How to Apply to Toss Bank

10 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 333 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • Toss Bank is South Korea's third internet-only bank, launched October 2021, operating under Viva Republica alongside Toss, Toss Securities, Toss Insurance, Toss Place, and Toss CX.
  • The parent Viva Republica is pre-IPO and has targeted a US NYSE listing after cancelling a 2022 KOSPI attempt; equity compensation is in the private parent and its value is timing-dependent.
  • The ATS is a custom in-house portal at toss.im/careers and recruit.toss.im — not Greenhouse, Lever, or Workday. Apply through the official portal directly.
  • The hiring bar is among the highest in Korean fintech. Expect multi-round interviews with heavy ownership probing, English-Korean mixing on tech teams, and Korean-primary interviews on regulated banking teams.
  • Toss is known for a fast, intense, high-turnover culture. Compensation is at the top of Korean tech, but burnout risk and regulatory pressure (household debt, FSS/FSC supervision) are real.
  • Roles are based in Seoul (Samseong-dong, Gangnam). Remote and out-of-Seoul arrangements are not standard; international candidates should plan for E-7 visa sponsorship and relocation.
  • Korean language ability matters — business-side and regulated roles require fluency; product and platform engineering roles can often be worked in English but Korean helps integration.
  • Negotiate the whole package and treat private equity conservatively. A strong base plus realistic equity expectations is a healthier offer than a thin base propped up by an assumed IPO.

About Toss Bank

Toss Bank (토스뱅크) is a South Korean internet-only digital bank that launched in October 2021 as the country's third digital-only bank, following K-Bank (2017) and KakaoBank (2017). It is a subsidiary of Viva Republica (비바리퍼블리카), the fintech group behind the Toss money app, Toss Insurance, Toss Securities, Toss Place, and Toss CX. The parent group was founded by Lee Seunggun (이승건, 'SG Lee'), a former dentist who pivoted into payments and built what became one of Korea's most recognized consumer fintech brands. Toss Bank operates out of Samseong-dong in Seoul's Gangnam district, in the GFC tower alongside other Toss group entities, with roughly 1,000+ employees as of 2024. The bank has aggressively expanded its product suite since launch: deposit accounts, savings, personal loans, FX remittance, investment products, a partnered credit card, and — as of 2024 — mortgage lending. That pace of product launches is faster than most Korean incumbents and has helped Toss Bank reach operating profitability in the first half of 2024 after multi-year losses typical of scale-up banking. Leadership changed at the end of 2023 when former CEO Hong Min-taek (홍민택) stepped down; Lee Eun-mi (이은미) took over in 2024. Strategy across the Toss group is still dominated by founder SG Lee at the Viva Republica level, and bank-level decisions are tightly coordinated with the wider group roadmap — this is important context for candidates, because Toss Bank roles frequently touch group-wide platforms, design systems, and data infrastructure. The parent, Viva Republica, is IPO-seeking. A KOSPI listing was pursued and then shelved in 2022 on market conditions; reporting through 2024 and 2025 points to a targeted US listing on the NYSE with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as advisors, though timelines have slipped multiple times. Private valuations have been cited in the KRW 9–11 trillion range (roughly USD 7–8 billion), which is meaningful context for equity compensation — stock in a pre-IPO private company carries real upside and real uncertainty, and Toss Bank itself is not independently listed. Competitively, Toss Bank sits between KakaoBank (KOSPI-listed, much larger balance sheet) and K-Bank (which withdrew its IPO attempt in 2024), while incumbents like KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, Hana, and NongHyup still dominate most of the Korean banking market. Toss Bank is regulated by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and supervised by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), under guidance that tightened around household debt and digital lending in 2023–2024. Candidates should treat regulatory constraint as a material part of the job.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Apply through the Toss careers portal at toss

    Apply through the Toss careers portal at toss.im/careers or recruit.toss.im — this is a custom in-house ATS, not Greenhouse, Lever, or Workday. Create an account and submit a Korean-language resume (국문 이력서) plus, for product/engineering/design roles, an English resume and a portfolio or code sample where relevant.

