COO – Regional Operations — Payments Portfolio

The mandate

Following two years of uneven execution, the board is addressing regional delivery split across incompatible operating models within a multinational-owned diversified financial-services platform. The immediate arena is the payments portfolio during a channel migration. For mandate 044, the successful executive inherits decisions that have been deferred, competing stakeholder expectations and a need to establish facts before committing further capital.

The COO – Regional Operations operating perimeter covers approximately A$5,000 million in assets under oversight, with activity spanning several payments portfolio customer, product and delivery clusters rather than a single asset. The COO – Regional Operations Financial Services remit carries direct influence over roughly 950 colleagues and third-party capacity.

The chair, executive committee and principal capital sponsors want a COO – Regional Operations who can convert ambiguity into a short list of explicit choices for the payments portfolio. The COO – Regional Operations Financial Services seat must resolve a channel migration, while preserving the underlying strengths of the payments portfolio. For mandate 044, value will come through sharper allocation, stronger leaders and an operating cadence that exposes variance early.

The COO – Regional Operations’s first year on the payments portfolio is expected to end with one operating system, service reliability and scalable capacity. In mandate 044, authority covers resources and leadership appointments; material trade-offs go directly to the board sponsor.

Why this seat is open

This is a newly created COO – Regional Operations — Payments Portfolio seat approved as part of the next operating model; it is not an incumbent replacement. The board is running a planned 4–6 month search so the appointee can join ahead of the next capital and talent cycle. Current leaders retain their existing accountabilities until the payments portfolio remit is formally activated. Confidentiality protects organisation design choices while the board compares external and adjacent-sector talent.

What you will own

• Set the COO – Regional Operations value-creation thesis for the payments portfolio, translate it into no more than five enterprise priorities and stop work that does not support them.
• Carry stewardship of approximately A$5,000 million in assets under oversight, including allocation, risk acceptance and board forecasts.
• Lead the COO – Regional Operations Financial Services organisation of about 950 employees and partners, appointing a team with clear decision rights and credible succession for every critical seat.
• Resolve the payments portfolio economics and execution constraints created by a channel migration, with COO – Regional Operations-approved owners, dated milestones and transparent escalation thresholds.
• Establish one COO – Regional Operations operating review across commercial, customer, financial, people, technology and risk outcomes for the payments portfolio; remove reconciliations that obscure accountability.
• Have carried end-to-end delivery accountability across multiple sites, channels or markets with quantified service and cost outcomes in mandate 044.
• Build the COO – Regional Operations’s three-year succession and capability plan for the payments portfolio, reducing dependence on individual executives and improving mobility across the wider Financial Services organisation.

The first 12 months

• Days 1–90: Validate the payments portfolio baseline, meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to regional delivery split across incompatible operating models, assess the leadership team, stabilise immediate delivery risks and agree a board-owned scorecard with explicit decision gates.
• Months 4–9: Make the principal COO – Regional Operations portfolio and organisation choices for the payments portfolio, install the new operating cadence, fill critical leadership gaps and deliver the first measurable release of cash, capacity or customer value.
• Months 10–12: Demonstrate a repeatable payments portfolio trend against one operating system, service reliability and scalable capacity, lock the following year’s capital and talent plan, evidence control sustainability and present a credible three-year value case with downside actions.

What the board will measure

• Delivery of the COO – Regional Operations’s agreed first-year payments portfolio value case within a 10% tolerance, with variance explained before rather than after the relevant quarter closes.
• A COO – Regional Operations forecast that remains decision-useful across three consecutive quarters and reconciles the payments portfolio’s operating, cash, customer and people assumptions.
• Closure of the COO – Regional Operations mandate’s highest-priority payments portfolio risk and execution issues by their board-approved dates, with independent evidence that fixes are sustained.
• Retention of at least 90% of critical payments portfolio talent and ready-now successors for at least 70% of the COO – Regional Operations’s direct reports.
• A quantified COO – Regional Operations-owned improvement in the payments portfolio operating constraint behind a channel migration, supported by a clean baseline and named data owner.
• Clear stakeholder confidence in mandate 044: no unresolved high-severity escalation older than 30 days and no material surprise withheld from its agreed governance forum.

The person

You are currently a Regional COO, Operations President or Delivery Executive in a multinational-owned Financial Services or adjacent enterprise. In relation to the payments portfolio, your COO – Regional Operations track record includes a transition where the original plan was no longer sufficient; you can explain your choices, evidence and numerical impact. Candidates from banking, insurance, payments, wealth or regulated fintech will be considered where the operating model, customer stakes and governance intensity match this COO – Regional Operations brief.

As a COO – Regional Operations candidate, you bring 22–28 years of progressive Financial Services or adjacent-sector experience, consistent with the 22-28 experience band. At minimum, you have carried a P&L, book, budget or accountable portfolio of A$2,900 million and led an organisation of at least 950 people.

For mandate 044, the board wants two transitions: a difficult payments portfolio portfolio choice and a leadership-system change during a channel migration. As the prospective COO – Regional Operations for this payments portfolio, you must challenge optimistic cases and still create followership. References for mandate 044 must distinguish your contribution from the institution around you.

The COO – Regional Operations must be based in Sydney; international relocation is supported, but this Financial Services role is not designed as a remote appointment.

Non-negotiables

• Current or recent accountability at the level of Regional COO, Operations President or Delivery Executive, with direct exposure to a board, investment committee or equivalent Financial Services governance forum.
• Proven COO – Regional Operations ownership of at least A$2,900 million and leadership of no fewer than 950 employees in a comparable payments portfolio context.
• One completed Financial Services or adjacent-sector example of regional delivery split across incompatible operating models with outcomes sustained for at least two reporting periods after the initial intervention.
• Sector credibility from banking, insurance, payments, wealth or regulated fintech; experience that is purely functional and lacks COO – Regional Operations-level payments portfolio consequences will not meet the bar.
• Willingness to meet the Sydney location expectation, complete conflicts and background diligence, and protect the confidentiality of mandate 044.

Compensation and terms

The anticipated COO – Regional Operations package is A$520,000–700,000 base + annual incentive and LTI, calibrated to the final payments portfolio scope and the candidate’s current mix. Any long-term participation for mandate 044 follows standard vesting and performance conditions. The COO – Regional Operations appointment in Sydney, centred on the payments portfolio, offers regular exposure to the chair, executive committee and principal capital sponsors. A notice period of up to 6 months can be accommodated for the selected executive in mandate 044.

Confidentiality

The client name, precise footprint and transaction history are outside this brief for mandate 044. They will be shared with qualified candidates under a mutual undertaking, and the composite facts here must not be reverse-engineered or circulated for mandate 044.