The bunq Way: How a €1.6B European Neobank Hires Top-Tier Talent
We sat down with Joe Wilson, Chief Evangelist and former COO and Board Member of bunq, to talk about hiring.
For this episode, we sat down with Joe Wilson, Chief Evangelist at bunq and former COO and Board Member.
Joe began his career building and leading startups before spending a decade in leadership roles at Microsoft. He later ran his own fund backing Series A sustainability companies across Europe.
In the course of that, he joined bunq’s Supervisory Board first, then stepped in as COO during the company’s growth phase, overseeing Marketing, Adoption, Finance, and People. He was also part of the team that drove bunq’s US expansion. He left in 2024, returned in 2025, and now serves as Chief Evangelist.
Founded in 2012 by Ali Niknam, bunq is a European neobank headquartered in Amsterdam. It operates across 30 European countries and targets digital nomads, freelancers, and travellers. In 2021, it raised €193M in what was then the largest Series A in European fintech history, reaching unicorn status. By the end of 2022, it became the first EU neobank to achieve structural profitability.
Across his career, Joe has hired and led teams across geographies, business models, and every stage of company growth. We wanted to understand how bunq approaches hiring, what makes their culture so distinct, and what Joe has learned along the way.
Enjoy the episode!
Thank you, Joe, for taking the time. And if you’re interested in joining bunq, check out their careers page.
List of questions
Who is Joe Wilson? - 00mn11s
How does leadership work at bunq? Who makes decisions, and how? - 06mn53s
How would you describe bunq’s culture? Is there anything ‘spiky about it’? - 10mn04s
How do you identify talent who thrives at bunq? - 12mn22s
How do you keep your culture consistent across different countries? - 17mn57s
bunq has a specific stance on total rewards and employee equity compared to other companies - how does this influence how you hire, especially at the senior level? - 22mn45s
How many people have you hired in your career? - 26mn11s
<p>Curious whether the European neobank hiring playbook is fundamentally different or just slower. In the US fintech world the constraint is usually regulatory talent — the compliance people who actually understand what they're signing off on.</p>