  2. 2
    Expect a recruiter screen within 1–2 weeks of a strong application

    Expect a recruiter screen within 1–2 weeks of a strong application. For roles with high inbound volume — product, data, engineering — screening can take longer, and silent rejection is common. Korean business etiquette around rejections is often terse or absent; do not read silence as evaluation.

  3. 3
    Complete any take-home assignment or coding test promptly

    Complete any take-home assignment or coding test promptly. Toss is known for challenging take-homes for engineering and data roles, and evaluators look closely at code quality, system reasoning, and written communication — not just correctness.

  4. 4
    Prepare for multiple rounds of interviews

    Prepare for multiple rounds of interviews — typically a hiring manager round, 2–3 peer or cross-functional rounds (product, design, data, or engineering depending on the role), and a final with a senior leader or executive sponsor. Expect a mix of behavioral, case, and technical questions.

  5. 5
    Be ready for English in product, platform, data, and senior engineering intervie

    Be ready for English in product, platform, data, and senior engineering interviews; some teams operate in English day-to-day while business and risk teams operate primarily in Korean. Confirm working language with the recruiter early.

  6. 6
    Bring specific, numeric examples of impact

    Bring specific, numeric examples of impact — Toss interviewers are known to push hard on ownership, decision quality, and what you personally drove versus what the team did. Vague answers are a common rejection cause.

  7. 7
    For banking-regulated roles (risk, compliance, credit, treasury, audit), expect

    For banking-regulated roles (risk, compliance, credit, treasury, audit), expect questions tied to Korean financial regulation, FSS/FSC expectations, and real incidents in the sector. Relevant Korean financial licensing or certifications (AFPK, CFA, CPA, 금융자격증) are an advantage and sometimes required.

  8. 8
    If relocating to Seoul, ask early about the visa pathway (typically E-7 for spec

    If relocating to Seoul, ask early about the visa pathway (typically E-7 for specialized professionals) and whether the role permits non-Korean nationals. Some regulated roles require Korean citizenship or residency; most tech roles do not.

  9. 9
    Receive an offer package typically including base salary, performance bonus, sig

    Receive an offer package typically including base salary, performance bonus, sign-on in some cases, and Viva Republica group equity (stock options or restricted stock, subject to vesting) — remember this equity is in the private parent, not in Toss Bank directly, and its value is tied to an IPO that has repeatedly moved.

  10. 10
    Negotiate the full package

    Negotiate the full package — base, sign-on, and equity grant — before accepting. Korean tech comp at Toss is competitive with Naver, Kakao, and Samsung's top tiers, but equity, vesting cliffs, and refresh grants vary substantially by level and team.

Resume Tips for Toss Bank

recommended

Submit both Korean and English versions when applying to product, engineering, d

Submit both Korean and English versions when applying to product, engineering, design, or data roles. Korean-only resumes are fine for risk, compliance, legal, and most business roles; English-only resumes will narrow your options significantly.

recommended

Lead with measurable business or technical impact — users acquired, latency redu

Lead with measurable business or technical impact — users acquired, latency reduced, revenue driven, fraud prevented, compliance issue resolved. Toss reviewers are metric-oriented and skeptical of resumes that read like job descriptions.

recommended

Highlight experience with financial regulation (FSC/FSS, Basel III, AML/KYC, PCI

Highlight experience with financial regulation (FSC/FSS, Basel III, AML/KYC, PCI-DSS) for risk, compliance, and certain product roles. For engineering, surface work with high-throughput payment systems, real-time data, or regulated data stores.

recommended

For engineering resumes, name the stack explicitly — Kotlin, Java, Go, Python, T

For engineering resumes, name the stack explicitly — Kotlin, Java, Go, Python, TypeScript, Kafka, AWS, Kubernetes — and include scale numbers (TPS, users, data volumes). Toss engineering teams evaluate depth, not buzzwords.

