About the role

Job Description - Head of Operations - Financial Markets & Investment

Location:	Mumbai
Department:	Operations
Employment Type:	Full-Time
Company:	Appreciate Platform Private Limited

About Appreciate

At Appreciate, we’re building a modern digital finance platform empowering millions to invest their money smarter. We’re a fast-moving fintech company solving real problems at scale across global investing, financial products and digital wealth management. As we continue to build and scale our platform, we are looking for a Head of Operations who can build a robust, scalable and technology-enabled operations function across our financial products and transaction lifecycle. This is a high-ownership leadership role for someone who understands financial markets, fund operations, banking, trading, broking, remittances and reconciliations, and can translate that domain expertise into efficient processes, strong controls and exceptional execution.

Role Overview

The Head of Operations will own the end-to-end operations function across investment products and financial transactions. The role will be responsible for ensuring seamless execution across fund management, trading and broking operations, banking and fund flows, remittances, reconciliations, withdrawals, onboarding and other transaction operations, while maintaining strong operational controls and defined TATs and SLAs. The ideal candidate will be a strategic yet hands-on operations leader who can build processes from the ground up, manage teams, work closely with technology and product teams, manage external financial partners and continuously improve operational efficiency.

Key Responsibilities

End-to-End Operations Management
- Own and manage day-to-day operations across Appreciate's financial products and transaction lifecycle.
- Establish robust processes, controls, workflows and operating mechanisms to support business growth.
- Ensure all operational activities are completed within defined TATs, SLAs and quality benchmarks.
- Drive operational accuracy, efficiency and scalability across the organisation.
- Identify operational risks and proactively implement controls and mitigation mechanisms.
Fund Management & Investment Operations
- Lead operational activities related to fund management, investment products and fund flows.
- Manage end-to-end processes covering fund onboarding, transactions, subscriptions, redemptions, transfers and related operational activities.
- Coordinate with fund managers, AMCs, custodians, fund administrators, NAV agents and other external stakeholders.
- Ensure accurate and timely processing of investment transactions and fund-related activities.
- Establish robust maker-checker and control mechanisms across critical fund operations.
Trading & Broking Operations
- Oversee the complete operational lifecycle of trading activities, including trade processing, confirmation, settlement and reconciliation.
- Work closely with brokers, exchanges, custodians, clearing partners and internal teams to ensure smooth execution.
- Monitor trade exceptions, settlement issues and operational breaks and ensure timely resolution.
- Develop and maintain robust processes for trading operations and transaction controls.
Banking, Payments & Remittance Operations
- Own banking operations, fund movements and transaction flows across domestic and international transactions.
- Manage remittance and cross-border transaction operations, including relevant operational controls and documentation.
- Manage relationships with banks, payment partners and other financial institutions.
- Ensure timely processing and settlement of customer and business transactions.
- Monitor transaction failures, exceptions and operational issues and drive resolution within defined SLAs.
Reconciliation & Financial Controls
- Own daily and periodic reconciliation across bank accounts, trading accounts, client transactions, fund flows and operational ledgers.
- Establish robust processes for identifying, investigating and resolving reconciliation breaks.
- Ensure accurate tracking of outstanding items and ageing of operational exceptions.
- Work closely with Finance, Technology and business teams to resolve discrepancies.
- Strengthen financial and operational controls to minimise errors, leakage and operational risk.
Process Design & Operational Excellence
- Define, document and continuously improve operational processes and SOPs.
- Identify bottlenecks, manual processes and operational risks and implement corrective measures.
- Drive standardisation across processes and teams.
- Establish operational KPIs, dashboards and performance metrics.
- Continuously improve TAT, accuracy, productivity, cost efficiency and customer experience.
Technology, Automation & Product Improvement
- Work closely with Product, Technology and Data teams to identify opportunities for automation and operational improvement.
- Translate operational requirements into clear product and system requirements.
- Identify gaps in existing systems and recommend technology solutions to improve efficiency and scalability.
- Drive automation of reconciliation, transaction processing, reporting and other manual operational activities.
- Participate in product development and new product launches from an operations perspective, ensuring operational readiness before go-live.
MIS, Reporting & Data Management
- Build and maintain operational MIS and dashboards for management visibility.
- Track key metrics including TAT, SLA adherence, transaction volumes, reconciliation breaks, exceptions, productivity, operational losses and customer-impacting issues.
- Provide regular operational updates and insights to senior leadership.
- Use data to identify trends, operational risks and areas for improvement.
Team Management & Capability Building
- Build, lead and develop a high-performing operations team.
- Define team structures, roles, KRAs, KPIs and performance metrics.
- Establish a culture of ownership, accountability and operational excellence.
- Coach and mentor team members and build strong functional expertise.
- Scale the team and operating model in line with business growth.
Stakeholder & Partner Management
- Work closely with Leadership, Finance, Product, Technology, Compliance, Risk, Business and Customer Experience teams.
- Manage relationships with external stakeholders including banks, brokers, custodians, fund houses, AMCs, payment partners, fund administrators and other financial institutions.
- Ensure timely resolution of operational issues with external partners.
- Participate in partner onboarding, process design and operational due diligence.
Governance, Risk & Compliance
- Ensure operational processes are aligned with applicable regulatory and internal requirements.
- Work closely with Compliance, Risk and Legal teams to implement appropriate controls.
- Support internal and external audits and regulatory reviews.
- Maintain appropriate SOPs, documentation, control frameworks and operational records.
- Ensure effective implementation of KYC/AML and other applicable operational controls.
Program & Project Management
- Lead operational implementation of new products, financial partners and business initiatives.
- Manage multiple operational projects simultaneously and ensure timely execution.
- Establish project plans, milestones, owners and dependencies.
- Ensure operational readiness for new products, processes and partnerships before launch.
- Track post-launch performance and continuously optimise processes.

What We're Looking For

10–15+ years of experience in financial services operations, preferably in FinTech, WealthTech, Asset Management, Fund Houses, Stock Broking, Banking, Investment Platforms or similar financial services businesses.
Strong hands-on experience in Fund Management / Investment Operations.
Strong understanding of Trading & Broking Operations and transaction lifecycle management.
Experience managing Banking Operations, Remittances, Payments and Fund Flows.
Strong expertise in Bank, Trade and Transaction Reconciliation.
Proven experience in managing and developing operations teams.
Experience working with banks, brokers, custodians, fund houses, AMCs, payment partners or other financial institutions.
Strong understanding of operational controls, risk management and financial processes.
Demonstrated experience in process design, SOP creation, automation and operational transformation.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to use data to drive decisions.
Experience working closely with Product and Technology teams to build operationally scalable systems.
Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, high-growth fintech environment.

Key Skills & Keywords

Preferred Background

We would particularly value candidates who have worked in:

FinTech / WealthTech platforms
Stock Broking / Trading platforms
Asset Management Companies / Mutual Fund Houses
Investment Management firms
Banks / Financial Institutions
Fund Administration / Custody businesses
Cross-border payments or remittance businesses
Digital investment platforms

What Success Looks Like

In this role, success will mean:

Building a scalable and well-controlled Operations function.
Ensuring high accuracy across fund, trading, banking and transaction operations.
Maintaining strong reconciliation and financial controls.
Improving operational TATs, SLAs and productivity.
Reducing manual intervention through technology and automation.
Building strong relationships with banks, brokers, custodians and fund partners.
Successfully operationalising new products and partnerships.
Building and developing a high-performing Operations team.
Creating an operations function that can scale significantly with Appreciate's growth.

Head Of Operations