---
title: 'Senior Strategy and Operations Manager at Referrals Only'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-strategy-and-operations-manager-referrals-only-cardiff-london-or-f01nevk91fad'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-19'
---

# Senior Strategy and Operations Manager at Referrals Only

- **Company:** Referrals Only
- **Location:** Cardiff London OR, United Kingdom
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-10-07
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-19
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/monzoreferrals/jobs/8105912

## Job description

📍London / Distributed (UK) | 💰 £86,100 - £101,300 (depending on experience) ➕ incentive awards tied to your performance | [Benefits](https://monzo.com/careers#benefits) | [Hear from the team](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDAT6VxoqQM)

⭐ About the role

We’re looking for a strategic, commercially minded, and data-driven Senior Strategy and Operations Manager, who will be an individual contributor and help shape the future of Payments at Monzo. You’ll play a critical role in supporting the GM of Payments and the leadership team to define, measure, and drive our strategy - balancing long-term vision with the realities of day-to-day delivery.

This is a high-ownership, high-impact role, ideal for someone who thrives on solving complex problems, is fuelled by strategic thinking, and enjoys using data to bring clarity to ambiguity. You’ll move seamlessly between blue-sky thinking and tactical execution - one day modelling the impact of a new product bet, the next helping optimise how we run the collective.

You’ll bring a birds-eye view across Payments’s portfolio - ensuring our goals, investments, and initiatives line up coherently with each other and with Monzo’s broader mission. And you’ll be the connective tissue that keeps us operating effectively: tracking performance, surfacing insights, and making sure we’re focused on what really matters.

🔑 You’ll play a key role by…

- Driving strategic clarity: Supporting the GM of Payments and leadership team in defining, tracking, and evolving Payments’s strategic direction to align with Monzo’s wider mission
- Data-Driven Problem Solving: Actively dive into large, complex datasets to uncover insights, diagnose operational challenges, and independently design and implement scalable solutions.
- Translating data into action: Building and maintaining data-informed views of performance across products, squads, and initiatives; using insights to inform priorities and trade-offs
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partnering closely with Product, Engineering, Data and Design teams to bridge the gap between ideas and strategic business execution
- Owning business performance rhythm: Leading monthly business reviews, reporting, and governance materials to keep the collective aligned and accountable
- Shaping new opportunities: Scoping new bets through market sizing, commercial modelling, partnerships evaluation, and budget/forecast analysis
- Making the org more effective: Optimising how we balance KTLO, BAU, and growth work; supporting resourcing and squad setup decisions across the collective
- Connecting the dots: Ensuring consistent communication and alignment across Payment squads, and with other Monzo collectives
- Scale & Geographic Expansion: Playing a pivotal role in scaling our lending book and supporting launch operations as we expand our Borrowing products into new geographies
- Bringing teams together: Leading Payments All Hands, goals processes, and strategic forums that ensure cohesion and momentum across the collective

🤩 We’d love to hear from you if you have...

- Strategic Acumen: You have a deeply strategic mind, capable of seeing the bigger picture, thinking in systems, and anticipating future trends
- Exceptional Problem-Solving Skills: Your “superpower” is solving complex problems with analytical rigor, commercial viability, and execution certainty
- Adaptability & Ownership: You’re a self-starter who thrives in ambiguity, adept at navigating complex, rapidly evolving environments, and driven by impact and ownership
- Collaboration & Influencing Without Authority: You have an exceptional ability to connect the dots across different parts of the business, foster collaboration, and drive alignment without authority
- Commercial Mindset: You’re comfortable making trade-offs and prioritisation decisions based on data, business impact, and resource constraints
- Analytical Rigour: A strong analytical skillset with a proven track record of comfortably navigating large datasets to solve unstructured problems independently
- Collaborative Mindset: Experience working cross-functionally with highly technical teams such as Machine Learning and Data/Analytics Engineering
- Operational Excellence: You’re motivated by improving how teams work - finding ways to make organisations more efficient, scalable, and focused on what matters most

🙌 What’s in it for you

💰 £86,100 - £101,300 (depending on experience) + incentive awards tied to your performance

📍 We're open to distributed working within the UK, with the expectation of working from the London office on occasional basis.

⏰ We offer flexible working hours and trust you to work enough hours to do your job well, and at times that suit you and your team.

📚 £1,000 learning budget each year to use on books, training courses and conferences.

🏡 We will set you up to work from home; all employees are given Macbooks and for fully remote workers we will provide extra support for your work-from-home setup.

➕ Plus lots more! [Read our full list of benefits](https://monzo.com/careers#benefits).

🌈 The application journey has 4 key steps

- Phone call with Recruiter (30 mins)
- Initial behavioural video call with Hiring Manager (45 mins)
- Analytical interview (60 mins)
- Problem solving interview (60 mins)

Our average process takes around 3–4 weeks, but we will always work around your availability.

We’ll only close this role once we have enough applications for the next stage. Please submit your application as soon as possible to make sure you don’t miss out.

We have some guidelines on using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to ace an application and interview at Monzo. You can read them [here](https://monzo.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-on-using-ai-to-ace-an-interview-at-monzo).

