ERM Product Risk, Lead (15 month Contract)

Interac Corp.•Toronto, ON

11d•Hybrid

About The Position

At Interac, we protect transactions and Canadians, driving trust, security, and inclusion in the digital economy. Founded in 1984, Interac connects Canadians through secure digital payments, advanced identity verification, and industry-leading fraud protection, facilitating over 20 million transactions daily. The Product Risk Management, Lead (15 Month Contract) position will report to our Lead, Risk Management. This role serves as a second-line risk advisor embedded within agile product teams with matrix organized business unit and functional support groups, responsible for providing proactive, independent risk oversight and challenge. The Product Risk Lead ensures that enterprise risk management (ERM) standards, frameworks, and controls are effectively integrated into product development and delivery risk management processes. This critical role enables risk-informed decision-making, surfaces emerging risks, and strengthens risk culture across Interac’s product landscape. The Lead will also contribute to the broader Agile Product Risk Program by supporting education, consistency, maturity, and excellence in risk oversight within an assigned product/line of business or within an Enterprise risk oversight function.

Requirements

10+ years of progressive experience in regulatory compliance, risk management, or related discipline within the financial services or payments sector.
Strong understanding of operational risk management practices, including RCSAs, control design, issue management, and risk acceptance.
Familiarity with enterprise risk frameworks, risk appetite, and the Three Lines of Defense model.
Ability to independently assess and challenge risk decisions, residual risk ratings, and policy deviations.
Hands-on experience working with or alongside agile product teams (e.g., squads).
Ability to embed risk oversight into agile rituals and delivery cycles without disrupting team priorities.
Comfort navigating fast-paced, iterative delivery environments.
Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to influence product owners, delivery leads, and cross-functional stakeholders.
Ability to translate complex risk concepts into clear, actionable insights for non-risk audiences.
Experience working in a matrixed environment with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
Commitment to consistency, transparency, and continuous improvement in risk oversight practices.
Eligibility to work for Interac Corp. in Canada in a full-time capacity.

Responsibilities

Serve as the dedicated second-line risk partner to assigned product teams, participating in agile ceremonies and delivery cycles.
Embed ERM and product risk policies, frameworks, and risk appetite into product planning, design, and execution.
Independently assess and challenge first-line risk decisions, including control design, risk assessments, and residual risk acceptances.
Prepare independent risk reports in alignment with Interac’s Risk Appetite and Taxonomies.
Support first-line execution of risk activities such as RCSAs, product/squad risk assessments, control mapping, issue identification, and risk acceptance.
Standardize embedded risk management process to ensure Operational Resilience maturity.
Monitor and report on Incident management risk impacts individually or on aggregation.
Proactively monitor risk metrics and proactively escalate emerging risks, control gaps, or policy deviations.
Promote a strong risk culture within product teams by translating and educating stakeholders on ERM policies, frameworks and risk tolerance.
Contribute to MRC, BRC and other executive level risk reporting, synthesizing risk themes and insight.
Oversee development of change notifications as required to the Bank of Canada per the Oversight Agreement in place.
Provide oversight and management of Risk, Deficiency and Control database management for product teams, business units and functional groups.
Ensure consistent execution of second-line responsibilities in alignment with enterprise risk methodologies and expectations.
Collaborate with other Agile Product Risk Leads to share insights, identify systemic issues, and drive consistency across products and lines of business.
Act as a liaison between product teams and ERM functions (e.g., methodology, compliance, reporting) to ensure alignment of risk practices and messaging.
Support and lead the development of Risk Management user guides, SOP, and other artifacts to enable faster and consistent risk insight and resulting adjustment.
Collaborate with Agile Risk Leads to ensure consistent application of risk frameworks and best practices.
Identify and escalate systemic risks and cross-product themes to the Agile Risk Program Leader.
Support the development of risk capabilities across the Agile Risk Lead community.
Deliver credible and consistent second-line challenge within agile product environments.
Ensure product risk decisions align with enterprise risk appetite and tolerance.