Senior Director, Financial Operations

Our Krakenites are a world-class team with crypto conviction, united by our desire to discover and unlock the potential of crypto and blockchain technology.

What makes us different?

Kraken is a mission-focused company rooted in crypto values. As a Krakenite, you’ll join us on our mission to accelerate the global adoption of crypto, so that everyone can achieve financial freedom and inclusion. For over a decade, Kraken’s focus on our mission and crypto ethos has attracted many of the most talented crypto experts in the world.

Before you apply, please read the Kraken Culture page to learn more about our internal culture, values, and mission. We also expect candidates to familiarize themselves with the Kraken app. Learn how to create a Kraken account here.

As a fully remote company, we have Krakenites in 70+ countries who speak over 50 languages. Krakenites are industry pioneers who develop premium crypto products for experienced traders, institutions, and newcomers to the space. Kraken is committed to industry-leading security, crypto education, and world-class client support through our products like Kraken Pro, Desktop, Wallet, and Kraken Futures.

Become a Krakenite and build the future of crypto!

Kraken's Finance team operates at the intersection of crypto-native speed and institutional-grade rigor. As the business scales globally and prepares for the next chapter of its growth, Finance is being held to the same operating standard as Product, Engineering, Technology, and Marketing — a product-driven platform, not a traditional back-office function.

That means designing systems from first principles rather than legacy defaults, maintaining tight integration with product, data, risk, and operations, and delivering real-time visibility and clear ownership. Automation and AI are expected to continuously remove risk from the business, not just support it.

This is a remote-first team distributed across multiple time zones, with a bias for asynchronous communication, high agency, and work that compounds at scale.

This role owns a coordinated, multi-workstream finance operations transformation — spanning people, process, and automation — with direct accountability for outcomes across the Finance function. This is a hands-on builder role, not a strategic advisory one.

OPERATING MODEL

• Own the ongoing uplift of the Product – Finance operating model, ensuring it delivers real-time visibility, clear ownership, and tight integration between Finance and the business

• Define and maintain the right KPIs and targets for each finance team, and build out the dashboards and reporting infrastructure needed to monitor progress and hold teams accountable

• Partner closely with the CFO on headcount rationalization and org optimization across Finance

AUTOMATION & EFFICIENCY

• Identify and implement automation and efficiency opportunities across TOPS, Payroll, AP, Tax, and other finance workflows — targeting step-change outcomes, not incremental improvement

• Build and own a coordinated automation and AI layer that simplifies work finance-wide — not fragmented point solutions

• Eliminate manual and inefficient work across the full financial operations stack: AP, AR, close, reporting, and controls

TECHNICAL COORDINATION

• Coordinate with internal technical teams — FinSys and Engineering — to prioritize and execute automation and systems work; drive alignment without direct line authority over those teams

• Maintain working knowledge of how money moves through Kraken’s systems — system connectivity, architecture, and data flows — sufficient to identify gaps and work credibly with engineering partners on solutions

EXECUTION

• Execute directly — this leader will get their hands dirty and deliver outcomes with a lean team

• Partner closely with the CFO and cross-functional leaders across systems, data, and operations to drive alignment
  

• Proven track record as a hands-on finance operator who has driven real cost and efficiency outcomes — not a strategist, a builder

• Deep experience across the full financial operations stack: AP, AR, Payroll, TOPS, Tax, close, reporting, and controls

• Demonstrated ability to redesign financial workflows and operating models from first principles in a high-growth environment

• Hands-on experience applying AI tools and automation to financial operations — shipped outcomes, not just awareness; comfortable building coordinated automation across multiple functions, not just point solutions

• Strong track record designing and implementing KPIs, performance targets, and operational dashboards for finance teams

• Proven ability to coordinate with and influence engineering and systems teams to prioritize and execute finance work — without direct line authority

• Experience partnering with senior leaders on org design and headcount decisions in a Finance context

• Strong cross-functional operator in a remote-first, distributed environment — able to influence without authority

• High agency: drives outcomes without perfect conditions, ideal resourcing, or a large team beneath them

• Experience in fintech, financial services, or crypto — particularly environments with complex money movement

• Prior ERP transformation or financial systems implementation experience

• Familiarity with SOX controls or audit remediation in a Finance context

• Experience managing globally distributed finance teams

Unless a specific application deadline is stated in the job posting, applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.

Please note, applicants are permitted to redact or remove information on their resume that identifies age, date of birth, or dates of attendance at or graduation from an educational institution.

We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment on our team, assessing candidates in a manner consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

Kraken is powered by people from around the world and we celebrate all Krakenites for their diverse talents, backgrounds, contributions and unique perspectives. We hire strictly based on merit, meaning we seek out the candidates with the right abilities, knowledge, and skills considered the most suitable for the job. We encourage you to apply for roles where you don't fully meet the listed requirements, especially if you're passionate or knowledgable about crypto!

We may ask candidates to complete job-related skills or work-style assessments as part of our hiring process. These assessments are designed to evaluate competencies relevant to the role and are applied consistently across candidates for similar positions. Assessment results are considered alongside other relevant information, such as experience and interviews, and are not the sole basis for any employment decision.

As an equal opportunity employer, we don’t tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind. Whether that’s based on race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, citizenship, religion, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, veteran status or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state or local laws. 

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