#LI-NZ1 #LI-Remote

## About Referrals Only

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Marqeta is the world’s first modern card issuing platform, providing open APIs that enable businesses to create, manage, and scale customized payment card programs.
- **Entity Type**: Public (Ticker: MQ on NASDAQ)
- **Headquarters**: Oakland, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2010
- **Founders**: Jason Gardner (Founder & Executive Chairman)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Financial Technology (Fintech) — Modern Card Issuing & Payment Solutions
- **Target customers**: B2B; serves a wide range of industries including digital banking, on-demand delivery, buy now, pay later, expense management, retail, and workforce payments. Customers include Square, DoorDash, and other high-growth fintech and enterprise companies.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To simplify payments and enable any company to deliver delightful payment experiences natively, powering more flexible, engaging, and innovative payment products.

## Products & Services
- **Modern Card Issuing Platform (SaaS/API)**: Fully open API platform that allows developers to launch new credit and debit card programs with speed, flexibility, and scale. Supports instant wage access, embedded finance, and custom card products.
- **Compliance & Risk Management (Service)**: Integrated fraud detection, spend control, and compliance tools to ensure high levels of security and uptime.
- **Global Expansion Capabilities (Platform)**: Certified to operate in over 40 countries across the US, Europe, and Asia, enabling businesses to scale globally.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: As a public company, market cap fluctuates. As of mid-2026, Marqeta is a publicly traded company valued in the multi-billion dollar range (exact figure varies with market conditions).
- **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue — $383 billion+ in total volume processed in 2025; 80x volume growth since 2017; 99.99% platform uptime in 2025.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Key customers include Square (Block), DoorDash, and other leading fintech and enterprise firms. Partners include issuing banks, networks (e.g., Visa, Mastercard), and card fulfillment providers.
- **Growth Signals**: Recognized as a CNBC Disruptor (top 50 in 2021 award); consistent expansion into new geographies (EU, UK, Asia); continued hiring across multiple departments and regions (US, Canada, UK).

## Competitive Advantages
- **First-mover & category leader**: Marqeta defined the modern card issuing category with its open API platform, giving it a decade-plus head start over competitors.
- **Scalability & reliability**: Proven track record of 99.99% uptime and handling massive transaction volumes (80x growth since 2017) — critical for enterprise customers.
- **Deep integration with major networks**: Pre-existing relationships with Visa, Mastercard, and issuing banks shorten time-to-market for customers.
- **Developer-first approach**: Open APIs and developer tools make it easy for engineering teams to build custom payment experiences quickly.

## Strategic Focus
- **Global expansion**: Continuing to expand its certified operations into new countries (currently 40+) to serve multinational customers.
- **Embedded finance & new use cases**: Driving adoption in instant wage access, embedded finance, and enterprise expense management.
- **AI & automation**: Investing in AI-powered fraud detection, risk management, and product automation (e.g., hiring for Principal Security Engineer, Product & AI; Lead Product Manager, Enterprise AI & Automation).
- **Platform stability & security**: Maintaining industry-leading uptime and security compliance as core differentiators.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture & values**: Marqeta emphasizes a culture of “Simplify and Innovate,” “Solve for the Customer,” “Do What’s Right,” “Make it Count,” and “Win as a Team.” Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) include BlackCard, HOLA, RepresentAsian, Desi, MQ-Proud, Vets@MQ, Women’s Group, Parents’ Group, and Marqetaglots.
- **Remote/hybrid policy**: Many roles are remote (US, Canada, UK), with some positions based in Oakland, CA or London, UK. The company supports flexible work arrangements.
- **Notable perks & engineering culture**: Fast-paced, purpose-driven environment; strong focus on developer experience and open APIs; opportunities to work on cutting-edge payment infrastructure at massive scale. The company invests heavily in early career talent and internal mobility.
- **Award-winning workplace**: Recognized as a top workplace (e.g., CNBC Disruptor) and offers a collaborative, inclusive environment.

## Sources
1. [Marqeta About Us](https://www.marqeta.com/company/about-us)
2. [Marqeta Careers Page](https://www.marqeta.com/company/careers)
3. [Marqeta Homepage](https://www.marqeta.com/)
4. [Greenhouse Job Board](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/marqeta)
5. [MQ Referrals Job Board](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/mqreferrals/jobs/7743043)

## Other roles at Referrals Only

- [Director of Group Operations Strategy & Development](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-group-operations-strategy-development-referrals-only-united-kingdom-hw62rmp1nywq) — United Kingdom
- [Technical Recruiter](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-recruiter-referrals-only-cardiff-london-or-0tm5r0eh32wd) — Cardiff London OR, United Kingdom
- [Data Science Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/data-science-manager-referrals-only-cardiff-london-or-qy9svbyf8q50) — Cardiff London OR, United Kingdom
- [Product Manager, Subscriptions](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-subscriptions-referrals-only-barcelona-0jkx6zdsjnj7) — Barcelona, Spain
- [Director of Product Design](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-product-design-referrals-only-cardiff-london-or-8ca0hy3vyc09) — Cardiff London OR, United Kingdom
- [Staff Backend Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-backend-engineer-referrals-only-cardiff-london-or-6w1n8z0gktm9) — Cardiff London OR, United Kingdom
- [Senior Backend Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-backend-engineer-referrals-only-cardiff-london-or-0weyav3xnjw9) — Cardiff London OR, United Kingdom
- [Backend Engineer III](https://feeny.ai/job/backend-engineer-iii-referrals-only-cardiff-london-or-awnc2afx215n) — Cardiff London OR, United Kingdom
- [Android Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/android-engineer-referrals-only-cardiff-london-or-zgy3wbdg3pyh) — Cardiff London OR, United Kingdom
- [Lead Analytics Engineer, Borrowing](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-analytics-engineer-borrowing-referrals-only-cardiff-london-or-emnq8zdzbsy5) — Cardiff London OR, United Kingdom