A fast-growing organization in the Financial Services Industry is seeking an experienced, visionary, and results-oriented Chief Operating Officer (COO) to join its Executive Leadership Team.
Role Summary
The COO is the operational engine of Built’s Ghana business, translating the Managing Director’s strategy into disciplined, day-to-day execution. This is a deliberately people-centred operations role: we’re seeking a leader whose foundation is in Human Resources and organizational development, because scaling a fintech depends as much on how we build teams, culture, and capability as on how we run processes and deliver product.
Key Responsibilities
Operational Leadership
- Translate the MD’s strategy into operating plans, targets, and accountable execution across all departments.
- Design and optimize core operational processes, systems, and workflows for efficiency and scale.
- Own operational KPIs, budgets, and resource allocation; report performance directly to the MD.
- Ensure smooth cross-functional coordination between product, engineering, finance, sales, customer support, and compliance.
People & Organizational Strategy (core to this role)
- Serve as the senior architect of organizational design, defining structure, roles, and reporting lines as we grow.
- Own the full talent lifecycle: workforce planning, recruiting, onboarding, development, retention, and succession.
- Build and protect the organization’s culture as the team scales.
- Design compensation, incentive, and performance-management frameworks aligned to business goals.
- Lead change management through periods of growth and organizational transition.
- Oversee HR policy, employee relations, and compliance with Ghana’s labour laws.
Fintech Operations & Governance
- Partner with Compliance, Risk, and Legal to ensure operations meet regulatory obligations (e.g., data protection, AML, payments/e-money rules) in Ghana.
- Embed strong operational controls, risk management, and business-continuity practices befitting a financial-services company.
Leadership & Team Development
- Directly manage department and functional heads; coach them into stronger leaders.
- Build leadership bench strength and clear development paths across the organization.
- Foster a high-performance, accountable, and inclusive working environment.
Strategic Partnership
- Act as a trusted deputy and thought partner to the Managing Director.
- Contribute to planning, board/investor narratives, and key strategic decisions.
- Represent operations and people strategy to partners, regulators, and stakeholders as needed.
Required Qualification
- A background rooted in Human Resources, People Operations, and Organizational Development is essential, not preferred. Candidates should have held HR leadership roles (e.g., HR Manager, Head of People, HR Director) as a foundation for this broader operational mandate.
- Minimum 5 years of progressive leadership experience, including time at a senior or department-head level.
- Track record of building teams, structures, and systems in a growing organization.
- Demonstrated ownership of operational outcomes: budgets, KPIs, cross-functional delivery.
- Strong command of workforce planning, talent management, compensation design, and change management.
- Bachelor’s degree in HR, Business, Organizational Psychology, or related field; MBA and/or HR certification (e.g., IHRMP Ghana, SHRM, CIPD) an advantage.