Head of Financial Operations, Japan

JP - Remotefull timeRemote

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senior

H1B: yes

Block Head of Financial Operations, Japan at Block leads Square Japan’s financial operations strategy, managing payment and banking partner relationships. The role focuses on operational performance, resilience, controls, and scaling Square reliably in Japan's regulated market.

Responsibilities

Lead the execution of Square Japan’s Financial Operations priorities, turning regional and global strategy into clear market plans and outcomes.
Own operational performance for incoming and outgoing payments, including reliability, settlement, incident management, controls, cost efficiency, and seller experience.
Build and manage senior relationships with banks, acquirers, card networks, payment providers, industry bodies, regulators, and other strategic partners.
Lead commercial and operational negotiations with payment and banking partners to support Square’s growth, product roadmap, risk requirements, and cost objectives.
Represent Square Japan in partner, industry, regulatory, and public forums where Financial Operations expertise is required.
Partner with Product, Engineering, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Policy, Finance, Marketing, and Operations to launch new capabilities and resolve market specific challenges.
Identify opportunities to improve authorization performance, settlement reliability, reconciliation, payment costs, dispute outcomes, vendor performance, and operational controls.
Monitor regulatory, network, partner, and industry changes in Japan and lead coordinated responses across internal teams.
Establish governance, reporting, operating rhythms, and escalation paths that improve decision making, transparency, and accountability.

Qualification

15+ years of experience in fintechStrong commercial judgmentUnderstanding of Payment Facilitator

Required

15+ years of experience in fintech, payments, banking, card networks, acquiring, issuing, payment operations, or related financial services roles.
Deep expertise in Japan’s payments ecosystem, including card networks, acquirers, issuers, processors, banks, regulators, government bodies, and industry associations.
A strong track record building and influencing senior relationships with partners, financial institutions, regulators, industry bodies, and market stakeholders.
Strong commercial judgment, including experience negotiating complex agreements and balancing cost, risk, compliance, customer experience, product outcomes, and growth.
Experience representing a company externally with senior partners, regulators, government stakeholders, industry bodies, or public facing audiences.
Proven ability to lead through ambiguity, translate complexity into clear plans, and deliver measurable outcomes across business, product, operational, regulatory, and technical challenges.
Experience leading complex cross functional initiatives with Product, Engineering, Finance, Legal, Compliance, Risk, Policy, Marketing, and Operations teams.
Executive level communication and presentation skills in English, with the ability to make clear and persuasive recommendations to senior stakeholders.
Native or business level Japanese proficiency, including the ability to negotiate, influence, and build trust with Japan based partners and regulators.
Experience working directly with key regulators or government bodies in Japan, including METI, JFSA, or relevant payments and financial services authorities.
Understanding of Payment Facilitator, acquiring, issuing, settlement, clearing, reconciliation, and card network operating models.
Experience working in a US headquartered fintech, technology, payments, or financial services company.