recommended

For product and design, include artifacts: shipped features with user counts, be

For product and design, include artifacts: shipped features with user counts, before/after metrics, and a portfolio link. Toss has a strong internal design culture and will compare your work against a high visual and UX bar.

recommended

Keep the resume concise — one to two pages is standard in Korea for most roles;

Keep the resume concise — one to two pages is standard in Korea for most roles; three pages is acceptable for senior engineering or leadership roles with substantial history. Avoid photos on English resumes; Korean resumes traditionally include them but Toss does not require it.

recommended

If you have worked at KakaoBank, K-Bank, NaverPay, KakaoPay, a traditional Korea

If you have worked at KakaoBank, K-Bank, NaverPay, KakaoPay, a traditional Korean bank, or a major global fintech (Revolut, Nubank, Stripe, Wise), lead with that — Toss recruiters recognize these lineages and will prioritize the review.

recommended

Translate Korean titles and certifications carefully when writing an English res

Translate Korean titles and certifications carefully when writing an English resume. Terms like 대리 (daeri), 과장 (gwajang), 차장 (chajang), 부장 (bujang) do not map cleanly to Western titles — describe the scope instead (team size, budget, reports).

recommended

Include Korean language proficiency honestly — TOPIK level or self-assessed tier

Include Korean language proficiency honestly — TOPIK level or self-assessed tier. Claiming business fluency you do not have will surface within minutes of a Korean-language interview.

recommended

Do not pad with generic skills — Korean tech recruiters expect resumes to mirror

Do not pad with generic skills — Korean tech recruiters expect resumes to mirror the JD's specific requirements. Missing keywords from the JD is a common first-pass filter even in a custom ATS.

ATS System: Custom Toss careers portal (recruit.toss.im / toss.im/careers)

Toss Bank uses a proprietary in-house careers portal built and maintained by the Viva Republica group, not Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, or other standard commercial ATS platforms. The portal is shared across Toss group entities including Toss Bank, Toss (money app), Toss Securities, Toss Insurance, Toss Place, and Toss CX. It features a polished design reflecting the group's product brand, supports Korean and English localization, and accepts structured resume inputs and file uploads. Because it is a custom system, the parsing behavior is less predictable than mainstream ATS tools — candidates cannot rely on public guidance for bypassing a Taleo or iCIMS filter, and resume formatting advice that targets specific keyword parsers may or may not apply.

  • Submit resumes as PDF rather than DOCX where possible; custom portals are more consistent parsing PDFs and preserve formatting. If the portal explicitly asks for DOCX, follow the instructions.
  • Use simple, linear layouts — single column, standard section headers (Experience, Education, Skills), no text boxes, tables, or graphics. The portal presents resumes to internal reviewers and overly designed files can render inconsistently.
  • Apply through the official portal only. Toss does not typically hire via third-party Korean job boards like 사람인 (Saramin), 잡코리아 (JobKorea), or 원티드 (Wanted) for most tech roles, and applying elsewhere may not route to the internal pipeline reliably.
  • Fill out every profile field requested — education history, language proficiency, Korean military service status (for Korean male candidates), and authorization to work. Korean tech applications expect more completeness than typical US resumes.
  • Expect a single unified candidate profile across the Toss group; if you have applied to Toss Securities or Toss (money app) previously, recruiters at Toss Bank may see that history. Treat every application seriously.
  • If you receive a recruiter reach-out via LinkedIn, confirm the role is at Toss Bank specifically — the Toss group has many entities and roles can look similar from the outside but sit in different regulatory and product contexts.

Interview Culture

Toss interviews are intense.

