Northam Enterprise and Operational Risk Lead

About the role

We're looking for a Risk Lead to manage the Northam Enterprise and Operational Risk Management team, and drive the implementation and day-to-day management of our Enterprise and Operational risk management frameworks across our US and Canada entities.

This role is responsible for driving the control mapping exercise, the design and implementation of control monitoring, risk appetite statements, and KRIs. This role will also drive the issue management process, ensuring a culture of proactive self identification and accountability for the remediation of issues. Another important part of this role is to help our Product Managers launch new products faster and safely by identifying the key risks and helping build scalable controls.

What will you do?

• Manage, coach and mentor a team of four risk management professionals.
• Manage, partner, and influence senior regional stakeholders across Product, Engineering, Operations, Banking and Compliance to embed the risk function and risk management program.
• Lead the implementation and ongoing management of our Enterprise and Operational Risk Management frameworks across the US and Canada entities, including ensuring compliance with relevant regulations, embedding of the risk and control self assessment process, and issues management.
• Conduct in-depth reviews to identify risks and complete control mapping across our most material processes, and help design scalable controls and a control monitoring & testing program.
• Lead the development and implementation of risk appetite statements, risk tolerance thresholds, and key risk indicators, and work with data analysts and Product managers to create monitoring dashboards.
• Support first line teams in documenting, solutioning, and prioritising control gaps.
• Ongoing oversight of issue remediation activities, including regulatory remediation, using our risk management tool (Audit Board) to ensure appropriate risk focused prioritisation, and help validate closure of remediated issues, including advising on the risk acceptance of issues where appropriate.
• Analysing incidents and producing actionable insights.
• Partnering with 'first line' teams across the business to support the launch of new products by ensuring that key risks are identified and mitigated with the right balance of pre-launch and post-launch checks with a focus on ensuring we can continue to ship quality products at pace.
• Coordinate the quarterly residual risk assessment process across the risk taxonomy, including loss and incident reporting, to inform our regional risk profile for reporting to local and global risk committees, and to our local boards.
• Promoting and helping embed a proactive risk culture, making risk meaningful and relevant to everyone at Wise.

Qualifications & Requirements

• You have experience managing, coaching and mentoring a team.
• You have worked in the financial services, banking or fintech sector. You have a keen interest and proven experience in payment services, and operational controls and reporting.
• Working knowledge of the OCC regulatory regime relating to enterprise and operational risk management. Regulatory remediation experience is a definite plus.
• Understanding the mechanics of Federal Reserve Bank payment rails and scheme rules is a definite plus.
• You have experience in enterprise risk and operational risk management, risk and control self assessments, and risk reporting.
• You have the ability to go deep and understand complex operational processes, identify risks and controls.
• You have experience designing and implementing control monitoring, risk appetite statements, and KRIs.
• You are comfortable with AI, data analysis and data-driven problem solving and solutionising. SQL, Looker and Superset experience is a definite plus.
• Payment products, ACH payment rails and payment operations are a bonus.
• You have experience in new product risk assessments, operational risk event analysis and finding new and innovative ways to do things.
• You have strong problem-solving, decision-making, and analytical skills to navigate complex situations and make data-driven decisions.
• You have excellent verbal and written communications skills, and are proficient at drafting concise executive style narratives for risk committees and board reporting.
• You're curious and collaborative - you're great at asking incisive questions to pick things up and act on them quickly.

Additional Information

• For everyone, everywhere. We're people building money without borders - without judgement or prejudice, too. We believe teams are strongest when they are diverse, equitable and inclusive.
• We're proud to have a truly international team, and we celebrate our differences.
• Inclusive teams help us live our values and make sure every Wiser feels respected, empowered to contribute towards our mission and able to progress in their careers.
• If you want to find out more about what it's like to work at Wise visit Wise.Jobs.
• Keep up to date with life at Wise by following us on LinkedIn and Instagram.