Sr. Risk Manager

About Us
Visa is a world leader in payments technology, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories, dedicated to uplifting everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.

At Visa, you'll have the opportunity to create impact at scale — tackling meaningful challenges, growing your skills and seeing your contributions impact lives around the world.

Join Visa and do work that matters – to you, to your community, and to the world. Progress starts with you.

Job Description

Visa’s Global Risk organization is seeking a Senior Manager to join its team to manage payment risks across West and Central Africa (WCA). As the face of Risk, the senior manager’s external obligation is to ensure Visa’s interactions with clients, partners, merchants, and other third parties on risk-related matters are well informed, effective, and collectively moving the Visa ecosystem towards a stronger state.  Internally, the RM Manager’s obligation is to leverage our market knowledge and presence to ensure Visa’s risk-related policies, programs and frameworks are aligned with current and future business demands.

This individual contributor role requires frequent collaboration with internal stakeholders across DRC and French speaking countries within the WCA sub-region in CEMEA region.

Market Knowledge: Ensure deep awareness of the markets pulse, payment system and other risks to clients operating in each market, and the past and present tactics being deployed to mitigate these risks.

Business Alignment: Align Visa’s risk-related objectives and activities with Visa’s business goals in the same area in order to maximize long-term growth.

Relationship Management: Engage key stakeholders (clients, partners, law enforcement, government and others) to secure support for Visa’s goals and address identified risks.  

Thought Leadership: Differentiate Visa through out-of-box thinking and demonstrating thought leadership to payment system stakeholders on risk issues, pulling from local, regional, and global sources.

Communication: Ensure strong communication and provide marketplace feedback around Visa’s risk related programs and policies, and other activities.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and execute client engagement plans and materials to help clients optimize fraud performance, mitigate fraud and data compromise events, promote stronger authentication and data security, and help enforce Visa’s external risk programs and policies.  
• Align Visa’s risk-related objectives and activities with Visa’s business goals in the same area to maximize long-term growth.
• Promote Visa Risk Products, Capabilities and Solutions within the assigned client’s portfolio to differentiate Visa in the Payments Ecosystem
• Drive customized risk engagements and provide focus to key clients, fintechs, merchants, and emerging payment stakeholders. 
• Deliver client engagement plans and materials to help clients optimize fraud performance, determine the type and frequency of engagements. 
• Provide Risk analytics support for the markets supported for existing clients & other stakeholder engagements.
• As a risk expert, the role will collaborate with Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) Risk team members, client account executives, Merchant Sales and Acceptance (MS&A), Visa Rules, Visa Consulting and Analytics (VCA), Data scientists, Product leaders and Visa Ethics & Compliance to deliver innovative risk strategies, fraud reduction opportunities and payment system intelligence.
• Lead ad-hoc projects in support of overall risk and corporate initiatives. 
• Participate in market forums (e.g., clients, law enforcement, regulators, industry participants), and drive consumer awareness campaigns of payment system stakeholders to drive greater awareness and support for Visa’s payment system risk strategy.
• Be the point of reference in all risk-related engagement with regulatory and industry bodies.

This is a hybrid position. Expectation of days in office will be confirmed by your hiring manager

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (post-graduate qualifications preferred) with 8+ years of progressive experience working in the payment services / financial industry
• Experience in managing fraud risk, transaction monitoring, operations and suspicious transaction review.
• Experience with the credit risk landscape across the credit lifecycle.
• Good understanding of and experience with acquiring risk with hands-on application experience improving the acquiring risk posture of an entity.
• Good understanding of illegitimate transaction flow typologies, root causes, and key signs.
• Managed third-party risk assessment, responsibility for evaluating risk controls, and reviewer of risk control reporting in the organization.
• Self-starter with excellent communication skills, both oral and written.
• Ability to drive results with multiple stakeholders and cultivate strong and trusted relationships with internal stakeholders, clients, partners, and regulators.
• Full professional proficiency in English and French (written and verbal)

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong understanding of Digital Payment risks and current or emerging payment system risk trends across Middle East & Africa.
• Experience in managing fraud risk, transaction monitoring operations and credit operations.
• Ability to influence at mid to senior levels both internally and externally.
• Excellent written, oral and presentation skills and an ability to synthesize complex and technical information into clear recommendations on course of action.
• Detail orientation and strong analytical skills, willingness to think outside-the-box to offer new ways to approach old problems
• Ability to identify and pursue multiple initiatives simultaneously and deliver superior results.
• Experience determining when to escalate to management and identify the right stakeholders for decision making.
• Excellent collaboration and communications skills with experience in influencing, communicating and driving change through cross-functional groups, including the ability to build consensus across disparate views
• Positive, proactive, solution-oriented problem solver who gets things done within a matrix organization.
• Experience in preparing, reviewing, and delivering (concise) management level communications.
• Strong data analysis and problem-solving skills with demonstrated intellectual & analytical ability to summarize raw data to tell a simple story supported by data to management and partners.
• Self-driven professional with a vision and passion to continuously raise the benchmark for self and the broader team.
• Strong attention to detail and achieving results, with an emphasis on being naturally curious and committed.

Visa is an EEO Employer

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.