The company is widely known in Korean tech for a very high hiring bar comparable to top-tier Naver, Kakao, and Samsung Research organizations, combined with a Silicon Valley style push on ownership and first-principles thinking. Expect multiple rounds, unambiguous behavioral probing, and real technical depth rather than generic puzzles. Interviewers commonly ask candidates to walk through decisions they personally made, what the alternatives were, how they measured success, and what they would do differently — shallow or team-credited answers are a frequent rejection cause. For engineering, data, and product roles, interviews often mix English and Korean depending on the panel, and some engineering organizations within the Toss group operate in English day-to-day. For risk, compliance, credit, and regulated banking roles, interviews are primarily in Korean and include questions tied to FSS/FSC guidance and real Korean financial sector incidents. Behavioral rounds draw on Toss's internal values around user obsession, aggressive iteration, and execution speed — candidates who can cite specific moments of ownership, not just philosophy, do better. Culturally, Toss has a reputation for a fast, flat, and demanding environment. Many employees describe long hours, rapid project churn, and a high performance expectation. The upside is substantial scope early in tenure, heavy product surface area, and strong peers. The downside is burnout risk and turnover — this shows up in candidate reviews on platforms like Blind Korea and Jobplanet. Hiring managers will expect you to be honest about your energy for that pace. Feigning enthusiasm for intensity you cannot actually sustain tends to backfire within the first six months. Offer decisions usually come within one to two weeks of the final interview. Negotiation is expected, particularly on base and equity. Equity is in the private Viva Republica parent and should be evaluated conservatively given repeated IPO delays.

