Strategy & Operations Manager

About Allica Bank
Allica is the UK's fastest growing company - and the fastest-growing financial technology (Fintech) firm ever. Our purpose is to help established SMEs, one of the last major underserved opportunities in Fintech.

Established SMEs are the backbone of local communities - representing over a third of our economy - yet have been largely neglected both by traditional high street banks and modern fintech providers.

Department Description
We were very excited to announce the acquisition of Kriya, the award-winning SME lending fintech specialising in SME working capital and embedded finance, in October.

This is a brand new role which will form a key part of the Kriya team, solving complex problems through a data-driven analytical approach across all areas of the business. This is an exciting opportunity to join a small and dynamic team on the next phase of our growth journey as part of Allica Bank.

This role will be part of the Kriya team working closely with the Kriya General Manager on a daily basis, tackling the most important operational challenges through leveraging a highly analytical and data-driven approach.

The Strategy & Operations Department at Kriya is responsible for ensuring the business runs effectively and scales efficiently. We translate strategic priorities into operational reality by designing processes, leveraging data to deliver key insights, improving performance, and driving alignment across the organization. Working closely with Risk, Finance, Commercial and Operations, we enable Kriya to execute with clarity, speed, and discipline.

Role Description
As Strategy & Operations Manager, you will play a key role in shaping and executing Kriya's strategic and operational agenda. You will partner with senior leaders to define priorities, build scalable processes, produce insightful analysis, monitor performance, and drive continuous improvement across the business. This is a high-impact role requiring strong analytical capabilities, cross-functional coordination, and the ability to turn strategy into clear actions and measurable results.

Principal Accountabilities
Planning & Execution

• Own the translation of company strategy into actionable operating plans, KPIs, and performance monitoring frameworks.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives that support growth, operational efficiency, and product scalability.
• Support leadership in strategic prioritization, resource planning, and performance cadence.
• Deliver strategic insights, leveraging data across the business.

Operational Excellence & Process Improvement

• Architect scalable processes, governance models, and operating rhythms across functions.
• Identify operational bottlenecks across commercial, risk, product, and ops workflows and drive measurable improvements in efficiency, throughput, and SLA performance.
• Design systems that support fast, data-driven decision-making and enhance cross-functional alignment.

Performance Management & Business Insights

• Build and maintain dashboards, scorecards, and performance metrics to track progress at business and product-line levels.
• Build financial models to enable short-term and long-term planning
• Conduct business analysis, modeling, and scenario planning to support decision-making.
• Benchmark performance against industry trends and emerging best practices.
• Lead cross-functional workstreams end-to-end, driving alignment, accountability, and delivery across Product, Risk, Finance, and Commercial.
• Facilitate communication between stakeholders, remove blockers, and ensure clarity on ownership and accountability.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Lead and coordinate workstreams across Product, Risk, Finance, and Commercial to ensure clarity, accountability, and delivery.
• Prepare high-quality strategic materials for the Executive team, Board updates, & large accounts.

Personal Attributes & Experience

• 4–6 years in Strategy & Operations, management consulting, or business operations in fintech or financial services
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and structured-thinking skills.
• Proficient in data analysis and financial modeling.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex cross-functional programs end-to-end with minimal oversight.
• Proficient with project and performance management tools (e.g. Confluence, GSuite, Microsoft Office, Asana, Jira, , Power BI, Tableau, Looker).
• Highly adaptable, results oriented and able to juggle multiple priorities
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
• Comfortable in fast-moving, ambiguous environments; proactive and accountable in your approach to challenges.

Working at Allica Bank
At Allica Bank we want to ensure our employees have the right tools and environment in which to succeed in their role and in support of our customers.

Our employees are at the heart of everything we do, so our benefits are designed with you in mind:

• Full onboarding support and continued development opportunities
• Options for flexible working
• Regular social activities
• Pension contributions
• Discretionary bonus scheme
• Private health cover
• Life assurance
• Family friendly policies including enhanced Maternity & Paternity leave

Don't tick every box?
Don't worry if you don't have all the skills or requirements listed on the job description. If you think you'll be a good fit, we'd still love to hear from you

Flexible working
We know the '9-to-5' isn't right for everyone. That's why Allica Bank is fully committed to flexible and hybrid working. Please let us know what is best for you and, if we can, we will do our best to accommodate.

Diversity
We're a diverse bunch here at Allica, with all kinds of experiences, backgrounds and lifestyles. Our openness and differences make us stronger, and we want everybody to feel comfortable bringing as much of themselves to work with them as they like.