Viber Malta Director

Description

Rakuten Viber is one of the most popular and downloaded apps in the world. Working with us provides a unique opportunity to influence hundreds of millions of our users and to be part of the journey that makes us a super-app. Our mission is to make people’s lives easier by enabling meaningful connections, from precious moments with family and friends, through managing business relationships to pursuing their passions. 

The Managing Director (MD) / General Manager will serve as senior executive of the EU-licensed EMI entity (Viber Malta Ltd.), part of the local Management Board. This role operates within a group structure where overall business strategy, product development, and technology are driven centrally at Group HQ (UK). The Managing Director of the EU entity is responsible for the local implementation of that strategy and holds primary accountability for all regulatory compliance, governance, risk management, and supervisory relationships within the licensing jurisdiction. This mirrors models used by leading fintechs such as Revolut (Bank UAB, Lithuania), Wise (Europe SA, Belgium), and N26 (AG, Germany).

While the Group Board and HQ set overall business strategy, product roadmap, and technology direction, the MD is responsible for implementing that strategy within the EU entity in full compliance with EMD2, PSD2, AMLD5/6, and all applicable national regulations. The MD acts as the primary point of contact with the MFSA and is accountable for the entity’s governance, compliance, risk management, fund safeguarding, and operational resilience.

Responsibilities

Local Strategy Implementation & Business Execution

• Translate the Group’s overall business strategy into an actionable plan for the EU entity, ensuring alignment between Group objectives and local regulatory and market realities.
• Own the EU entity’s P&L in coordination with Group Finance, monitoring revenue, cost efficiency, and capital adequacy at the local level.
• Collaborate with Group Product and Technology teams to ensure product launches and feature rollouts are adapted for local regulatory requirements and market needs.

Regulatory & Supervisory Relationships

• Serve as the primary liaison with the national financial regulator, MFSA,, building a constructive and transparent relationship.
• Represent the entity in all regulatory meetings, on-site inspections, thematic reviews, and supervisory dialogues.
• Ensure timely and accurate regulatory reporting, including financial returns, capital adequacy reports, safeguarding attestations, and suspicious activity reports.
• Proactively engage with the regulator on business model changes, new product launches, licence variations, and passporting notifications – securing approvals before execution.
• Manage relationships with other relevant authorities, including the FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit), data protection authorities (GDPR), and consumer protection bodies.
• Monitor the regulatory horizon and ensure the entity is prepared for upcoming regulatory changes (e.g. PSD3, instant payments regulation, DORA, MiCA where applicable).

Compliance & Financial Crime Prevention

• Ensure the entity maintains a robust compliance framework covering EMD2, PSD2, AMLD5/6, GDPR, Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), and all applicable national legislation.
• Provide oversight of the AML/CFT framework, including KYC/CDD processes, transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, and suspicious activity reporting.
• Work with Group Compliance to ensure consistency of standards while maintaining the independence and authority of the local compliance function as required by the regulator.
• Oversee responses to regulatory findings, audit recommendations, and remediation programmes, ensuring issues are resolved within agreed timelines.

Fund Safeguarding & Prudential Oversight

• Ensure full compliance with safeguarding obligations: customer funds must be held in segregated accounts with authorised credit institutions, or protected via insurance/guarantee arrangements.
• Oversee the entity’s capital adequacy, ensuring own funds are maintained above regulatory minimums (≥€350,000 plus volume-based requirements) with appropriate buffers.

Outsourcing Oversight & Group Coordination

• Act as the bridge between the Group and the local entity, ensuring the Group understands regulatory constraints and the local entity benefits from Group resources and capabilities.
• Participate in Group-level committees and strategy discussions, representing the EU entity’s interests and regulatory obligations.
• Collaborate with Group teams (Product, Technology, Legal, Finance, People) to ensure seamless coordination while maintaining the entity’s regulatory independence and local decision-making authority.
• Foster a strong local culture of accountability, compliance awareness, and ethical conduct, while maintaining alignment with the Group’s values and high-performance culture.

Requirements

• 10+ years of senior leadership experience in financial services, payments, or fintech, with at least 5 years in a regulated entity (EMI, PI, or bank) in the EU.
• Proven track record of managing or co-leading a regulated EU financial entity, ideally in a group structure where strategy is set centrally and the local entity is responsible for compliance and governance.
• Deep expertise in EU financial regulation: EMD2, PSD2, AMLD5/6, GDPR, SCA, and the relevant national implementation in the licensing jurisdiction.
• Demonstrated experience managing relationships with EU financial regulators (MFSA)
• Strong understanding of fund safeguarding, capital adequacy, and prudential requirements for EMIs.
• Experience with outsourcing governance in a group/subsidiary model – managing services outsourced to parent or sister entities while maintaining local regulatory compliance.
• Ability to pass fit-and-proper assessments by the relevant national regulator.

Advantages

• Previous experience at a leading fintech or neobank (e.g. Revolut, Wise, N26, Monzo, SumUp, Adyen, Checkout.com, or similar) in a senior operational, GM, or entity management role.
• Experience sitting on a Management Board or serving as CEO/MD of a regulated entity within a larger group structure.