Fast growth can test even the strongest cultures, but Aysun Ahi has spent the past eight years proving that people and performance don’t have to be a trade-off. As chief people officer at OpenPayd, a London-based fintech that delivers financial infrastructure to businesses via a single API, she’s helped guide the company through rapid expansion, all while keeping employee wellbeing, inclusion and trust front and centre.
Born in Turkey, Aysun moved to London more than 15 years ago and has built her career around creating workplaces where people feel empowered to grow. In this edition of The Big Interview, she shares how to lead with intention in a high-growth environment, why inclusion starts with action and how to build a team that thrives through change.
You’ve had significant growth in recent times, doubling in size and achieving profitability with over €40 million ARR. How have you managed the challenges associated with rapid scaling, particularly in maintaining company culture and employee engagement?
Maintaining company culture and employee engagement as a business scales is never easy. As OpenPayd has grown, listening to our employees has always been key. Their voices have shaped how we evolve and grow, and we trust that the best insights always come from within the team.
Communication needs to go both ways, and providing employees with channels to share their feedback in both an open forum and privately is important for building inclusion and trust. We maintain open communication through multiple channels, including regular town halls, quarterly CEO Q&A sessions, dedicated platforms for questions and surveys and team events. In doing so, we’ve created a culture of transparency at every level.
Recognition is also another important dimension of our approach, as we have many different ways to recognise and thank each other.
You’ve emphasised that real change in diversity and inclusion goes beyond hashtags and campaigns, focusing on policies, pay equity and creating cultures where women have equal opportunities. How has OpenPayd implemented these principles to promote diversity and inclusion within the organisation?
Diversity and inclusion need to be ingrained in a culture and built from the ground up. And everything starts from the foundation of a respectful, kind and supportive environment.
Open communication is a cornerstone of our company culture, and making sure every employee has a voice is how we protect that. This goes beyond giving everyone the opportunity to share opinions and insights, but also ensuring employees have appropriate channels to share concerns. We maintain zero tolerance for toxicity, and address issues promptly when they arise.
Diversity and inclusion is just an ideal without actively ensuring company policies reflect our commitment. We ensure equal pay is in place, and have diverse panels for talent acquisition, which we apply across all roles, regardless of role or seniority.
You’ve said that fintech represents the modernisation of an old, archaic industry, aiming to make services faster, simpler and easier to use. How does this philosophy influence your approach to talent acquisition and retention in a competitive fintech landscape?
A forward-looking industry needs to show progression not just externally but internally too. A business that seeks to inspire change in the market must be committed to driving change within.
Diversity is at the heart of this. Diverse hiring panels, for example, are a non-negotiable minimum for us; this means that no hiring manager can hire on their own. We also don’t limit people by their titles or roles, and encourage employees to challenge themselves. Everyone is encouraged to contribute ideas, whether you’re a junior who is new to the industry, or a seasoned professional. It also means that we trust our employees to lead and take ownership: autonomy is a core value at OpenPayd.
Internal collaboration is very important for us too, and we actively foster cross-functional teamwork and a strong sense of unity. OpenPayd operates within an industry that’s built on collaboration, and we need to reflect that.
OpenPayd also operates in a highly regulated environment, offering services like Banking-as-a-Service and embedded finance solutions. How do you ensure that your HR policies align with compliance requirements while developing innovation and agility among employees?
Compliance is embedded in our culture. Every employee understands its importance and role in how we operate. We ensure all employees complete the required training programmes, keeping compliance knowledge up-to-date and relevant. We also leverage technology to meet compliance requirements efficiently, encouraging cross-functional collaboration to drive both innovation and accountability.
Ensuring strong teamwork across departments to ensure compliance is a shared responsibility at OpenPayd, not a siloed effort.
A forward-looking industry needs to show progression not just externally but internally too … diversity is at the heart of this.
Given your focus on providing a suite of banking and payments infrastructure via a single API, how do you address the need for continuous upskilling and professional development to keep pace with technological advancements?
Every employee receives a generous annual learning and development budget to invest in their personal and professional growth. And we actively track and encourage its full use.
We also host regular Lunch & Learn sessions featuring both internal and external speakers sharing their expertise and insights. Personal development is a priority, and each employee sets an annual goal focused on their individual growth. To make sure that everyone has access to upskilling opportunities, we also have a learning platform that provides all employees with access to a wide range of training resources, available at any time.
What strategies has OpenPayd implemented to maintain collaboration and productivity among distributed teams working remotely or on a hybrid basis?
Building effective hybrid work models doesn’t happen by accident. It requires intentional effort and commitment at every level of the organisation.
