
• Oversee end-to-end merchant lifecycle including onboarding, activation, and ongoing support.
• Optimize client experience to improve conversion and retention across key funnel stages.
• Analyze performance metrics to identify drop-off points and improve pipeline efficiency.Build, track, and optimize KPIs and operational systems.
• Conduct revenue and reporting analysis.
• Oversee and optimize vendor relationships.
• Review and negotiate contracts.
• Enhance team protocols and training programs.
• Oversee rollout and training for the new commerce platform.
• Maintain exposure to risk processes and audit submission quality.
• Ensure merchant applications are complete and properly qualified.
• Report operational performance and progress to the CEO.
• Support future development of channel sales and underwriting functions.

Skills

Operations leadership

Merchant services

High-risk payments

KPIs & analytics

Vendor management

CRM systems

Cross-functional leadership

Tools

CRM software

KYC systems

Risk management tools

Job description

Highly competitive salary based on experience with additional incentive compensation tied to company growth. Fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment with strong ownership and impact. Opportunity to help build and scale a next-generation payments platform focused on agentic commerce. Clear performance expectations tied to KPIs and outcomes. Collaborative onsite culture with direct access to leadership.

The Opportunity

Lead and scale operations for a payments company building a new commerce platform. This role is responsible for planning, managing, and executing operational strategy across sales, account management, client experience, onboarding, and support. The VP of Operations will drive efficiency, optimize conversion and retention, oversee vendor relationships, and build scalable systems grounded in metrics. This is a hands-on leadership role requiring deep knowledge of merchant services, including high-risk payments and underwriting concepts.

The Company

An established eCommerce payments company processes approximately 500 applications per month and primarily serves mid-risk merchants including high-ticket, future delivery, supplements, and general eCommerce businesses. It has built extensive proprietary infrastructure including onboarding tools, fraud screening, identity verification, KYC systems, and risk controls.

The company historically operated on a third-party payments infrastructure but is launching a new proprietary commerce platform currently in closed beta with a public launch planned. The platform is designed for agentic commerce and may expand into white-label offerings and deeper vertical integration. While not currently underwriting or taking direct risk, the company operates with extensive compliance and auditing processes and expects to move further in that direction.

Team size includes approximately 15 onsite employees and 25 total, with 5 in-house developers, a CTO, and an external development team. The company operates like a large agent group and emphasizes technology, adaptability, and operational excellence.

Onsite only in Austin, Texas. Fast-paced, performance-driven environment focused on outcomes over hours. Strong emphasis on accountability, ownership, adaptability, and direct feedback. Leadership is hands-on with high standards. Collaboration and in-person management are required.

Reports to

CEO

Employment Type

Full-Time, W2, Direct Hire

• Health Insurance.
• 401(k) with company match.
• PTO.
• Sick days.
• Fully stocked office kitchen with snacks.
• Onsite shower.
• Weekly company happy hours.
• Company-sponsored social events.
• Unlimited upward potential.

Responsibilities

• Manage and develop sales, account management, client experience, onboarding, and support teams (up to 15 onsite employees).
• Oversee end-to-end merchant lifecycle including onboarding, activation, and ongoing support.
• Optimize client experience to improve conversion and retention across key funnel stages.
• Analyze performance metrics to identify drop-off points and improve pipeline efficiency.Build, track, and optimize KPIs and operational systems.
• Conduct revenue and reporting analysis.
• Oversee and optimize vendor relationships.
• Review and negotiate contracts.
• Enhance team protocols and training programs.
• Oversee rollout and training for the new commerce platform.
• Maintain exposure to risk processes and audit submission quality.
• Ensure merchant applications are complete and properly qualified.
• Report operational performance and progress to the CEO.
• Support future development of channel sales and underwriting functions.

Requirements

• Minimum 3 years of operational experience in the merchant services industry.
• Experience in high-risk payments.
• Experience growing and managing an ISO or similar payments organization.
• Strong understanding of underwriting concepts and payment operations complexity.
• Proven ability to quantify and deliver metric-driven results.
• Hands-on leadership and team management experience.
• Ability to lead and scale operations in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Tech-savvy with deep experience in CRM systems and payments infrastructure.
• Strong alignment with performance-driven, values-based culture.

Preferences

• Underwriting or risk experience.
• Marketing experience.
• Experience in similarly sized fintech or payments companies.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States.
• Visa sponsorship not available.
• Must be onsite in Austin, Texas.
• Willingness to relocate if not currently local.