It’s a Chimed Life: Meet Sam Krause, Chime’s VP and Head of Business Operations

“I’ve always been driven by social impact and helping others improve their quality of life,” says Sam Krause, Chime’s VP and Head of Business Operations. Early in her career, that led to pursuing international development and working with nonprofits that were dedicated to poverty relief efforts. From there, she found her way into fintech with Chime: “It’s the perfect combination of being able to drive impact at scale with the pace and rigor of a high growth startup,” she says.

After studying economics in school and working in nonprofits and management consulting, Sam’s made her way into tech, working first at Glassdoor and, later on, discovering Chime. “I had a cursory understanding of Chime, but when I decided to do a bit more research, I was really impressed with the company’s mission and the strength and experience of the senior leadership team.” During her interviews, Sam learned more about how Chimers work together to create our member-obsessed culture. “It became clear to me that the strong sense of values to which Chime holds itself would provide the perfect environment for my personal development and broader social impact.”

About a year into Sam’s time with Chime, an opportunity for her family to move to Chicago came along — of which Chime was very supportive since Chime has an office and growing team there. “It’s been so fun to be here in Chicago,” Sam says. “I really value Chime’s Chicago team culture — it’s friendly, collaborative, and everyone really cares about each other. We all come together on Thursdays for lunch, and I can’t wait for the new office to open to meet even more Chicago Chimers”

Launching BizOps at Chime

In her new role at Chime, Sam would launch and lead the new Business Operations team, weaving her values and leadership skills with Chime’s mission. “Our mandate is to partner with leadership to drive mission-critical cross-functional priorities,” Sam explains. “We take on special projects that span everything from tackling strategic questions to improving internal operations.”

Sam and her team work cross-functionally within the company, partnering with teams across the organization as they approach challenges or opportunities and implement changes. “We’ve supported every function at Chime from member operations and experience to product, engineering and finance, as well as our people and legal teams,” she says. “It’s been so fun to be able to be involved in every part of this organization.”

Over the course of her time at Chime, Sam has moved from launching the function as an individual contributor working exclusively with member experience to leading a team of 10 people. Sam’s proudest achievement has been partnering with different parts of the organization to drive real change and impact for our members. “The best aspect of our work is seeing the tangible impact that comes as a result of our projects, such as more Chime members signing up and feeling greater control over their spending or watching an internal process get streamlined so teams can move faster.”

The secrets of Sam’s success

It will come as no surprise to anyone who works with her that Sam attributes her successes in BizOps, firstly, to her team. “I honestly think that it starts with them,” she says. “So much of what makes our work effective is understanding the many different parts of our company. My team keeps me plugged in and helps us all see the big picture.”

Another ingredient of Sam’s success is her concerted effort to keep a pulse on the environment outside of Chime, which is enabled by Chime’s Corporate Strategy team under Calvin Xu. “Not looking exclusively inward allows us to create and propagate competitive intel and insights which are core to making strategic decisions,” Sam says.

Clarity and structure are also keys when it comes to Sam’s success — and that of her team. “When I pick up a new project, step one is to create very clear objectives,” she says. “Then, by diving into further questions like ‘Who?’ or ‘How?’ and any other specifics, we can get extremely clear on the problem we are trying to solve.”

Staying strategic and leading her team

Even with all the planning and structure, leading a team of strategic aces at a very fast-paced company like Chime doesn’t come without its obstacles. “You have to be very agile — things change quickly,” she says. Being agile allows Sam and her team to shift gears quickly and clearly see when projects need to be tabled to allow space for newer, more pressing priorities that arise. “One of the things I love most about my job is the dynamic nature of the work — we’re often wading into new areas and ramping up on topics we otherwise may never have learned about,” she says. For example, in a recent partnership with the risk organization, Sam’s team took a deep dive into the causes of fraudulent behavior to drive strategic decisions to protect our members.

“Most people who are attracted to a function like BizOps are drawn to its dynamic nature. We have to get up to speed quickly on niche topics and parts of the business every day.”

When it comes to leading her team, Sam strives to strike a balance between empowering them to own everything about their projects and being there to support them.

“I like to ensure that my team doesn’t feel like they’re on an island, so I try to make myself approachable and available so that they can come to me for guidance and input whenever they need to,” she says. This open-door leadership style, along with regular touchpoints and problem-solving sessions, has allowed Sam to create a productive, supported, and successful team.

“I like to strike a balance so people feel empowered to take ownership of their work while feeling adequately supported.”

Part of supporting her team is being actively involved in understanding their broader career development goals. “Understanding what motivates them, what drives them, and what they’re hoping to achieve in their current role and beyond is key to allowing me to help them move along that path,” she says. “It ensures that they’re building the skills where they want to continue developing and feel fulfilled not just in their day-to-day, but in their career as a whole, too.”

A look to the future

In the spirit of staying agile, empowering others, and supporting her team, it comes as no surprise that Sam is looking forward to the year ahead — no matter what it holds. “We’re coming out of a hectic year for the world and a period of hypergrowth for Chime — we’re settling into a new chapter,” she says. “So many projects and parts of the organization are gelling, which means a lot of change — and game-changing developments for Chimers and our members. I’m excited to see it all come together.