Key Takeaways
- Toss Securities is a Viva Republica subsidiary, not a standalone brand — your equity grant is in the parent and your career mobility extends to Toss Bank and Toss (super-app).
- The company hit its first quarterly profit in Q1 2024 — you are joining at a scale-to-profitability inflection, not a stable mature business.
- ATS is the custom Toss careers portal at recruit.toss.im; standard ATS optimization tactics (Greenhouse keyword stuffing, Lever quick apply) do not apply.
- Korean language is mandatory for most roles, optional for some product and engineering teams — clarify with the recruiter on the first call.
- Interview process is 4 to 8 weeks with 4 to 6 rounds, frequently including a C-level executive even for non-senior hires.
- Compensation is top-tier Korean tech (Naver, Kakao, Samsung level) with Viva Republica equity; clarify vesting, refresh policy, and IPO terms in writing.
- The work pace is intense, the office is in Samseong-dong (Seoul Gangnam), and remote work is rare — factor commute and burnout risk honestly.
- Viva Republica IPO timing (KOSPI versus NYSE), Toss Securities carve-out speculation, and Korean fintech regulatory pressure are real uncertainties — do not bet your career on a specific liquidity event.
About Toss Securities
Toss Securities (토스증권) is a Korean digital-native brokerage and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Viva Republica, the Seoul-based fintech that also operates the Toss super-app and Toss Bank. Headquartered in Samseong-dong, Gangnam, Seoul, the company launched in March 2021 after obtaining a Korean Financial Investment Business license from the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and integrated its trading product directly into the Toss app rather than launching a standalone broker terminal. That distribution choice — riding Toss's tens of millions of monthly active users — is the single most important fact about the company's trajectory.
The product line covers Korean equities (KOSPI and KOSDAQ), US equities with direct order routing, ETFs, fractional US shares (a category Toss Securities helped popularize in Korea), bond trading for retail, IPO subscription access, robo-advisor portfolios, and themed thematic portfolios marketed inside the Toss app. Futures and options are offered in a more limited capacity than at the large incumbents. The company does not directly handle crypto; that activity sits at separately licensed Korean exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit) under a different regulatory regime.
By 2023, Toss Securities had become the most popular brokerage among Korean retail investors under 30 by account count, displacing Kiwoom Securities — the long-standing retail leader — in that demographic. The company narrowed losses through 2023 and announced its first quarterly profit in Q1 2024, an inflection point worth understanding before you accept an offer: the business is scaling toward sustained profitability but is not yet at the steady-state margins of incumbents like Korea Investment & Securities, Mirae Asset, Samsung Securities, NH Investment & Securities, KB Securities, Hana Securities, Shinhan Investment, or Daishin.
Direct digital competitors are narrower: Kakao Pay Securities (a KOSPI-listed subsidiary of Kakao Pay) and the Naver Financial / Naver Pay Stocks ecosystem. The Korean retail brokerage market is structurally crowded with roughly 60 licensed firms, only 4 to 5 of which operate at meaningful scale.
Leadership: CEO Kim Seung-yeon (김승연) leads Toss Securities specifically — distinct from Toss Bank's CEO. Verify the current CEO at application time, as Korean fintech leadership rotates more often than US peers. Headcount is roughly 400+ at Toss Securities specifically, separate from the ~1,000+ at Toss Bank and the broader Viva Republica organization. Parent-company IPO speculation (KOSPI versus NYSE) and Viva Republica founder Lee Seung-gun's broader regulatory environment continue to shape the medium-term outlook; a Toss Securities carve-out IPO in 2025 or 2026 has been discussed in Korean financial press but is not confirmed.
Application Process
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1
Apply through the Toss careers portal (recruit
Apply through the Toss careers portal (recruit.toss.im) which serves Viva Republica, Toss Bank, and Toss Securities under one career site — filter by 'Toss Securities' or '토스증권' on the role list.
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2
Submit Korean and English resumes if you can; Korean is mandatory for most roles
Submit Korean and English resumes if you can; Korean is mandatory for most roles, English helps for product, engineering, and data roles where the working language is mixed.
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3
Recruiter screen (30-45 minutes) covers motivation, salary expectations, notice
Recruiter screen (30-45 minutes) covers motivation, salary expectations, notice period at current employer, and whether you understand Toss Securities is a brokerage subject to FSC and FSS regulation.
