The Operations Room: A Podcast for COO’s 96. AI Native Ops, How Brex Rebuilt Operations
In this episode we discuss: AI Native Ops, How Brex Rebuilt Operations. We are joined by Camilla Matias, COO at Brex.
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We chat about the following:
- What actually breaks first when a company scales: people, process, or structure—and how do you know?
- How do you build operational rigour without killing speed and culture in a fast-growing business?
- What does “good onboarding” really look like beyond just paperwork and checklists?
- When tools or systems fail—how do you know if it’s the software or your implementation?
- What’s the difference between building processes for today vs. building systems that scale for the next 12–24 months?
References
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/camilla-matias-06345a105/
Biography
Camilla Matias Morais is the Chief Operating Officer at Brex, where she leads global operations and drives the company’s execution and scale.
She joined Brex in 2018 as Head of Finance and has since held multiple leadership roles, including VP of Finance and SVP of Global Operations, before becoming COO in 2024. During this time, she has played a key role in building the systems and structures that support Brex’s rapid growth.
Before Brex, Camilla worked across finance, investment, and strategy roles at organisations including The Kraft Heinz Company and Victoria Capital Partners.
She holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA) and is known for bringing clarity, structure, and operational rigour to high-growth companies.
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Summary
00:00 – Intro, host banter, and setup of the episode tone.
02:30 – Introduction of Camilla + context around her role and operational scope.
05:30 – Early discussion on scaling challenges and what starts to break as companies grow.
07:20 – Deep dive into onboarding systems → moving from informal to structured 0–6 month processes.
09:30 – Discussion on tools (HiBob → Rippling) and implementation challenges.
12:30 – Balancing structure vs flexibility in operations.
16:00 – Performance reviews, documentation, and accountability systems.
20:00 – Operational maturity: what “good” looks like at different stages of company growth.
24:00 – People vs process tension.
29:00 – Reflections on mistakes, lessons learned, and what they’d do differently.
34:00 – Closing thoughts, key takeaways, and wrap-up
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