What Toss Bank Looks For

  • Clear, specific ownership — candidates who can describe exactly what they drove, measured, and changed, separated cleanly from team or org credit.
  • Speed of execution paired with judgment — Toss prefers builders who ship and measure, not planners who deliberate indefinitely, but they also push on whether you understood the trade-offs.
  • Depth over breadth — for engineering and data, knowing one stack deeply (payments systems, Kafka pipelines, Kubernetes in a regulated environment) beats a shallow survey of many tools.
  • Product and user instinct — even non-product roles are expected to articulate why a feature matters to a Toss user, not just how to build it. Engineering resumes that never mention users struggle.
  • Comfort with Korean financial regulation — candidates for risk, credit, compliance, legal, and banking platform roles need a working grasp of FSC/FSS expectations, AML/KYC, and household debt guidance.
  • Korean or English language fluency appropriate to the team — business fluency in Korean is required for regulated and business-side roles; product and platform engineering teams increasingly operate in English but still value Korean.
  • Honesty about failures — Toss interviewers push on what went wrong in past projects and why. Polished success-only narratives tend to underperform.
  • Alignment with the Toss group mission — consumer finance simplification, elimination of friction, and aggressive expansion across financial products. Candidates who describe Toss as 'just another bank' signal weak research.
  • Resilience for the pace — hiring managers assess whether you can sustain a high-tempo environment over 2+ years, not just pass the interview week.
  • Pragmatism on equity — candidates who understand that pre-IPO Viva Republica stock is real but uncertain, and who negotiate a realistic base, are easier to close than ones who over-index on paper equity value.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Toss Bank the same company as Toss?
They are closely related but legally separate. Toss Bank (토스뱅크) is a regulated digital bank licensed by the FSC, launched October 2021. Toss (토스) is the money app originally built by Viva Republica. Both, along with Toss Securities, Toss Insurance, Toss Place, and Toss CX, are part of the Viva Republica group. They share branding, a careers portal, and group-level strategy, but each entity has its own regulatory, financial, and operational structure.
Is Toss Bank publicly traded?
No. Toss Bank itself is not listed. The parent Viva Republica is private and has been pursuing an IPO — a KOSPI listing was cancelled in 2022, and reporting since then points to a targeted US NYSE listing advised by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Timelines have moved multiple times, and no IPO should be assumed certain when evaluating equity compensation.
Who is the CEO of Toss Bank?
Lee Eun-mi (이은미) became CEO in 2024. Former CEO Hong Min-taek (홍민택) stepped down in December 2023. Strategic direction across the Toss group is still heavily shaped by Viva Republica founder and group CEO Lee Seunggun (이승건, 'SG Lee').
How many people work at Toss Bank?
Roughly 1,000+ employees as of 2024, with the broader Viva Republica group substantially larger. Headcount grew quickly during the 2021–2023 expansion phase and has stabilized as Toss Bank moved toward profitability in 2024.
Where is Toss Bank located?
Toss Bank is headquartered in Samseong-dong in Seoul's Gangnam district, in the GFC (Gangnam Finance Center) tower, co-located with other Toss group entities. Most roles are on-site or hybrid in Seoul. Remote-first arrangements are not standard.
Do I need to speak Korean to work at Toss Bank?
It depends on the role. Product, platform engineering, data, and some design teams operate partly in English and routinely hire non-Korean speakers, though Korean fluency helps with informal communication and group integration. Risk, compliance, credit, legal, treasury, customer operations, and most business-side roles require Korean business fluency because of regulatory and customer context.
What is Toss Bank's ATS?
Toss uses a custom in-house careers portal at toss.im/careers and recruit.toss.im, maintained by the Viva Republica group. It is not a commercial ATS like Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, or Taleo. Applications are handled through this portal, and standard ATS-specific advice does not directly apply — simple PDF resumes with clear section headers perform best.
How long does the hiring process take?
Typically 4–8 weeks from application to offer for product, engineering, and data roles, sometimes longer for senior or regulated roles. Silence after an application is common; Korean business etiquette tends toward terse or absent rejections. A recruiter screen usually arrives within 1–2 weeks if there is interest.
What does compensation look like?
Cash compensation at Toss is competitive with the top tier of Korean tech — Naver, Kakao, Samsung's senior bands — for product, engineering, and data roles. Offers usually include base salary, a performance bonus, and equity in the private Viva Republica parent via stock options or RSUs. Equity value is tied to an IPO that has been delayed multiple times; candidates should negotiate a realistic base rather than relying on assumed equity outcomes.
Is Toss Bank profitable?
Toss Bank reported operating profit in the first half of 2024 after multi-year losses typical of a scale-up digital bank. That is a notable milestone relative to K-Bank's longer path to profitability, but the bank is still smaller than KakaoBank and operates under tightening FSS/FSC household debt guidance that affects lending margins.
Does Toss Bank sponsor visas for international candidates?
Yes for many specialized roles, typically on the E-7 professional visa. Not every role qualifies — some regulated banking roles require Korean citizenship or residency for licensing reasons. Confirm sponsorship and eligibility with the recruiter early in the process before investing heavily in interviews.
What is the culture like at Toss Bank?
Fast, flat, and demanding. Employees describe high autonomy, rapid product iteration, and strong peers, alongside long hours, aggressive timelines, and meaningful burnout and turnover. Reviews on Blind Korea and Jobplanet are mixed and polarized. The company is a strong fit for people who want pace and scope and a weaker fit for people who want stability and predictability.
Who are Toss Bank's main competitors?
Directly, KakaoBank (KOSPI: 323410) and K-Bank are the other two Korean internet-only banks. Kakao Pay and Coupang Pay compete on adjacent consumer finance products. Traditional commercial banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, Hana, and NongHyup — remain larger on balance sheet and dominate legacy banking, though they are slower on digital product velocity.

Open Positions

Toss Bank currently has 333 open positions.

Check Your Resume Before Applying → View 333 open positions at Toss Bank

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Sources

  1. Toss Bank official website —
  2. Toss careers portal —
  3. Toss recruit portal —
  4. Viva Republica company overview —
  5. Financial Services Commission (FSC) — Korean regulator —
  6. Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) — Korean supervisor —
  7. Toss Bank — Wikipedia —
  8. Viva Republica — Wikipedia —
  9. KakaoBank — KOSPI listing (323410) —
  10. K-Bank official site —
  11. Blind Korea — Toss reviews board —
  12. Jobplanet — Toss Bank reviews —