Associate Director, Strategy (Licensing & Expansion)

About the Team:

The Strategy Team works on a range of projects including Aspire’s international expansion objectives. This role will focus on Aspire’s first stage of our expansion work by paving the way to obtain the regulatory licences needed to enter new markets. This role will work closely with our in-country team members as well as the Compliance, Operations, Legal and Finance Teams in support of go-to-market in new jurisdictions. This role will play a crucial role in expanding Aspire’s jurisdictional reach. The portfolio of licences we seek to obtain in key markets around the world is a key driver to enable Aspire to achieve its long-term growth objectives.

About the Role

This role will be responsible for helping Aspire to obtain regulatory licences in the new markets it is entering. This role will involve being hands-on to prepare, review and finalise our licensing applications and responses to regulators during the licensing phase of Aspire’s entry into its new markets. The successful candidate for this role will be someone who loves to learn, problem-solve and build things from scratch. This role will help project manage the licensing phase of Aspire’s entry into new markets in APAC, EMEA and the Americas. Aspire also has plans to launch new products in its existing markets, so this role will also be responsible for helping to obtain licences for those products. 

Responsibilities:

• Get the licenses Aspire needs to enter the new markets it is expanding into and that are needed for the new products it plans to launch in its existing markets
• Scope licensing requirements and develop related licensing strategies to enable Aspire to enter new markets and launch new products
• Explore potential solutions to structure our products in a way that would minimise licensing and regulatory hurdles where possible 
• Coordinate with the broader Strategy Team and other key stakeholders on our licensing strategies to enter new markets and launch new products
• Plan, strategise and execute licensing applications, including developing business plans and coordinating completion of all required licensing application documents
• Manage key internal stakeholders such as the Product, Legal, InfoSec, Network and Compliance Teams to generate a high quality license application pack 
• Lead communicating with regulators in relation to their queries and feedback on our licensing applications as well as meeting or exceeding deadlines to respond to regulators
• Review draft playbooks, SOPs, checklists, templates and other tooling to enhance the capabilities and speed to obtain new licences

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent, preferably in law 
• A minimum of 8 years experience in fintech, financial services, payments, banking, investment or a related industry
• Experience working across multiple jurisdictions, particularly on financial services regulatory and/or regulatory licensing related projects 
• Strong writing and communication skills including the ability to clearly and concisely articulate complex licensing related topics
• Able to work independently as part of global team to run multiple projects around the world
• Experience working in a fast-paced environment and eager to jump into the work environment of a rapidly-growing, global fintech business

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience with regulatory licensing applications, particularly payments and/or related financial services industries
• Prior experience having worked as an admitted lawyer or seasoned compliance professional in any jurisdiction would be highly valued 
• Experience using software such as Jira, Confluence, Notion and/or other similar cross-functional collaboration software products would be a bonus