Role

The position requires a strategic yet hands-on leader who can embed a strong risk culture, ensure regulatory alignment with QCB and deliver real-time risk oversight for payment operations including acquiring, processing, and wallet services.

Key Responsibilities

1. Enterprise Risk Framework & Governance

• Develop and implement a Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework aligned to regulatory requirements
• Define and maintain the Risk Appetite Statement (RAS) and ensure its translation into operational and business-level limits.
• Establish and enforce risk policies, procedures, RCSA, ICAAP, and stress testing frameworks.
• Support the Board Risk Management Committee (BRMC) with regular updates, dashboards, and emerging risk analysis.
• Ensure the independence and authority of the Risk function as required by regulators.

2. Regulatory & Compliance Risk Management

• Interpret, implement, and monitor adherence to all relevant regulatory rulebooks (QCB, Payment Services Framework, RBI PPI/PA/PG Guidelines).
• Lead regulatory risk assessments for new market entries, products, and partnerships.
• Oversee AML/CFT risk control processes in partnership with Compliance and MLRO.
• Act as a regulatory liaison for supervisory reviews, audits, inspections, and thematic reviews.
• Support board-level compliance and risk committees with documentation, insights, and action tracking.

3. Operational & Fraud Risk Management

• Oversee merchant onboarding and due diligence, ensuring KYC/KYB, sanctions screening, and risk classification.
• Build and manage fraud prevention and monitoring frameworks, leveraging analytics, real-time alerting tools, and transaction risk scoring.
• Ensure effective controls for chargebacks, transaction anomalies, settlement risks, and merchant exposure monitoring.
• Lead the Operational Risk Control Self-Assessment (RCSA) and incident management programs across geographies.
• Collaborate with the CISO and IT teams on fraud technology integrations and incident containment measures.

4. Financial, Credit & Liquidity Risk

• Develop and maintain a credit risk framework for merchant exposure, settlement risk, and partner counterparty limits.
• Monitor liquidity, safeguarding, and customer fund segregation controls as per regulatory requirements.
• Review merchant portfolios for financial stability and default risk.
• Support treasury and finance in stress testing for capital adequacy and liquidity management.

5. Reporting, Analytics & Risk Intelligence

• Prepare periodic risk dashboards, KRIs, and MIS reports for CEO, BRMC, and regulators.
• Conduct risk reviews and scenario analysis for new products, partnerships, or geographies.
• Report and escalate breaches of risk appetite and monitor remediation plans.
• Champion data-driven decision-making by embedding analytics into fraud and operational risk functions.

6. Risk Culture & Leadership

• Promote a risk-aware culture across all levels of the organization through training and engagement.
• Mentor and lead regional risk teams across UAE, India, and future markets to ensure standardized practices.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior management on strategic and emerging risks (e.g., open banking, AI, cross-border wallets, ESG).

Qualifications & Experience

Academic

• Postgraduate degree in Finance, Risk Management, Economics, or Business Administration.
• Executive education from reputed institutions (e.g., IIM, INSEAD, Harvard) preferred.

Professional Certifications (Preferred Mix)

• Risk Management: FRM / PRM / CRMP / IRM Diploma
• Compliance & Financial Crime: CAMS / CFE / ICA Diploma
• Operational Risk: ORM / RIMS / Basel Framework certification
• (Cybersecurity certifications such as CISM/CISA/CISSP are desirable for interface awareness but not mandatory for this role.)

Experience

• 12–15 years of progressive experience in risk management, with at least 5 years in a leadership capacity in payments, banking, or fintech.
• Proven experience in:

Managing payment fraud and acquiring risk operations.

Engaging with regulators

Designing and operationalizing enterprise-wide risk frameworks.

Leading merchant onboarding, AML/CFT, and operational risk functions.

Core Competencies

• Deep understanding of digital payments, merchant acquiring, and wallet ecosystems.
• Strong analytical mindset and ability to convert data into risk intelligence.
• High proficiency in regulatory interpretation and policy governance.
• Effective communicator capable of influencing board and C-level decisions.
• Demonstrated leadership and mentoring skills across multi-geographic teams.