Director, US Opera tions - Securities

Payward - the parent company behind Kraken, Ninja Trader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services and CF Benchmarks - has spent the last 15 years building one of the most modern and globally accessible financial infrastructure platforms in the industry, built to advance an open, global financial system.

Founded in 2011, Kraken is one of the world's longest-standing crypto platforms, trusted by over 10 million individuals and institutions across the globe. It offers spot trading, margin, futures, staking, and OTC services, with products built for both individual investors and institutional clients.

As Director, US Operations
, you will lead operations for Payward’s US equities business: our registered broker-dealer, Kraken Securities LLC, and the operations behind traditional stocks as well as xStocks, our tokenized equities product. You will own the trade operating model, the end-to-end order and settlement flow, cash flows, corporate actions, reconciliations, and regulatory readiness across the business.

This is a hands-on leadership role in a regulated entity. You will be a registered principal of Kraken Securities LLC, named on Form BD, and accountable for the operational side of the firm’s regulatory obligations. It extends well beyond day-to-day management and requires genuine fluency in both traditional market plumbing and the operational realities of a digital-asset business.

You will stay close to company strategy and cross-functional initiatives so the global executive team’s goals translate into clear operating priorities. As a trusted partner, you will work across Compliance, Legal, Finance, Product, Engineering, and Marketing to drive key initiatives forward, and build the team that scales the business as the firm grows.

The opportunity

• Own the end-to-end order flow for US equities, from inception through clearing and settlement, including reconciliation, corporate actions, and exception management

• Own xStocks operations: token issuance and redemption, inventory and liquidity management, movement of client and firm assets, and settlement across exchange, custodian, and on-chain venues

• Serve as a named principal of Kraken Securities LLC and act as an operational control point — including dual-approval (“four eyes”) sign-off on transactions and asset movements, with coverage across time zones

• Design and implement the operating model for Kraken Securities and xStocks, aligned to strategic goals

• Build and run the operating systems for the business — policies, written supervisory procedures, controls, books and records, business continuity, and KPIs — and translate C-suite goals into clear targets for each business unit

• Own launch readiness for new products and markets: prepare systems, policies and procedures, and test them end to end with our clearing firm, custodians, exchange partners and R&D teams to ensure compliance with US regulations

• Partner with Finance on financial controls around bank payments, customer funds and reserve requirements

• Ensure desk coverage and settlement/ reconciliation controls and man power in place to support 24X5 and transitioning to 24x7

• Own vendor and partner operations — clearing, custody, market data, liquidity providers and technology vendors — including onboarding, SLAs and ongoing oversight

• Own severity-1 operational escalation and incident response for the US entities, including root-cause review and remediation

• Set performance targets, monitor progress, and report KPIs and costs transparently to leadership

• Hire and develop a high-performing operations team, build the licensing bench and succession plan, and build the organizational structure to scale

• Partner with functional leaders across Marketing, Compliance,…