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4
Take-home assignment is common for engineering, data, and product roles
Take-home assignment is common for engineering, data, and product roles — typically 5 to 7 days; for finance and compliance roles, expect a written case instead.
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5
Technical or domain interview round: 2 to 3 panels, often including a live codin
Technical or domain interview round: 2 to 3 panels, often including a live coding session (engineering) or a market structure / Korean securities regulation discussion (trading, compliance, finance).
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6
Cross-functional 'culture and craft' interview with a senior leader from a diffe
Cross-functional 'culture and craft' interview with a senior leader from a different team — Toss values pattern-matching across silos and will probe how you handle ambiguity.
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7
Final interview with the team lead, head of function, and frequently the CEO or
Final interview with the team lead, head of function, and frequently the CEO or a C-level executive for senior roles — Toss leadership stays close to hiring decisions.
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8
Reference checks are common for senior hires; for new graduates, GPA and project
Reference checks are common for senior hires; for new graduates, GPA and project portfolios carry more weight than at incumbents.
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9
Offer includes base salary, performance bonus, and stock options in Viva Republi
Offer includes base salary, performance bonus, and stock options in Viva Republica (the parent) — clarify whether grants are in Toss Securities equity (rare, pre-carve-out) or Viva Republica.
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10
Total timeline runs 4 to 8 weeks; Korean fintech is faster than chaebol incumben
Total timeline runs 4 to 8 weeks; Korean fintech is faster than chaebol incumbents but slower than Silicon Valley peers.
Resume Tips for Toss Securities
recommended
Lead with quantified impact in Korean fintech, payments, brokerage, or banking —
Lead with quantified impact in Korean fintech, payments, brokerage, or banking — Toss recruiters scan for prior experience at Naver, Kakao, Samsung SDS, Coupang, Line, KB, Shinhan, or other Korean tech and financial firms.
recommended
If you are an expat applicant, state your Korean language level honestly (TOPIK
If you are an expat applicant, state your Korean language level honestly (TOPIK level if certified) — engineering and product can sometimes work in English, but client-facing, compliance, and many backend roles cannot.
recommended
Show evidence of working under regulatory scrutiny: KYC, AML, FSC reporting, int
Show evidence of working under regulatory scrutiny: KYC, AML, FSC reporting, internal audit, or equivalent in another jurisdiction (FINRA, SEC, FCA) translates well.
recommended
For engineering, name the specific stack you owned in production (Kotlin, Java,
For engineering, name the specific stack you owned in production (Kotlin, Java, Spring, Kafka, AWS, Kubernetes are common at Toss) rather than listing every framework you have touched.
recommended
For data and ML roles, quantify model impact on a real product metric — Toss val
For data and ML roles, quantify model impact on a real product metric — Toss values experiments with measurable revenue, retention, or fraud-reduction outcomes.
recommended
For PMs, tie features to North Star metrics (DAU, transaction volume, customer a
For PMs, tie features to North Star metrics (DAU, transaction volume, customer assets under custody, ARPU) and name the trade-offs you made.
recommended
Mention any Korean securities licenses (투자자산운용사, 증권투자상담사, 금융투자분석사) for finance r
Mention any Korean securities licenses (투자자산운용사, 증권투자상담사, 금융투자분석사) for finance roles — they signal you understand local regulation.
recommended
Keep length to 1 to 2 pages in Korean and 2 pages maximum in English; Korean rec
Keep length to 1 to 2 pages in Korean and 2 pages maximum in English; Korean recruiters expect concision and reverse-chronological order.
recommended
Avoid generic 'team player' language — Toss culture rewards specific evidence of
Avoid generic 'team player' language — Toss culture rewards specific evidence of independent ownership and disagreement skills.
recommended
Include personal projects, side businesses, or open-source contributions; Toss e
Include personal projects, side businesses, or open-source contributions; Toss explicitly values builders over credentialed coasters.
ATS System: Toss Custom Careers Portal (recruit.toss.im)
Toss runs a custom-built career portal at recruit.toss.im that serves all Viva Republica entities including Toss Securities, Toss Bank, and Toss (the super-app). It is not a Greenhouse, Lever, or Workday tenant — the application form, status tracking, and recruiter messaging all happen inside Toss's own system. This means standard ATS scraping tools and 'easy apply' integrations do not work, and you should expect to manually fill in education, experience, and motivation fields.