Especially from an infrastructure point of view, a lot of work goes into ensuring teams have the right tools in place and can access a variety of communication channels that serve to keep everyone connected, informed and engaged.
The human connection and personal element can’t be forgotten, even as we approach six years of hybrid working. We encourage connection across locations through regular office visits and face-to-face interactions, which help keep colleagues connected and motivated.
Employee wellbeing is a critical concern, especially in fast-paced industries like fintech. What initiatives has OpenPayd introduced to support mental health and work-life balance for its employees?
We recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance, and offer hybrid working to balance working from the office and home. Employees also have the option to work remotely for up to two months each year.
We also know that creating a strong sense of unity is important for morale. So we run regular social events to help build connections and a sense of community across the team.
Health and wellbeing are a priority, and we strive to give our employees as much support as possible through personalised care and tailored assistance. When they need extra support, our staff have confidential access to third-party support services.
Most importantly, we listen to our employees and are committed to supporting them through any challenges.
With OpenPayd’s expansion into various markets, how do you navigate cultural differences to create an inclusive and cohesive organisational culture across diverse regions?
We’re proud to be part of a global network, and embrace and celebrate the unique backgrounds, perspectives and experiences of our people. We make time to bring people together and create initiatives that help us learn from one another.
For example, we host a regular Coffee Club, where employees are randomly matched for casual chats. We also do cultural spotlights and have a Beyond the Borders initiative where teams from the same culture share their local traditions.
The balance between in-person, hybrid and remote working will continue to evolve, but flexibility will remain.
In the context of your mission to build and embed financial services to power growth, how do you align HR strategies to support innovation and adaptability among employees?
Making sure our employees have autonomy and flexibility is at the core of encouraging innovation and adaptability. One of our values is “Find a better way” — creating an environment where our people come up with a solution when discussing a problem.
You also can’t expect employees to be adaptable without a culture of open feedback. As I mentioned earlier, we take pride in encouraging clear and candid communication.
As a leader in the fintech industry, how do you approach succession planning to ensure leadership continuity and organisational resilience?
Setting future leaders up for a successful and rewarding career means giving them opportunities to grow. At OpenPayd, we do this by enabling cross-functional moves to help employees explore new career paths and broaden their skill sets. And providing opportunities to take on stretch assignments that challenge employees and support their growth beyond their current roles.
Additional coaching, mentoring and leadership training are also offered through tailored development programmes for our identified future leaders.
Considering the rapid evolution of the fintech sector, what measures have you implemented to attract and retain top talent amid increasing competition?
The battle for talent in the fintech industry is growing. We know that to get the best talent, and to get the best out of our talent, we need to offer not only competitive benefits today but also set employees up for the future.
We provide clear career growth opportunities, including internal mobility, leadership development and upskilling. Competitive compensation packages that reflect market benchmarks and reward high performance are also key, as is recognising and celebrating contributions through formal and informal recognition programmes, and creating an inclusive and collaborative work environment.
We’ve spent a lot of time building a strong employer brand that reflects our commitment to hiring and supporting the best fintech talent, and are proud to have built a strong and ever-growing team of fintech leaders.
How do you balance the fast-paced demands of the fintech industry with creating a sustainable and supportive work environment for employees?
It’s a balance that’s hard to strike but critical to find. We do this by setting clear and realistic goals, ensuring everyone at OpenPayd understands our priorities and how their work contributes to these. We repeat our company goals in every town hall.
Ultimately, people also want to be recognised for their contributions, especially when things are challenging. Recognising and celebrating achievements, both big and small, is really important.
Promoting a strong culture of collaboration, where teamwork and mutual support are core to how we operate, is also key – particularly when team members are working remotely. Underpinning all of this is, of course, is having open, honest and respectful communication across all levels, which you’ll see by now is a common thread.
AND FINALLY, how do you see HR evolving over the next five years?
It would be remiss of me not to mention AI, which has become a dominating theme across all industries. No doubt we’ll see an uptick in the use of AI and automation to streamline administrative tasks. Hopefully, this will give the People function the opportunity to focus on other areas, such as strategy. The rise in accessibility to data and data analytics means we’ll also be able to make more data-driven decisions, and more quickly.
The balance between in-person, hybrid and remote working will continue to evolve, but flexibility will remain. As teams expand into different countries, time zones and cultures, we’ll need to use more sophisticated tools for communication, collaboration and alignment across geographically dispersed teams.
With the acceleration in technology, I expect we’ll see more focus on personalised learning and development programmes to upskill and reskill company employees.
I hope that People functions will evolve into a more strategic and forward-thinking function, moving far beyond traditional back-office operations to become a key driver of business success. That’s the case at OpenPayd, and we see the benefits of it every day.