"You Don't Need the Full Playbook" INFINOX's Tatiana Kononovich on women, leadership, and redefining fintech from within

Tatiana Kononovich doesn't believe in waiting for perfect conditions. As General Manager of London based INFINOX, a global trading platform, she's driven transformation not just across operations and infrastructure - but in how women perceive their place in fintech.

"You don't need to tick every box before taking the leap," she says, when asked what she wishes more women knew before entering the industry. "In fintech, and especially trading tech, things move fast, and no one has the full playbook. But too often, women wait until they feel 100% ready, while men are quicker to back themselves."

It's a perspective forged in the fast-paced reality of trading platforms, where ambiguity is constant and iteration is currency. "Launching a product, building a platform, or running operations, the fact is that none of it requires knowing everything upfront. It's about being resourceful, resilient, and willing to learn on the go," Kononovich says.

At INFINOX, that mindset is more than a philosophy - it's operational fact. "We've built everything from AI-driven onboarding to cross-border payment systems from scratch - no manuals, just trial, error, and iteration. The opportunities are there, but you have to be willing to take them."

That same willingness has underpinned one of the company's most pivotal decisions: centralising its operational infrastructure. "We moved from a fragmented, reactive setup to a unified system that now supports multiple brands, markets, and business lines," Kononovich explains. "It wasn't a headline move, but it was transformational."

The results have been decisive. "We brought in providers like SumSub for onboarding, rebuilt our payments architecture, aligned support across teams, and introduced a scalable HR model," she adds. The move, while not flashy, laid the foundation for INFINOX's rapid growth in LATAM, Asia, and its expanding institutional desk. "It's the kind of decision that changes the trajectory of a business from the inside out."

Despite being at the helm of a tech-forward firm, Kononovich is quick to dismantle one of the industry's most persistent myths. "That you need to be a technical expert or product genius to lead effectively - that's completely wrong," Kononovich says. "Leadership in tech is about clarity, alignment, and people."

"At INFINOX, I work closely with leaders in Product, Tech, HR, Onboarding, Payments, and Commercial. They're all brilliant in their domains. What they need from me isn't micromanagement - it's structure, focus, and execution." Her role, she says, is to ensure everything moves in sync with the broader strategy and customer needs.

Romanticised narratives of tech leadership - "all-nighters, solo breakthroughs, and dominant personalities" - don't reflect her lived experience. "Scaling a global trading platform is about quiet discipline, building trust, aligning teams, and creating space for people to thrive. The best leaders I've seen succeed through consistency, not charisma."

But perhaps most telling is how Kononovich is shaping the future from within - actively investing in the next generation of women in fintech. "This is deeply personal," she says. "I've had great mentors, but I've also been the only woman in the room more times than I can count. So now, I focus on opening doors for others."

She mentors female students at LSE, runs workshops for women returning to work, and insists on inclusive hiring practices at INFINOX. "Internally, I've pushed to shift our culture from rigid and top-down to inclusive and empowering. I'm grateful to our CEO, Lee, and our shareholders for backing that approach."

But she's clear that allyship isn't enough. "We need to go beyond just 'supporting' women. We need to invest in them, spotlight them, promote them. That's how you shift the industry. That's what we're doing at INFINOX."

For Kononovich, leadership isn't about fitting a mould - it's about breaking one. And in doing so, she's not just building systems; she's building pathways.