- Create your account with the email you actually monitor — Toss recruiters communicate through the portal and via that email, not LinkedIn InMail.
- Fill in the optional fields (portfolio, GitHub, blog, side projects) — Korean tech recruiters read these closely and a blank profile signals low engagement.
- Tailor your motivation statement to the specific Toss Securities role; templates pasted from your Toss Bank or Toss Pay application will be visible to internal recruiters who can see all your applications.
- Upload PDF (not DOCX) for resume attachments to preserve formatting on Korean recruiters' machines.
- Reapplying after rejection is allowed but typically requires waiting 6 months and showing meaningful new experience — do not spam multiple roles in the same week.
- Status updates ('서류 검토중', '면접 진행중', '최종 합격') appear inside the portal — check it weekly rather than emailing recruiters for status.
Interview Culture
Toss interviews are direct, technically demanding, and culturally specific.
Expect interviewers to challenge your reasoning rather than accept it — disagreement is treated as a feature, not friction. The 'culture and craft' panel is the most distinctive round: a senior leader from outside your function will probe how you handle ambiguity, what you do when you disagree with your manager, and how you make decisions with incomplete information. Vague answers are penalized.
For engineering roles, expect a live coding session in your strongest language, a system design round focused on real Toss-scale problems (high-throughput order matching, idempotent payment flows, real-time market data ingestion), and a deep technical conversation about a project you owned end-to-end. For PMs and designers, expect a portfolio walk-through with hostile questions about trade-offs, followed by a written or live case study on a Toss Securities product gap. For finance, compliance, and risk roles, expect questions on Korean securities regulation (FSC, FSS, KRX, KSD), capital adequacy, and recent enforcement actions.
The final round frequently includes a C-level executive — even for non-senior roles. This is intentional: Toss leadership wants to maintain a high hiring bar as the company scales past 400 people at Securities and 1,000+ at Bank. Be prepared to articulate why you specifically want Toss Securities rather than Toss Bank, Kakao Pay Securities, or a traditional brokerage like Mirae Asset.
Honest framing: the bar is genuinely high, comp is competitive with Naver and Kakao top tiers, but the work pace is intense. Burnout risk is real, the Samseong-dong office is the only working location for most roles, and the commute from anywhere outside Gangnam can be punishing. The Viva Republica IPO uncertainty (KOSPI versus NYSE, timing, valuation) and the broader regulatory environment around Korean fintech mean the equity story is real but not guaranteed.
What Toss Securities Looks For
- Engineers who have shipped to production at scale, not just prototyped — Toss values operational discipline and on-call ownership.
- Product managers who can read a P&L and reason about unit economics, not just feature prioritization.
- Designers who understand Korean mobile UX conventions and can defend deviations from them with evidence.
- Finance and compliance hires with direct exposure to FSC, FSS, or equivalent regulators (FINRA, SEC, FCA) and an appetite for documentation discipline.
- Data scientists and ML engineers who can frame business problems as experiments and ship models that move a product metric.
- Builders with side projects, founded companies, or open-source contributions — Toss explicitly hires for builder mindset over credentials.
- Candidates fluent in Korean for client-facing, legal, compliance, and most backend roles; English-only is workable for some product and engineering teams but limits internal mobility.
- Pattern-matchers who can move across functions — Toss's flat org structure rewards generalists who can step into adjacent problems.
- Disagreement skills — interviewers test whether you can push back on a senior leader's framing without being abrasive.
- Resilience under regulatory and competitive pressure — Korean retail brokerage is commoditized at the surface and Toss Securities competes on UX, fees, and product velocity simultaneously.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Toss Securities the same company as Toss Bank?
No. Toss Securities and Toss Bank are separate licensed subsidiaries of Viva Republica, the parent that also operates the Toss super-app. They share a careers portal, brand, and equity story but have distinct CEOs, regulators, P&Ls, and headcount. Toss Securities is a brokerage regulated by the FSC and FSS; Toss Bank is an internet-only bank regulated under a separate banking license.
Do I need to speak Korean to work at Toss Securities?
For most roles, yes. Client-facing, compliance, finance, and many backend engineering roles require Korean. Some product, design, data, and engineering teams operate in mixed Korean and English, and a small number of expat-friendly roles exist. Confirm the working language with your recruiter on the first screen — do not assume English-only will work.
