Wise Leadership & Management

What hallmark of good management stands out at your company — and how is it reinforced?

At Wise, we focus on action-oriented collaboration, transparency and feedback. Our Leads (managers) model this by communicating directly and openly — sharing context and decisions so people can trust the “why,” not just the “what.” This is reinforced by our focus on working cross-functionally to solve customer problems from first principles — breaking them down before looking for solutions. When a challenge or opportunity appears, we prioritize getting the right people together to solve it — regardless of team or ownership. These cross-functional teams tackle projects in tandem, starting first from: How will what we’re doing help our customers? Or why are we working on this? We then leverage skills across the business to innovate quickly and provide solutions.

To support the growth of our employees, who we call “Wisers,” leads get training on how to give effective feedback and support the growth of their team. And it shows — in our annual company survey, Wisers scored their leads in the top 25 percent of tech companies when it comes to caring about their wellbeing and providing open and honest communication. They also score above the benchmark on encouraging and supporting their development.

Which forum or ritual keeps expectations and priorities clear for the team?

We run open planning sessions for anyone to learn and give feedback. Our planning rituals provide clarity on what we are aiming for and why and they allow Wisers to openly discuss and refine how we’re going to achieve our collective goals. With the support of colleagues around the world, every Wiser has a voice and the potential to shape how we work towards our mission of building the best way to move and manage the world’s money.

We host “squad days,” where teams within Wise present their plans to senior leadership. This creates visibility and ensures teams can surface risks and opportunities early, while still empowering them to build and execute on their own roadmap.

We have bi-weekly team calls with the whole company, where teams present key projects so Wisers stay informed about progress against our mission outside of planning rituals. This combination of transparent planning and high‑level feedback ensures our strategy is clear and mission-driven, while allowing for ownership by the teams doing the work. This helps us deliver better outcomes for customers — and a better experience for Wisers.

What part of the strategy excites people — and what metric shows progress?

Wisers are motivated by building solutions that transform how people and businesses move and manage money — instantly, transparently, affordably and conveniently. We listen to customers and study how they use Wise so we build products and features that move us closer to that mission. Wisers score in the top 25 percent of tech companies for feeling inspired by our purpose and mission.

We keep that connection alive by speaking to customers. During our annual ‘Mission Days’ we run a customer challenge — which ensures those who don’t regularly interface with users sit side-by-side with a customer-support agent to experience the journey firsthand and seek out opportunities to improve. This is hugely motivating and reminds our people of the impact behind the products they are building.

For almost 15 years, that dedication has driven Wise’s growth — and the results show it. In FY2025, we served 15.6 million people and businesses, processed over £145.2 billion in cross-border transfers and saved customers around $2.6 billion in fees. In our latest results, 65 percent of payments sent via Wise now arrive instantly. We’re transforming the movement of money worldwide — and nothing is more motivating.