Ops L1 Subject Matter Expert (SME) at Thunes · Riyadh

About Thunes

Thunes is the Smart Superhighway to move money around the world. Thunes’ proprietary Direct Global Network allows Members to make payments in real-time in over 140 countries and more than 90 currencies. Thunes’ Network connects directly to over 12 billion mobile wallets, stablecoin wallets and bank accounts worldwide, as well as 15 billion cards via more than 220 different payment methods, such as GCash, M-Pesa, Airtel, MTN, Orange, JazzCash, Easypaisa, AliPay, WeChat Pay HK and many more. Thunes’ Direct Global Network differentiates itself through its worldwide reach, in-house SmartX Treasury System and Fortress Compliance Platform, ensuring Members of the Network receive unrivaled speed, control, visibility, protection, and cost efficiencies when making real-time payments, globally. Members of Thunes’ Direct Global Network include gig economy giants like Uber and Deliveroo, super-apps like Grab and WeChat, MTOs, fintechs, PSPs and banks. Headquartered in Singapore, Thunes has offices in 15 locations, including Atlanta, Barcelona, Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Manila, Nairobi, New York, Paris, Riyadh, San Francisco and Shanghai. For more information, visit: https://www.thunes.com.

About the Role

Location: Riyadh, Saudi

At Thunes, our global network enables the seamless movement of money across the world. As we continue to scale with leading fintechs and global financial institutions, operational excellence becomes critical—not just for growth, but for retention and trust.

Context of the Role

The Subject Matter Expert (SME) will provide the specialist layer between our Global Support team and our in-country White Glove resources.

The SME will bring deep operational, language and local-market expertise to complex cases and escalations, while continuously transferring knowledge back into the wider support organisation.

This is not an additional L1 support role. Success means not only resolving complex issues but making the wider team increasingly capable of resolving them independently.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Expertise & Escalations

• Act as the subject matter expert for complex operational cases and escalations.
• Support L1 and White Glove teams with issues requiring deeper operational or local-market expertise.
• Coordinate with Network, Compliance, Product, Engineering and other internal teams to drive issues to resolution.
• Provide clear operational guidance during high-impact customer escalations.

Local Market & Language Expertise

• Develop deep knowledge of Saudi payment methods, partners, operating practices and customer requirements.
• Provide Arabic and English language support where required.
• Bring local context to issues that cannot be effectively managed through standard global processes.
• Translate market-specific knowledge into practical guidance for the wider support organisation.

White Glove Support

• Work closely with in-country White Glove resources supporting strategic customers.
• Provide specialist operational expertise while White Glove resources retain customer ownership.
• Support complex investigations and escalations without becoming the primary processor of standard customer enquiries.
• Help identify and remove recurring reasons customers need to contact Thunes.

Knowledge & Capability Building

• Convert complex cases and lessons learned into SOPs, troubleshooting guides and reusable knowledge.
• Coach and upskill the Global Support team on recurring issues.
• Identify cases that can progressively be shifted back to L1 through better knowledge, processes or tooling.
• Ensure market knowledge is institutionalised rather than dependent on individual employees.

Continuous Improvement

• Analyse recurring escalations and identify underlying operational gaps.
• Recommend improvements across processes, tooling, automation and customer education.
• Work with relevant teams to address root causes rather than repeatedly managing the same issues.
• Contribute to building a repeatable SME model that can be introduced into other strategic markets as Thunes scales.

What We’re Looking For

• Strong understanding of payments, transaction lifecycles and operational troubleshooting.
• Demonstrated ability to investigate and resolve complex operational issues.
• Strong root-cause analysis and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work across Customer Experience, Network, Compliance, Product, Engineering and commercial teams.
• Strong customer orientation while maintaining operational discipline and scalable processes.
• Ability to communicate complex operational issues clearly and concisely.
• Comfortable operating in a global, distributed and fast-moving environment.

Qualifications & Experience

• 5+ years' experience in payments, fintech, banking operations, customer operations or technical support.
• Experience managing complex customer or operational escalations.
• Experience working with enterprise customers is preferred.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in Arabic and English.
• Experience within Saudi Arabia or strong knowledge of the Saudi payments ecosystem is highly desirable.

What Success Looks Like

The SME should make the organisation less dependent on SMEs over time, not more.

Success will be demonstrated through faster resolution of complex cases, fewer repeat escalations, stronger L1 capability, reduced operational dependency on Account Managers and White Glove resources, and continuous transfer of local-market knowledge into the Global Support organisation.