Head - Central Operations FI

We are seeking a hands-on Head of Central Operations to lead our Financial Inclusion (FI) vertical. The FI business delivers banking services such as account opening, transactions and government social security schemes to rural and semi-urban customers through a network of banking outlets (Business Correspondent model) on behalf of partner banks. This needs accurate, compliant and consistent service delivery at scale.

You will own the end-to-end central operations of the FI business, including supporting and scaling the outlet network, ensuring regulatory and KYC/AML compliance, meeting bank partner SLAs and improving unit economics. Your goal is to build a reliable, compliant and scalable operating model for the FI business.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategy & Scalability: Design and scale central operational processes to handle high-volume FI services (account opening, transactions, social security schemes and onboarding) with accuracy and low turnaround times (TAT).
• Network & Outlet Management: Work with regional and field teams to manage, support and improve the productivity of the BC/CSP outlet network across rural and semi-urban locations.
• Bank Partner Management: Be the main operations contact for partner banks; meet agreed SLAs, resolve operational issues and support audits and reviews.
• SLA & TAT Management: Enforce SLAs and TAT for account opening, transaction processing and issue resolution, and reduce rejections and failed transactions.
• Risk, Compliance & Fraud Control: Work closely with Risk, Legal and Compliance teams to ensure adherence to RBI guidelines, bank guidelines and AML/KYC norms, and set up controls to prevent fraud and misconduct at outlets.
• Process Automation & Product Synergy: Work with Product and Technology teams to build automated workflows, MIS dashboards and tools that simplify outlet and back-office operations.
• Unit Economics & Cost Efficiency: Monitor and improve cost per transaction, outlet productivity and operational overheads without compromising service quality.
• Central Support Teams: Lead the central back-office and support teams that handle KYC checks, documentation and outlet queries, so that requests are processed efficiently and on time.
• Outlet Onboarding & Network Expansion: Work with Sales and Regional teams to onboard, train and activate new outlets in key target locations.

Technical/Functional Proficiency Required

• Banking Services: Account opening, cash deposit and withdrawal, AEPS, DMT, micro-ATM, social security schemes (insurance and pension) and government (DBT) payments.
• Outlet Network Management: Onboarding, training, monitoring and performance management of BC/CSP outlets.
• Data & BI Tools: Advanced Excel and SQL, and dashboard tools (Power BI or Tableau) for live operational tracking.
• Regulatory Compliance: Working knowledge of RBI guidelines, KYC/AML norms, bank guidelines and data privacy regulations.
• SLA & Unit Economics: Ability to design SLA frameworks and optimise cost per transaction and outlet productivity.
• Fraud & Risk Control: Exception handling, audit trails and security protocols for field financial transactions.