Vice President of Payments – High-Risk

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Take full ownership of Phoenix's high-risk payments business, encompassing P&L management, risk posture, relationships with banks and processors, and operational frameworks.

• Oversee underwriting, risk management, payment operations, partner strategies, and the go-to-market approach for payments.

• Manage revenue from processing, pricing structures, residuals, costs, loss reserves, write-offs, contribution margins, forecasting, and reporting responsibilities.

• Establish risk appetite, underwriting guidelines, approval authorities, escalation thresholds, reserve strategies, rolling holds, processing limits, and portfolio concentration limits.

• Handle chargeback and fraud thresholds, create remediation playbooks, monitor portfolios, conduct reviews, make offboarding decisions, and manage client communications.

• Ensure the portfolio remains compliant with Visa and Mastercard monitoring program thresholds, including VAMP, VDMP, VFMP, and MATCH/TMF.

• Identify, negotiate, safeguard, and diversify relationships with sponsor banks, acquirers, processors, gateways, and orchestration partners.

• Lead negotiations for Schedule A, buy rates, cost structures, audit readiness, ISO/MSP registrations, and compliance reporting.

• Expand into new markets, sectors, and geographical regions.

• Oversee merchant onboarding, KYC/KYB processes, activation, time-to-board, funding, settlement, reconciliation, accuracy of residuals, chargeback mitigation, authorization performance, decline recovery, routing, SOPs, SLAs, dashboards, and the automation roadmap.

• Enhance approval rates, optimize authorizations, increase Phoenix payments attach rates, develop the payment product roadmap, pricing, packaging, and introduce new payment rails such as ACH and RTP.

• Recruit, cultivate, and retain talent in underwriting, risk analysis, and operations leadership; establish performance benchmarks and accountability systems.

• Act as the executive representative for payments to the CEO, board members, banks, and partners.

⛳️ Requirements

• Minimum of 8 years in payments, merchant acquiring, or fintech, with at least 5 years focused specifically on high-risk environments.

• Proven track record of owning a payments P&L, portfolio, or business unit, rather than merely leading a functional team.

• Direct experience with models such as ISO, MSP, PayFac, or sponsor banks.

• Established relationships with acquiring banks, sponsor banks, processors, and gateways.

• Extensive knowledge of Visa and Mastercard monitoring programs (VAMP, VDMP, VFMP, MATCH/TMF) and the corrective actions required for each.

• Demonstrated experience in underwriting and managing high-risk e-commerce sectors, including nutraceuticals, supplements, skincare, peptides, and subscription or continuity offers.

• In-depth understanding of KYC/AML, PCI DSS, NACHA, and card network regulations.

• Proven ability to set reserve, rolling hold, and processing limit strategies at the portfolio level.

• Track record of maintaining chargeback and fraud ratios within card brand thresholds while increasing volume.

• Capacity to make quick, independent, and defensible risk decisions even with incomplete information.

• Experience in building and leading teams focused on underwriting, risk, or payment operations.

• Strong analytical skills and proficiency in utilizing portfolio data and dashboards.

🏝️ Benefits

• Competitive salary and performance-based bonuses.

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.

• Opportunity for professional development and advancement.

• Flexible work environment with remote options.