Senior Payments Risk Specialist

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in South Africa.

📋 Description

• Oversee intricate underwriting and merchant risk evaluations across various merchant categories, payment methods, partners, and geographical areas.

• Analyze KYC/KYB documentation and execute merchant risk assessments throughout the onboarding process.

• Perform Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) reviews when necessary.

• Evaluate operational, fraud, reputational, and compliance-related risks tied to merchants and payment operations.

• Facilitate aggregation and partner risk management as regional operations expand.

• Manage operational monitoring tasks, including: Transaction monitoring, Settlement monitoring and hold assessments, Fraud and operational risk alerts, Sanctions & PEP reviews, ORCA, and other monitoring platform notifications.

• Investigate fraud cases, BIN-related issues, operational escalations, and any suspicious activities.

• Assume responsibility for escalated operational risk and fraud-related matters that require expert judgment and decision-making.

• Serve as a primary operational risk contact for merchants, banks, payment partners, and internal stakeholders.

• Lead and engage in discussions regarding merchant risk issues, fraud occurrences, operational escalations, and monitoring results.

• Collaborate closely with Compliance, Operations, Product, Commercial, and Support teams to effectively manage operational risk.

• Promote operational resilience and continuity within the Risk function through seasoned operational oversight and escalation support.

• Assist in enhancing monitoring workflows, operational procedures, and risk protocols.

• Aid in automation and operational enhancement initiatives by pinpointing inefficiencies, recurring risks, and potential process improvements.

• Contribute to reporting and operational analysis as needed.

⛳️ Requirements

• At least 4 years of experience in payments, fraud, operational risk, underwriting, or fintech operations.

• Strong grasp of merchant underwriting, KYC/KYB procedures, transaction monitoring, and risk management.

• Experience in managing fraud investigations, escalations, or monitoring review processes.

• Comfortable interacting directly with merchants, banking partners, and payment method providers.

• Exceptional judgment and independent decision-making skills.

• Ability to balance risk reduction with operational and commercial considerations.

• Experience in fast-paced fintech, payments, acquiring, or aggregation environments is preferred.

• Strong communication, stakeholder management, and problem-solving abilities.

• Familiarity with fraud/risk monitoring systems and review tools is advantageous.

• Capable of analyzing risk trends and contributing to reporting and operational insights.

• Comfortable working with operational data, reporting, monitoring platforms, and risk tools.

• Interest or experience in operational automation, AI-assisted review processes, or workflow optimization is a plus.

🏝️ Benefits

• Join us on our mission to revolutionize digital payments in Africa!

• We prioritize diversity and are dedicated to inclusion across race, gender, age, religion, identity, and experiences.