VP, Technology Risk

Early Warning® • Scottsdale, AZ

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

At Early Warning, we’ve powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses. Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment. Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship. Overall Purpose The Vice President of Technology Risk serves as a senior leader within the Second Line of Defense (2LOD), responsible for providing independent oversight, challenge, and governance of Technology Risk across a heavily regulated FinTech environment and reporting directly to the Chief Technology Risk Officer (CTRO). This role ensures that the organization’s technology ecosystem—including infrastructure, cloud environments, data platforms, product engineering, and IT operations—operates within risk appetite and aligns to regulatory expectations typically applied to banking institutions. The VP acts as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Technology Risk Management, bringing deep expertise in cyber risk, IT controls, operational resilience, cloud governance, third-party risk, as well as regulatory and industry frameworks such as FFIEC, OCC, CFPB, NIST, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and CRI. The role partners closely with the 1LOD Technology, Security, and Product teams to ensure that business goals and risks are adequately addressed, while maintaining objective independence to oversee, assess, and challenge risk management decisions.

Requirements

• 15 or more years of progressive experience in Technology Risk, IT Audit, Cybersecurity, or Operational Risk within financial services, banking, or heavily regulated industries.
• 5 or more years experience in leadership roles within information security, regulatory, and privacy controls environment, and information security or IT governance, regulatory landscape, risk assessment, and risk management principles and techniques.
• Strong understanding and experience with Information technology systems and processes, network infrastructure, data architecture, data processes, protocols, and auditing and monitoring processes.
• Strong understanding and experience with Cyber and cloud security standard frameworks, architecture, design, operations, controls, technology, solutions, and service orchestration.
• Deep understanding of risk management frameworks (COSO, NIST, ISO 27001), regulatory expectations (FFIEC, OCC, Fed, CFPB), and cloud security principles (AWS/GCP/Azure).
• Experience operating within a formal three-lines-of-defense (3LOD) model.
• Strong analytical ability to evaluate complex technology environments and translate technical risks for senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrated experience interfacing with regulators, auditors, or compliance examiners.
• Exceptional written and verbal executive-level communication skills.
• Executive presence and the ability to influence without authority.
• Independence of judgment and comfort challenging senior stakeholders.
• Strong collaboration and relationship management skills.
• Comfort handling ambiguity, scaling programs, and driving maturity.
• Ability to be flexible and work in grey space.
• Background and drug screen.

Nice To Haves

• Prior leadership of 2LOD functions within a bank or FinTech.
• Certifications such as CRISC, CISA, CISSP, CISM, CCSP, CGEIT.
• Experience with modern engineering practices (DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, microservices, IaC).
• Familiarity with ISO 27001, PCI DSS, NIST, SIG, FFIEC handbooks, SOC2 Type II, GLBA, FCRA, NYDFS, and other data privacy and global regulatory frameworks.
• Project or Process management experience.
• Strong experience developing and tracking information security related KPIs and KRIs.

Responsibilities

• Direct independent oversight and challenges to the design, implementation, and effectiveness of technology risk management practices across the enterprise.
• Direct evaluations of risks related to disaster recovery, site reliability, service continuity, major incident response, and systemic outages.
• Oversee assessments of resilience across cloud environments (AWS, Azure, etc), SaaS/PaaS integrations, and critical third-party providers.
• Advise on scenario testing, impact tolerances, and regulatory expectations for resilience.
• Help define and maintain the corporate Technology Risk Framework, ensuring alignment to banking-industry standards (e.g., CRI, NIST CSF, FFIEC CAT, ISO 27001).
• Partner with Engineering, Infrastructure, Cloud, IT Ops, Cybersecurity, and Product to ensure technology solutions and services align with control expectations.
• Provide proactive guidance on risk/control requirements during product development, cloud migration, data strategy, AI governance, and change management initiatives.
• Support periodic risk assessments, including IT general controls, cloud risks, cyber risks, AI/ML risks, data management risks, and operational resilience assessments, and govern the tracking, challenge, and closure of technology and cyber findings and issues.
• Monitor and refine risk and performance indicators (KRI/KPI), Risk and Control Self Assessments (RCSA), emerging technology risks, and deviations from established risk appetite.
• Serve as a Subject Matter Expert for technology-related regulatory inquiries, examinations, and audits (internal/external).
• Help interpret and communicate regulatory requirements from global bodies (e.g., OCC, FCA, MAS, EBA, ESMA) to Technology and Security leaders.
• Provide expertise for assessing control gaps and remediation plans; evaluating adequacy, sustainability, and timeliness of corrective actions.
• Provide senior leadership and Board-level risk reporting on technology risk posture, trends, and emerging issues.
• Communicate risk insights in clear, non-technical terms for executive decision-making.
• Mentor junior risk analysts and managers; build a high-performing IT Risk team.
• Promote a strong risk culture and effective communication between 1LOD and 2LOD.
• Represent Technology Risk in enterprise committees (Risk Committees, Change Advisory Boards, etc.).

Benefits

• Healthcare Coverage – Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.
• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.
• Paid Time Off – Flexible Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.
• 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave
• Maven Family Planning – provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees