World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) Jobs

Job Description

WHO WE ARE

World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) is the global trade association and development organization for the worlds credit unions and financial cooperatives. WOCCUs financial inclusion programs reach rural and remote areas through its unparalleled global footprint - a network of over 86,000 credit unions owned by 375 million members in 118 countries.

Also under the World Council umbrella, the Worldwide Foundation of Credit Unions is a 501c3 that raises private philanthropic donations among credit union supporters and individuals to advance education and learning across the global credit union movement and to provide seed capital for pilot projects, with the potential to advance scalable solutions through WOCCU Digital Lab, which is still in its inception phase.

About The Role

WOCCU has an exciting opportunity for an experienced manager with a proven track record in digital transformation and change management, specifically in digital finance, payments, and fintech for inclusion solutions. The Director, Digital Strategy and Innovation will work closely with the CEO and internal change champions, to drive WOCCUs digital innovation roadmap and advocacy efforts. The activities will include, but not limited to, establishing a global data hub, building partnerships to digitize / modernize credit union systems and processes including leveraging existing member assets to test and pilot digital solutions. Successful pilots will be replicated in other jurisdictions with the support from the Digital Lab. It is envisioned that these innovative solutions will align with policy shifts and market needs, to drive growth, more equitable distribution of wealth and the democratization of financial inclusion that only member-owned, member-controlled financial cooperatives can offer.

What You Will Do

The Director, Digital Strategy and Innovation works across business units including business development, international projects, trade association, and foundation programs. S/he will bring practical operations experience in implementing technology solutions on the ground in multiple markets with credit unions, small banks, fintech and/or microfinance institutions. S/he will have entrepreneurial spirit as well as a strategic mindset, be adept at relationship management and skilled in troubleshooting to advise on practical solutions to the digitization challenges that WOCCU members face in multiple countries.

• Provide a leadership role in the design and implementation of shared platforms/systems, technology architectures, and fintech solutions for credit union systems in select markets.
• Engage industry partners and develop a clearly defined and compelling digital finance and payment innovation roadmap.
• Work with WOCCUs Advocacy Team to understand, analyze, articulate and address regulatory/compliance barriers and requirements.
• Ensure that all relevant digital initiatives are integrated into the strategic-planning process for leadership commitment, resource / budget allocation and execution.
• Directly oversee select pilot programs to test solutions in the market or a virtual sandbox environment.
• Keep track of opportunities of emerging digital technologies and digital-enabled business models. Work with teams across the organization to centrally monitor, own and learn about innovative digital solutions being implemented by members across the globe.
• Use the insights and learnings to generate concepts and solutions for digital finance products, services, processes, business models, customer experiences, and communication channels
• Oversee the process to identify, test, evaluate, scale, replicate or fail new digital technologies while ensuring they are relevant to the business and member base.
• Build and maintain external relationships with mission-aligned vendors, startups, regulators, competition, industry / thought leaders to ensure WOCCU is part of, and integral to, the continuously evolving digital finance ecosystem.
• Identify new tools - AI, digital, e-commerce, crypto, DeFi, blockchain - that can support, enhance, and improve member solutions.
• Participate in business development efforts for new programs and projects under the WOCCU umbrella, with specific view to digital innovation and use of technology to solve barriers for members.
• Provide select technical guidance and support to projects and member needs at the country level.
• Plan, prepare and monitor budgets relevant to digitization work in line with business strategy.
• Participate in the design of the digital finance / payment data collection framework, participate in surveys, regularly monitor and report KPIs and dashboard for management team
• Work closely with CEO and HR to build digital talent in the organization through a combination of developing current staff and attracting new talent
  

• Minimum 10 years experience in financial services sector, digital finance and payments and associated systems and technical solutions
• Bachelors degree required. Masters degree preferred.
• Experience in the modernization of financial systems and payments in more than one country context
• Global experience (developing markets context preferred)
• Experience or familiarity with credit unions and financial cooperatives preferred
• Innovative and disruptive mindset, constantly looking forward
• Strong communication, collaboration and partnering skills
• Excellent verbal and written cross-cultural communication
• Strong commercial sense and inter-personal skills
• Ability to exercise discretion and independent judgment
• Adept at working with different cultures and in diverse environments
• Experience in managing, leading and / or working with globally dispersed teams
• Fluency in English (written and oral) required, proficiency in other language preferred (Spanish, French).
• Willingness to travel approximately 20% of time
• Authorization to work in the United States
• Passion for the mission of financial inclusion and values of World Council and the global credit union movement