Risk Management Director

Company Description

Visa is a world leader in payments and technology, with over 259 billion payments transactions flowing safely between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities in more than 200 countries and territories each year. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable, and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive while driven by a common purpose – to uplift everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.

Make an impact with a purpose-driven industry leader. Join us today and experience Life at Visa.

Job Description

Visa owns the most recognisable global brand in the financial services industry. Maintaining trust in that brand and differentiating Visa from competitors will be the Risk leader’s key responsibilities. Risk management is emerging as one of the key pillars of Visa’s strategy of Championing Security and Deepening Partnerships. With in-market ownership of this strategy, the Director of Risk Central Eastern Europe plays a critical role to support the enterprise and operational risk activities of the company. This role is a temporary backfill for the incumbent Risk Advisor during leave until September 2026.

This role will be entrusted with a broad portfolio of responsibilities including Strategic Risk Management and Ecosystem Risk (Fraud and Data Security) for the Central Eastern Europe markets.  As a key member of the market Risk team, this role will advise Visa’s Central Eastern Europe Country Managers, the market executive team and hub & global functional leads on strategies related to complex operational, financial, legal and regulatory risk exposures.

In addition to overseeing Strategic Risk Management, the Risk Director will be responsible for maintaining the integrity of the payments ecosystem, which includes issuing and acquiring banks, merchants, cardholders, and service providers such as processors, device manufacturers, and payment gateways.  In this capacity, this role will work in conjunction with Visa Government Engagement, Regulatory Risk team, and other internal and external key stakeholders shaping the payments industry.

Key Accountabilities:

• Ability to develop, coordinate and integrate a new strategy across key stakeholders globally and in VEL, to include resource requirements across functions, business impact evaluation and scale capabilities.

• Act as the Risk Europe Fraud Services point of contact across VEL and work cross regionally with key stakeholders such as Global Risk as relevant to execute and communicate a consistent Visa fraud services strategy, both internally and externally to our clients

• Form key stakeholder relationships across VEL to develop an in depth understanding of the current end-to-end risk client lifecycle including onboarding, credit risk and ecosystem risk monitoring. Provide recommendations to tailor the existing client lifecycle to meet specific opportunities for fraud services.

• Support business development of fraud services strategy, activities, products by being able to articulate current risk control environment, assist in assessing any new risks that may arise from new strategy and consider these in the wider context of the overarching risk appetite

• Support the embedding of fraud services by working with Data and Analytics to collect and analyse information on the sector, including any noticeable trends, root causes, and potential solutions.

• Develop awareness of the wider regulatory environment and key external developments for the new payments flow sector including any events that may require legal consideration, reg engagement or a change to Visa Rules.
• Write reports and proposals to key audiences, Risk Committee, Board Risk Committee, Regulators outlining key progress, trends, findings emerging from due diligence activity on the new payment flows sector

• Represent VEL on proposed policy changes with the business and industry and incorporate feedback managing internal and external stakeholders to deliver solutions

• Support, train and provide strategic direction on fraud services to the Ecosystem Risk team in their scaled client engagements including SME advice on any large-scale client outreach strategy, complex client queries and client facing materials that can be used in client educational sessions, client bank forums, wider industry and sector audiences as needed.

• Report to Ecosystem Risk and Risk Europe Leadership teams when required on relevant risk strategies.
• Support the Risk Policy team with any non-new payment flows items where needed.

This is a hybrid position. Expectation of days in office will be confirmed by your Hiring Manager.

Qualifications

• 12 or more years of work experience with a Bachelor’s Degree or 8-10 years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters, MBA, JD, MD) or 6+ years of work experience with a PhD
• Knowledge of deploying new business and payment technology strategies for risk mitigation and risk services
• Knowledge, understanding and experience of risk management practices in financial services
• Proven experience of engaging multiple stakeholders on a given strategy or risk capability
• Knowledge of the financial sector from a risk management perspective
• Knowledge of the Central Eastern Europe and wider European payments or financial services industry and the major trends affecting key stakeholders, including the regulatory, political and market environment, payment products and services, economic and competitive landscape technology and the rising threat of data breaches
• Track record in synthesizing complex information to produce impactful management information and analysis, and support informed executive decision making
• Knowledge and understanding of relevant regulation
• Understanding of technologies and capabilities that assist in fraud monitoring, controls, fraud reduction, fraud exploit identification, cyber security capabilities to reduce financial risk
• Experienced in preparing, reviewing, delivering executive level communications, both written and oral
• Control corporate functional experience - Finance, Risk and Regulatory, Legal, Compliance
• Sound knowledge and experience of law in relation to the payments environment and ideally have had experience in working with law enforcement and judiciary and Court proceedings

Additional Information

Visa is an EEO Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.