Northam Enterprise and Operational Risk Lead

Wise•Austin, TX

About The Position

Wise is seeking a Risk Lead to manage its Northam Enterprise and Operational Risk Management team and drive the implementation and day-to-day management of enterprise and operational risk management frameworks across its US and Canada entities. The role leads control mapping, control monitoring, risk appetite statements, key risk indicators, and issue management, with an emphasis on proactive identification and accountable remediation. The Risk Lead partners with Product Managers and first-line teams to identify and mitigate risks in new products, enabling safe and timely launches through scalable controls and appropriate pre-launch and post-launch checks. The position also coordinates residual risk assessments and reporting for regional and global risk committees and local boards, and promotes a proactive risk culture across Wise.

Requirements

Experience managing, coaching, and mentoring a team.
Experience in financial services, banking, or fintech.
Interest in and proven experience with payment services, operational controls, and reporting.
Working knowledge of the OCC regulatory regime relating to enterprise and operational risk management.
Experience in enterprise and operational risk management, risk and control self-assessments, and risk reporting.
Ability to understand complex operational processes in depth and identify risks and controls.
Experience designing and implementing control monitoring, risk appetite statements, and key risk indicators.
Comfort with AI, data analysis, and data-driven problem-solving and solutioning.
Experience in new product risk assessments and operational risk event analysis.
Strong problem-solving, decision-making, and analytical skills to navigate complex situations and make data-driven decisions.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including drafting concise executive-style narratives for risk committees and board reporting.
Curious and collaborative approach, with the ability to ask incisive questions and act quickly.

Nice To Haves

Regulatory remediation experience.
Understanding of Federal Reserve Bank payment rails and scheme rules.
SQL, Looker, and Superset experience.
Experience with payment products, ACH payment rails, and payment operations.

Responsibilities

Manage, coach, and mentor a team of four risk management professionals.
Partner with and influence senior regional stakeholders across Product, Engineering, Operations, Banking, and Compliance to embed risk management.
Lead implementation and ongoing management of enterprise and operational risk frameworks across the US and Canada entities.
Ensure compliance with relevant regulations and embed risk and control self-assessment and issue management processes.
Conduct in-depth reviews of material processes, identify risks, and complete control mapping.
Help design scalable controls and a control monitoring and testing program.
Lead development and implementation of risk appetite statements, risk tolerance thresholds, and key risk indicators.
Work with data analysts and Product Managers to create monitoring dashboards.
Support first-line teams in documenting, solutioning, and prioritising control gaps.
Oversee issue remediation, including regulatory remediation, using Audit Board to support risk-focused prioritisation and validate closure of remediated issues.
Advise on risk acceptance of issues where appropriate.
Analyze incidents and produce actionable insights.
Partner with first-line teams to assess risks and mitigations for new product launches, balancing pre-launch and post-launch checks.
Coordinate quarterly residual risk assessments across the risk taxonomy, including loss and incident reporting, and inform regional risk reporting to local and global risk committees and local boards.
Promote and help embed a proactive risk culture across Wise.