Before joining Wise, I wasn't actively seeking a new role, but I was drawn to Wise's mission of making money transfers seamless and affordable especially given my personal experiences living in Singapore and USA, and with family in India. 

Fast forward to today, I’m the Head of Expansion for the APAC region, leading a team focused on launching in new markets and deepening our presence in existing markets. This means close collaboration with our Product, Engineering, Compliance, and Operations teams to successfully launch and scale. I also lead our APAC headquarters in Singapore. This involves fostering a strong office culture, ensuring all functions work together effectively. 

Recently, I had the exciting opportunity to establish our second global hub office in APAC in Hyderabad, India.

Expanding in Hyderabad is an exciting move because it combines the need for Wise to hire amazing talent to move faster towards our mission while also deepening our presence in India, one of the world’s largest markets for cross-border money movement. Hiring top-tier talent in Hyderabad offers a unique opportunity to scale our India products with local expertise while simultaneously building teams to serve our customers globally. 

Hyderabad was chosen for its vast pool of both tech and operational talent. As one of India's largest tech hubs with a track-record of supporting global companies, it provides access to experienced professionals. Plus, the city offers a high quality of life, crucial for attracting talent across India and encouraging relocations from our other offices. 

What truly excites me, especially from a product perspective, is seeing our teams build India-specific offerings right there in India. This local presence is vital because it allows us to perfectly tailor our products to the unique needs of the Indian market. India's fintech ecosystem is dynamic, and being immersed in it means our teams will gain invaluable experience launching products directly in the market.

Expanding Wise in Hyderabad is incredibly unique because it lets us build our second full-stack hub in APAC, alongside Singapore. We're bringing all our functions into one location, fostering seamless collaboration. Think Product Managers working side-by-side with Customer Service – this setup helps us fix issues fast, drive quick improvements, and truly innovate. We truly believe in the power of people coming together, even in today's hybrid world.

This unique hub means our Hyderabad teams will contribute directly to global operations, not just India or APAC. Being part of global teams solving global problems from Hyderabad is a distinctive opportunity that sets this launch apart.

Beyond that, we're excited to build infrastructure that fundamentally changes how money moves internationally. While many fintechs exist in India, few are transforming global financial infrastructure like Wise is. This launch allows us to tap into local expertise to drive innovation and growth, making it an incredibly exciting time to be part of Wise's journey in India.