What ATS does Toss Securities use?
Toss runs a custom-built career portal at recruit.toss.im that serves all Viva Republica entities. It is not a Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, or Workday tenant. Standard ATS scraping and easy-apply integrations do not work — you must create an account on the portal and apply directly.
How long does the interview process take?
Typically 4 to 8 weeks from initial recruiter screen to offer, with 4 to 6 interview rounds. Expect a take-home assignment for engineering, data, and product roles, multiple technical or domain panels, a cross-functional culture round, and a final round that frequently includes a C-level executive.
Is Toss Securities profitable?
Toss Securities announced its first quarterly profit in Q1 2024 after narrowing losses through 2023. The business is scaling toward sustained profitability but is not at the steady-state margins of large incumbents like Korea Investment & Securities, Mirae Asset, or Samsung Securities. You are joining at an inflection point, not a stable mature business — verify recent quarterly results before accepting an offer.
What about the Viva Republica IPO?
Viva Republica IPO timing and venue (KOSPI versus NYSE) have been the subject of ongoing Korean financial press speculation. A Toss Securities carve-out IPO in 2025 or 2026 has also been discussed but is not confirmed. Treat any equity grant as long-dated and illiquid until a specific listing path is announced — do not size your career decision around a specific liquidity event.
Who are Toss Securities' main competitors?
Direct digital competitors are Kakao Pay Securities (a KOSPI-listed Kakao Pay subsidiary) and the Naver Financial / Naver Pay Stocks ecosystem. Traditional incumbents include Kiwoom Securities (long-standing retail leader), Korea Investment & Securities, Mirae Asset Securities, Samsung Securities, NH Investment & Securities, KB Securities, Shinhan Investment, Hana Securities, and Daishin. The Korean retail brokerage market has roughly 60 licensed firms, only 4 to 5 of which operate at meaningful scale.
Does Toss Securities offer crypto trading?
No. Toss Securities does not directly handle crypto. Korean crypto trading sits at separately licensed exchanges — Upbit (Dunamu), Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit — under a different regulatory regime. Some crypto-adjacent integration exists at the broader Toss app level, but Toss Securities itself focuses on equities (KOSPI, KOSDAQ, US stocks via direct routing), ETFs, fractional shares, bonds, IPO subscriptions, robo-advisor portfolios, and limited futures and options.
Where is Toss Securities located?
Headquarters and primary working location is Samseong-dong in Gangnam, Seoul. Remote work is rare for most roles. Factor in commute time honestly if you live outside Gangnam — peak-hour subway and bus times to Samseong can be punishing.
What is compensation like at Toss Securities?
Compensation is competitive with the top tier of Korean tech — comparable to Naver, Kakao, Samsung Electronics, and Line for equivalent levels. Packages typically include base salary, performance bonus, and stock options in Viva Republica (the parent). Clarify whether grants are in Toss Securities equity (rare, pre-carve-out) or Viva Republica, and get vesting schedule, refresh policy, and IPO terms in writing.
What is the culture really like?
Direct, fast, and intense. Toss explicitly hires for builders, rewards disagreement and independent ownership, and runs a flat organizational structure. The work pace is sustained, the hiring bar is genuinely high, and burnout risk is real. The flip side is that engineers, PMs, and designers ship to a product used by tens of millions of Koreans monthly, with unusually short distance from individual contributor to product impact.
Can I move between Toss Securities, Toss Bank, and Toss?
Internal mobility across Viva Republica entities exists but is not automatic — you typically need to apply, interview, and have approval from both the current and receiving manager. Many employees move across entities over multi-year careers, especially in engineering, data, and product. Korean language fluency expands mobility significantly.
Open Positions
Toss Securities currently has 2 open positions.
Related Resources
Sources
- Toss Securities Official Site —
- Viva Republica (Toss) Careers Portal —
- Financial Services Commission (FSC) Korea —
- Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Korea —
- Korea Exchange (KRX) —
- Korea Securities Depository (KSD) —
- Toss Securities first quarterly profit announcement coverage —
- Viva Republica corporate overview —
- Kakao Pay Securities (competitor reference) —
- Kiwoom Securities (competitor reference) —
- Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA) —
- Toss Tech Blog (engineering culture and stack) —
