Chief Operating Officer - Payments

About ThriveCart:

ThriveCart is a powerful platform used by over 50,000 people worldwide to generate over $5B in sales. Included within the ThriveCart platform is a learning management system (LMS), affiliate management, cart and checkout functionality, making it a top solution for creators, coaches, consultants, and other businesses.

Location:

Remote (EU/UK)

Job Overview:

ThriveCart is seeking an exceptional Chief Operating Officer with deep roots in payments or fintech to serve as a key strategic partner to the CEO and drive operational excellence across the business. This role demands a leader who understands the nuances of payments ecosystems, merchant dynamics, and fintech scale — and can translate that expertise into operational rigour, cost discipline, and cross-functional execution. The ideal candidate will be equally comfortable reviewing financial metrics, managing complex product roadmaps, and guiding distributed teams toward ambitious milestones in a fast-moving payments environment.

Key Responsibilities:
Strategic Leadership & CEO Partnership

• Serve as the right hand to the CEO, providing strategic counsel grounded in payments and fintech market dynamics
• Translate company vision and strategy into actionable operational plans, with particular focus on checkout optimisation, payments infrastructure, and merchant growth
• Act as a sounding board for strategic decisions, bringing informed perspective on fintech trends, competitive positioning, and regulatory developments
• Lead key meetings and represent the CEO in operational and partner discussions, including with payment processors, acquiring banks, and fintech partners

Operational Excellence

• Oversee day-to-day operations across all departments, ensuring alignment with company objectives and the demands of a payments-first business
• Develop and implement operational processes and systems that reflect the compliance, security, and reliability standards expected in fintech environments
• Establish and monitor KPIs across operational health, payments performance, chargeback rates, merchant satisfaction, and platform uptime
• Identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies across the merchant lifecycle and implement solutions to optimise workflow and resource utilisation

Financial Management & Cost Optimisation

• Lead company-wide cost reduction initiatives while maintaining the quality and resilience standards critical in payments infrastructure
• Conduct regular analysis of operating expenses, payment processing costs, vendor contracts, and resource allocation to identify savings opportunities
• Develop and manage operational budgets across departments with a strong understanding of the unit economics of a payments and SaaS business
• Negotiate with payment processors, technology vendors, and service providers to secure favourable terms and pricing
• Implement data-driven decision making to maximise ROI on operational investments, with fluency in payments-specific metrics such as processing margins, interchange, and dispute rates

Project & Programme Management

• Oversee and coordinate strategic projects across the organisation, including payment method expansions, compliance programmes, and platform integrations
• Establish project management frameworks and governance structures appropriate for a regulated, payments environment
• Set clear milestones, timelines, and success metrics for company initiatives
• Monitor project progress, identify risks — including regulatory and compliance risks — and implement corrective actions to ensure on-time, on-budget delivery

Product & Technology Roadmap

• Partner with product and engineering teams to oversee the product development roadmap with particular emphasis on checkout optimisation, payment flows, and merchant tooling
• Ensure roadmap alignment with business strategy, merchant needs, payment network requirements, and evolving regulatory obligationsBalance competing priorities and resource constraints to optimise delivery schedules in a technically complex, compliance-sensitive environment
• Drive continuous improvement in development processes, with a focus on reliability, security, and conversion performance

People & Culture

• Build, lead, and mentor high-performing teams across operational functions
• Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and operational excellence consistent with fintech standards
• Develop talent within the organisation through coaching, training, and professional development
• Facilitate effective communication and collaboration across departments, particularly between technical, compliance, and commercial functions

Additional Responsibilities

• Support business development activities, payment partnerships, and strategic growth opportunities including new market entry and payment method expansion
• Ensure compliance with relevant payments regulations, PCI-DSS standards, card network rules, and applicable financial services requirements
• Represent the company at industry events, fintech conferences, and partner meetings
• Lead special projects as assigned by the CEO

Required Skills:

• Proven track record of successfully scaling operations in payments, fintech, or payments-adjacent SaaS businesses
• Deep understanding of payments ecosystems including acquiring, processing, chargebacks, fraud, and merchant services
• Demonstrated expertise in cost optimisation and financial management with measurable results, including payments processing cost management
• Strong project management skills with experience overseeing complex, cross-functional and compliance-sensitive initiatives
• Deep understanding of product development processes within regulated or technically complex environments
• Familiarity with PCI-DSS, payments compliance frameworks, and financial services regulatory requirements
• Exceptional analytical and problem-solving abilities with a data-driven mindset and fluency in fintech metrics
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to influence at all levels, including external payment partners and regulators
• Hands-on experience using AI tools day-to-day to improve productivity, decision-making, and operational output — not just awareness, but active and proficient use
• Demonstrated ability to design, build, and implement AI agents that automate repeatable business processes across operational, financial, and cross-functional workflows
• Proven experience identifying automation opportunities across teams and deploying solutions that measurably reduce manual effort, increase throughput, and improve consistency
• Comfortable working with AI-powered workflow tools such as n8n, Make, Zapier, or similar platforms to connect systems and eliminate operational friction

Experience and Education:

• 10+ years of progressive operational leadership experience, with at least 5 years in a senior executive role within payments or fintech
• Direct experience working with payment processors, card networks, acquiring banks, or merchant services providers
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Finance, or related field; MBA or advanced degree preferred
• Demonstrated track record of business transformation and change management in regulated or compliance-heavy environments
• Experience managing remote or distributed teams across multiple time zones
• Strong technical acumen with the ability to engage credibly with engineering teams on payments infrastructure, platform architecture, and AI-driven automation
• Proven experience leading or contributing to AI adoption initiatives at an operational level, including the rollout of agent-based workflows across business functions
• Previous experience supporting a CEO or founder in a COO or similar executive capacity within a fintech or payments business

Learn More About ThriveCart:

Our team thrives on collaboration, innovation, and continuous growth. We foster an open environment with regular knowledge-sharing sessions and encourage active participation in shaping the platform. Our values include:

• Commit to Excellence – We believe in delivering high-quality work and continuous improvement.
• User-Focused Problem Solving – Every design should contribute to solving a real problem for our users.
• Team Collaboration – We work better together, valuing input from every team member.
• Growth Mindset – We embrace challenges as opportunities to learn and grow.