Director of Underwriting, Funding, Risk & Collections

Fullsteam

8d

About The Position

The Director, Underwriting, Funding, Risk & Collections provides strategic leadership over payments underwriting, portfolio risk, funding, collections, and related merchant risk operations for U.S. and Canadian merchants. This role sets the operating strategy, provides team leadership, manages vendor and acquiring bank relationships, supports escalation and portfolio-level risk decisions, and protects the organization from financial and regulatory risk while enabling scalable growth. A critical focus of this role is modernizing the risk operations lifecycle through automation, AI-enabled decision support, and scalable process design. The Director is expected to improve speed, consistency, decision quality, and operational capacity across underwriting, risk, funding, and collections without materially increasing financial, regulatory, or portfolio risk.

Requirements

• Strategic underwriting, risk, merchant compliance, funding, collections, and portfolio management expertise.
• Strong knowledge of PayFac, AML, KYC, OFAC, card network, ACH, and acquiring bank requirements.
• Proven ability to implement automation, AI-enabled tools, workflow improvements, or decision-support capabilities that increase operational velocity without compromising risk, compliance, or financial controls.
• Strong understanding of how to balance speed, automation, judgment, and governance in a payments, fintech, PayFac, or financial services risk environment.
• Advanced analytical, financial, and data-driven decision-making skills, including sound judgment for escalation and portfolio-level risk decisions.
• Ability to influence cross-functionally and drive alignment across Product, Engineering, Finance, Accounting, Operations, Legal, Compliance, Support, and business units.
• Strong people leadership, coaching, delegation, and performance management skills.
• Ability to evaluate workflows, identify inefficiencies, and develop practical, scalable solutions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level reporting.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and comfort with reporting, workflow, and risk technology tools.
• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or related field; Master’s or MBA preferred.
• 8+ years of progressive experience in underwriting, risk management, fraud, payment processing, funding, collections, or financial services operations.
• Prior experience leading multi-disciplinary teams in medium-to-large, complex organizations.
• Experience managing U.S. and Canadian underwriting, risk, funding, and/or collections operations.
• Experience leading process improvement, automation, workflow transformation, or AI-enabled decision-support initiatives in a risk, payments, fintech, PayFac, or financial services environment.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with PayFac environments preferred.
• Experience with Agreement Express, WorldPay, and electronic check processing preferred.
• Experience operating in fast-paced, high-growth environments, including 24/7/365 operations preferred.

Responsibilities

• Set strategic direction for underwriting, risk, funding, and collections operations, ensuring scalable, compliant, and consistent processes aligned with PayFac, AML, KYC, OFAC, card network, ACH, and acquiring bank requirements.
• Lead underwriting frameworks, decisioning criteria, and escalation paths for U.S. and Canadian merchant risk operations, with direct involvement reserved for complex or high-risk decisions.
• Monitor portfolio performance and risk trends, identifying emerging risks and recommending portfolio-level actions.
• Oversee automated high-risk alert monitoring systems, criteria, and reporting to improve decision quality and reduce manual dependency.
• Lead the advancement of automation and AI-enabled decision support across underwriting, risk monitoring, funding, collections, reporting, and exception management to improve speed, consistency, scalability, and risk control.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Operations, Legal, Compliance, Finance, Accounting, Support, and business units to improve systems, workflows, and cross-functional alignment.
• Influence product and engineering roadmaps for underwriting, risk monitoring, funding, settlement, collections, and merchant account change capabilities.
• Provide strategic leadership for Agreement Express (AEX), WorldPay, electronic check processing, internal reporting, and other risk, funding, and collections tools.
• Prepare and present risk, funding, and collections reporting to the CFO and other senior stakeholders.
• Ensure required Unusual Activity Reports (UARs) and related bank or compliance submissions are completed accurately and timely through appropriate team processes.
• Provide oversight of funding and settlement operations, including reliability, exception management, communication, and automation.
• Lead the collections function for software and payments accounts, including returned merchant funding and billing, through clear policies, workflows, escalation paths, and team accountability.
• Partner with Accounting and Finance to ensure collections activity, write-off data, reconciliation, and financial reporting remain aligned.
• Manage relationships with acquiring bank risk teams, AML partners, auditors, underwriting and onboarding vendors, risk technology vendors, and third-party collections agencies.
• Manage risk & compliance-related audits with third parties (e.g., Worldpay, sponsor banks, card networks)
• Evaluate vendor performance, contracts, issue resolution, and scalability against business objectives and regulatory requirements.
• Lead, coach, and develop underwriters, risk/funding specialists, and collections specialists, building a scalable team structure with clear ownership and performance expectations.
• Evaluate and implement workflow improvements, vendor capabilities, and technology-enabled processes that reduce manual review, improve prioritization, and increase operational capacity without weakening compliance or financial controls.
• Ensure automation and AI-enabled processes are implemented with appropriate governance, auditability, escalation paths, and human oversight for complex or high-risk decisions.

Benefits

• Fullsteam supports an inclusive workplace that values diversity of thought, experience, and background.
• Fullsteam is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director