Head of Risk Product Strategy

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in California, +1 more state.

📋 Description

• Take ownership of the strategic roadmap for risk capabilities within Imprint's product, covering onboarding, underwriting, credit line management, authorization, fraud prevention, and account management.

• Spot opportunities where risk intelligence can enhance the customer experience, such as smarter instant approvals, dynamic credit limits, real-time fraud detection that minimizes friction, and proactive line increases for high-performing customers.

• Determine the sequencing and prioritization of risk product initiatives, striking a balance between customer impact, revenue potential, loss reduction, and engineering feasibility.

• Perform ongoing audits of risk systems to uncover gaps, inefficiencies, and significant improvement opportunities.

• Ensure that every new product feature related to a credit or risk decision has a well-defined risk strategy prior to launch.

• Lead the strategic design of Imprint's credit decisioning framework, including the evaluation of applications, management of credit lines, the mechanics of step-ups and step-downs, and how authorization rules reconcile fraud prevention with customer experience.

• Collaborate with the data science team to establish where and how models are integrated within the product, the signals they utilize, and how their outcomes inform customer-facing decisions.

• Propel the transition from static rule-based decisioning to dynamic, signal-rich systems that adjust to customer behavior in real time.

• Act as the primary strategic liaison between risk and product/engineering, ensuring that risk requirements are incorporated into product specifications, sprint planning, and architectural decisions.

• Work with credit policy to ensure that product-level decisioning aligns with risk appetite, regulatory standards, and portfolio strategy.

• Collaborate with finance to analyze the economic impact of risk product initiatives, quantifying how alterations to decisioning, limits, or authorization rules affect revenue, losses, and contribution margin.

• Partner with brand associates and General Managers to customize the risk product strategy according to partner-specific economics, customer demographics, and growth goals.

• Convert complex risk data and trends into concise, actionable recommendations for senior leadership.

• Outline the risk product blueprint for new partner launches, detailing how underwriting, line assignment, fraud controls, and servicing logic should be configured for each new program based on partner economics and target customer profiles.

• Ensure that new launches are designed for rapid learning, capturing the right data, implementing appropriate holdouts, and establishing a feedback loop from early performance to strategy adjustment from day one.

• Identify opportunities to extend risk capabilities across the portfolio, where solutions crafted for one partner can be generalized and applied to others.

• Establish the KPI framework for assessing risk product performance, linking decision-making quality to downstream outcomes (approval rates, activation, utilization, loss rates, customer satisfaction).

• Develop feedback loops that transform portfolio performance data into product enhancements, ensuring the system learns and evolves over time.

• Implement a test and learn approach for changes to risk products, involving structured experimentation, precise measurement, and thorough reviews that differentiate genuine signals from noise.

• Independently conduct data analysis utilizing SQL and analytical tools to uncover trends and derive insights.

• Utilize AI tools (e.g., Claude) to expedite analysis, synthesis, and strategy formulation.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 10 years of experience in risk strategy and product strategy within consumer lending, cards, or fintech, with substantial time spent on both sides of the risk product divide.

• Profound understanding of credit card economics from start to finish: underwriting, line management, authorization, loss forecasting, and how product decisions impact portfolio P&L.

• Demonstrated success in developing risk capabilities that are integral to the product rather than superficial. You have launched features where risk logic was a fundamental design component.

• Ability to navigate onboarding, underwriting, and collections with a clear grasp of how risk decisions influence both unit economics and customer experience.

• Strong technical proficiency: comfortable with SQL, familiar with the construction and deployment of ML models, capable of independently engaging with data and collaborating with engineering on system architecture without being an engineer.

• Experience in defining and prioritizing product roadmaps, drafting strategic documents, and fostering cross-functional alignment at the leadership level.

• Sound judgment and credibility to operate at the intersection of risk (inherently conservative) and product (favoring speed). You know when to advocate for increased velocity and when to apply the brakes.

• Exceptional communication abilities: you can articulate complex risk product trade-offs to a brand partner, a CFO, or an engineer, ensuring all three leave with clear understanding.

• Comfortable integrating AI tools (e.g., Claude) into core workflows.

🏝️ Benefits

• Competitive compensation and equity packages.

• Leading configured work computers of your choice.

• Flexible paid time off.

• Fully covered, high-quality healthcare, including comprehensive dependent coverage.

• Additional health benefits include access to One Medical and the option to participate in an FSA.

• 20 weeks of paid parental leave for the primary caregiver and 8 weeks for all new parents.

• Access to cutting-edge technology across all business units, reflecting our commitment to invest in resources that foster innovation, optimization, and productivity.