Senior Manager

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

2. Develop and implement a Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework aligned to regulatory requirements

3. Define and maintain the Risk Appetite Statement (RAS) and ensure its translation into operational and business-level limits.
4. Establish and enforce risk policies, procedures, RCSA, ICAAP, and stress testing frameworks.
5. Support the Board Risk Management Committee (BRMC) with regular updates, dashboards, and emerging risk analysis.

6. Ensure the independence and authority of the Risk function as required by regulators.

7. Regulatory & Compliance Risk Management

8. Interpret, implement, and monitor adherence to all relevant regulatory rulebooks (QCB, Payment Services Framework, RBI PPI/PA/PG Guidelines).

9. Lead regulatory risk assessments for new market entries, products, and partnerships.
10. Oversee AML/CFT risk control processes in partnership with Compliance and MLRO.
11. Act as a regulatory liaison for supervisory reviews, audits, inspections, and thematic reviews.

12. Support board-level compliance and risk committees with documentation, insights, and action tracking.

13. Operational & Fraud Risk Management

14. Oversee merchant onboarding and due diligence, ensuring KYC/KYB, sanctions screening, and risk classification.

15. Build and manage fraud prevention and monitoring frameworks, leveraging analytics, real-time alerting tools, and transaction risk scoring.
16. Ensure effective controls for chargebacks, transaction anomalies, settlement risks, and merchant exposure monitoring.
17. Lead the Operational Risk Control Self-Assessment (RCSA) and incident management programs across geographies.

18. Collaborate with the CISO and IT teams on fraud technology integrations and incident containment measures.

19. Financial, Credit & Liquidity Risk

20. Develop and maintain a credit risk framework for merchant exposure, settlement risk, and partner counterparty limits.

21. Monitor liquidity, safeguarding, and customer fund segregation controls as per regulatory requirements.
22. Review merchant portfolios for financial stability and default risk.

23. Support treasury and finance in stress testing for capital adequacy and liquidity management.

24. Reporting, Analytics & Risk Intelligence

25. Prepare periodic risk dashboards, KRIs, and MIS reports for CEO, BRMC, and regulators.

26. Conduct risk reviews and scenario analysis for new products, partnerships, or geographies.
27. Report and escalate breaches of risk appetite and monitor remediation plans.

28. Champion data-driven decision-making by embedding analytics into fraud and operational risk functions.

29. Risk Culture & Leadership

30. Promote a risk-aware culture across all levels of the organization through training and engagement.

31. Mentor and lead regional risk teams across UAE, India, and future markets to ensure standardized practices.
32. 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.