Cinthia Barajas Pradales

Senior leader driving strategic direction and transformation across the Financial Services and Leasing sectors. Accountable for delivering high-impact initiatives that support business growth, operational excellence, and regulatory compliance. Skilled at leading cross-functional teams, aligning executive vision with execution, and navigating complex, regulated environments.

Key Responsibilities:

• Defined and executed multi-year strategic plans focused on portfolio growth, digital transformation, cost optimization, and customer-centric innovation across Consumer Finance and Operational Lease.
• Led cross-border transformation programs in the Netherlands and Belgium, covering M&A , operational excellence, restructuring, commercial development (including different kind of partnerships and joint ventures), and compliance readiness.
• Directed due diligence, integration planning, and value realization for M&A and partnership opportunities.
• Oversaw change initiatives to modernize core leasing and credit operations, enhance risk frameworks, and improve the customer journey.
• Collaborated with senior leadership, finance, risk, and IT to align priorities, secure investment, and track strategic KPIs.
• Built and led high-performing strategy and transformation teams, fostering an agile, results-driven culture.
• Delivered measurable impact through streamlined processes, improved cost-to-serve ratios, and enhanced competitiveness in the financial services landscape.

Experienced in leading and optimizing end-to-end collections operations for the Netherlands and Belgium, ensuring effective recovery strategies while maintaining a customer-centric approach. Responsible for managing day-to-day collections processes, setting performance targets, and implementing policies that drive efficiency, compliance, and cash flow improvement.

Key Responsibilities:

• Led and developed operational collections teams to achieve recovery targets with focus on the mid, and late-stage delinquency portfolios.
• Designed and implemented strategies to improve collection rates and reduce bad debt.
• Monitored key performance indicators (KPIs) and collection metrics to drive continuous improvement.
• Collaborated with risk, legal, and customer service departments to ensure compliance with internal policies and regulatory requirements.
• Introduced process enhancements to streamline operations.
• Reported on portfolio performance and recovery trends to senior leadership, providing insights to inform strategic decision-making.

Led cross-functional strategic initiatives across the organization, acting as a key interface between business units and executive leadership to drive transformation and business improvement.

Key Contributions:

• Spearheaded a diverse portfolio of high-impact projects including GDPR implementation, commercial channel redesign (with tech enablement), M&A due diligence, corporate governance enhancement, and cost optimization initiatives.
• Managed end-to-end project lifecycles—scoping, stakeholder alignment, resource planning, and execution—ensuring delivery of complex programs on time and within scope.
• Facilitated collaboration across departments such as Compliance, IT, Legal, Sales, and Operations to ensure successful execution of strategic priorities.
• Acted as a strategic liaison with Board-level stakeholders, delivering regular updates, securing alignment, and ensuring governance adherence throughout key initiatives.
• Proactively addressed operational gaps by stepping into critical roles within project teams to drive momentum and remove roadblocks.
• Oversaw project governance frameworks, ensuring transparent reporting, milestone tracking, and cross-functional accountability.

Supported business-critical ICT initiatives and cross-border research programs by bridging commercial, technical, and analytical functions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Co-led a key project work-stream within a broader ICT transformation program, representing the business side and ensuring alignment between commercial objectives and technical execution.
• Coordinated timelines, stakeholder meetings, and action plans with commercial teams to define requirements, deliver milestones, and provide structured documentation for IT development.
• Managed and executed research projects across business lines in Belgium and the Netherlands, delivering insights to support strategic decision-making.
• Collaborated closely with internal stakeholders to ensure that business intelligence initiatives aligned with operational and strategic priorities.
• Provided training, mentorship, and oversight to the team’s Market Analyst, ensuring quality and consistency in market research deliverables.

This role required strong coordination skills, cross-functional communication, and the ability to translate business needs into actionable intelligence and project deliverables.

Delivered actionable market intelligence to support strategic, commercial, and operational decision-making across B2B and B2C channels.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provided market analysis using internal and external data sources (e.g. industry reports, competitor benchmarks, customer insights) to support marketing, sales, and strategic initiatives.
• Proactively advised business units and senior leadership on market trends and growth opportunities, influencing channel strategy and commercial planning.
• Produced regular market and competitor reports for board and executive management, contributing to strategic reviews and business development.
• Designed, implemented, and supervised annual customer satisfaction programs for both B2B (retailers/dealers) and B2C segments, including survey management, analysis, reporting, and follow-up action plans.
• Collaborated with sales and marketing teams to align campaigns with market dynamics and consumer behavior insights.
• Analyzed market trends to identify opportunities for product development and enhancement.
• Developed comprehensive reports summarizing competitive landscape and consumer insights.

Temporal International Young Talent Program

• Contributed to the design and enhancement of Digital Customer Experience and Customer Journey frameworks within the online Captive Automotive sector.
• Supported the planning and execution of strategic events to strengthen Santander’s partnerships with global automotive brands and engage prospective clients.

Supported the Product Management team in developing process improvements, customer insight strategies, and market intelligence to enhance product and marketing performance.

Key Responsibilities:

• Contributed to the development of internal policies and documentation to standardize Product Management processes and improve cross-functional alignment.
• Designed the framework and initial strategy for implementing a Customer Satisfaction Index to support data-driven customer experience improvements.
• Conducted market research and created marketing insights focused on the Dutch automotive sector, supporting product positioning and competitive benchmarking.
• Assisted the Product Management team with a range of departmental tasks, including reporting, coordination, and internal communication.

Supported brand marketing activities through competitor analysis, performance reporting, and creative project assistance within a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) environment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Created regular competitor reports and tracked brand performance metrics to inform marketing strategy and decision-making.
• Assisted in the planning and execution of digital marketing campaigns and initiatives.
• Contributed to the development of new label and package designs, as well as marketing collateral, ensuring brand consistency and appeal.
• Managed product requests and inquiries from internal teams and external partners, facilitating smooth communication and supply coordination.

• Administrative tasks such as preparation of reports, invoicing, order management, customer service.
• Assistance involving product research, negotiation, logistics coordination from China to Spain.