Treasury Director (Head of Treasury)
Treasury Director: responsible for liquidity, settlements, account balances and cash flow management in a fintech and payments business.
What a Treasury Director does
The Treasury Director ensures the company always has funds in the right currency and in the right place for payouts, partner settlements and obligations to banks and payment providers. In fintech and payments this is a critical role: a delayed settlement or a liquidity shortfall on a single bank account can halt client payouts and payment acceptance altogether.
In the company structure, the role usually sits within finance and reports to the CFO or Finance Director. The Treasury Director leads treasury officers, liquidity analysts and settlement specialists, and in smaller companies also operations staff who handle banking transactions. The role works closely with risk management, compliance, payment product teams and operations.
In high-risk verticals, treasury is directly tied to risk: reserves for refunds and chargebacks, seasonal peaks in winnings or withdrawal payouts, currency flows, and requirements from regulators and partner banks on balances and reporting. As a result, the Treasury Director builds not only the processes for moving money but also a system of limits, buffers and control points.
Responsibilities
- Forecasting cash flows and liquidity over short and medium horizons, and reconciling forecasts with actuals
- Managing balances across bank and payment accounts, and distributing funds between accounts and providers
- Setting and monitoring liquidity limits, minimum balances and buffers for payouts and reserves
- Organizing settlements with payment partners, processors and banks, and controlling settlement timelines
- Managing FX risk and currency conversion, including choosing the methods and timing of conversion
- Agreeing with risk management and compliance on thresholds for transfers, reserves and counterparty transactions
- Working with partner banks: opening accounts, balance requirements, and negotiating limits and fees
- Reporting to management and the board on liquidity, cash flows and treasury risks
- Building and controlling treasury processes, policies and access rights to payment instruments
- Managing crisis scenarios such as sudden outflows, account freezes or partner settlement delays
Skills
- Building cash flow models and scenario-based liquidity forecasting
- Understanding payment infrastructure: acquiring, payouts, settlements and settlement timelines
- Managing currency risk and working with conversion
- Negotiating with banks and payment providers on limits, fees and terms
- Crisis management and decision-making under liquidity shortfalls
- Working with risk and compliance teams and understanding transaction requirements
- Leading teams and distributing tasks among treasury officers and analysts
- Financial analysis and the ability to explain liquidity to leadership in plain terms
- Organizing processes, policies and control points in a fast-growing company
Tools
- Excel and Google Sheets for liquidity models and forecasts
- ERP or accounting systems (for example, 1C, NetSuite)
- Bank-client systems and partner bank interfaces
- Treasury management systems (TMS)
- BI tools for balance and cash flow dashboards (Power BI, Tableau, Looker)
- Internal payment system dashboards and processing data exports
- Task and coordination tools (Jira, Asana)
How performance is measured
- Accuracy of liquidity forecasts over weekly and monthly horizons
- No cash gaps or overdue payouts
- Share of funds placed in line with limits and policy
- Cost of money: conversion fees, settlement and banking service costs
- Timeliness of partner settlements and compliance with settlement timelines
- Number of incidents involving account freezes or payment delays
By vertical
FinTech
In fintech, the Treasury Director manages settlements between payment providers, issuers, banks and the company itself, and is responsible for liquidity to support instant payouts and client withdrawals. The work involves managing multiple bank accounts and reserves and working closely with the payments product and risk teams.
Levels
Head of / Director
At Head of or Director level, the role owns the overall treasury strategy: liquidity policy, funding model, selection of banks and providers, and reporting to the board. Decisions are made at company level rather than for individual transactions, and require alignment with the CFO and business owners.
How to get there
Most people enter treasury from banks (corporate banking, bank treasury, settlement operations), from audit, or from financial analysis in companies with large money flows. Experience with payment systems, acquiring or FX operations is valuable. For a Director role, several years in treasury officer or liquidity manager positions is usually required.
What to study: liquidity management principles, payment settlements and settlement timelines, FX operations, risk management basics, and the requirements of partner banks and regulators for balances and reporting. It is also worth understanding how refunds, chargebacks and reserves work in the payments industry, since they directly affect liquidity needs.
Growth usually goes from treasury officer or liquidity analyst to team lead, then to Head of Treasury. Key skills along this path include building forecasts, negotiating with banks, managing a team, and speaking to leadership in the language of risk and money rather than only operations.
Next steps: CFO (Chief Financial Officer), Head of Finance, Head of Payments Finance, Director of Financial Control, Director of Liquidity Risk Management
FAQ
How is a Treasury Director different from a CFO?
The CFO is responsible for the company's overall financial strategy: budget, reporting, investments and investor relations. The Treasury Director is responsible for a specific area: liquidity, cash movement, settlements and banking relationships. In small companies these functions may be combined, while in large companies they are separate.
Why is treasury so important in fintech and payments?
Payment businesses handle client and partner money in near real time. If an account lacks funds or a settlement is delayed, payouts and payment acceptance stop. Treasury therefore has a direct impact on the stability of the product and on trust in it.
What determines a Treasury Director's income?
Income usually depends on company size and the volume of money handled, the complexity of the payment model, the number of countries and currencies, regulatory load, and responsibility for strategic decisions. The local market also plays a significant role.
Do you need bank experience to become a Treasury Director?
Banking experience is a common path but not a requirement. What matters more is understanding of liquidity, settlements and FX operations, and the ability to work with banks and risk teams. Many people come from corporate finance, audit or payment companies if they have worked on treasury tasks.
Which risks cause treasury problems in high-risk verticals?
The main risks are sudden outflows during payout peaks, account freezes by banks and providers, rising chargebacks and refunds, currency fluctuations, and tighter regulatory requirements for reserves and reporting. The treasury's job is to plan buffers and action scenarios in advance.
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