Clara is the fastest-growing company in Latin America. We've built the leading solution for companies to make and manage all their payments. We already help over 20,000 large and growing businesses operate with agility and financial clarity through locally issued corporate cards, bill pay, financing, and a powerful B2B platform built for scale.
Clara is backed by some of the most successful investors in the world, including top regional VCs like monashees, Kaszek, and Canary, and leading global funds like Notable Capital, Coatue, DST Global Partners, ICONIQ Growth, General Catalyst, Citi Ventures, SV Angel, Citius, Endeavor Catalyst, and Goldman Sachs - in addition to dozens of angel investors and local family offices.
We’re building the financial infrastructure that powers high-performing organizations across the region. We invite you to join us if you want to be part of a fast-paced environment that will accelerate your career and support you to do some of the best work of your life alongside a passionate and committed team distributed across the Americas.
Clara is looking for a Risk Analytics Lead to own the analytical engine of our Risk function globally. This role sits within the Risk team and is responsible for three interconnected domains: building and maintaining the risk models and scorecards that power credit decisions across our markets; owning Clara's Model Risk Management (MRM) framework; and acting as the Risk team's lead designer for our risk data infrastructure, working hand-in-hand with the Data team on its implementation.
This is a high-impact, cross-functional role for someone who combines deep technical expertise in risk modeling with the judgment to govern model risk and the communication skills to bridge Risk, Data, and senior leadership.
What you'll do
Risk Modeling
- Design, develop, and maintain the full suite of risk models across the credit lifecycle — scorecards, probability of default (PD), loss given default (LGD), exposure at default (EAD), expected credit loss (ECL), and behavioral models
- Own model backtesting, performance monitoring, and recalibration processes; ensure models remain fit for purpose as portfolio composition and macroeconomic conditions evolve
- Develop and maintain early warning indicators, portfolio segmentation, and concentration risk analytics
- Translate model outputs into actionable credit strategy inputs for Credit Policy and Portfolio Management teams
Model Risk Management (MRM)
- Design and own Clara's MRM framework: model inventory, model risk classification, validation standards, and model risk appetite
- Define and enforce model governance processes — development standards, independent validation, approval workflows, and ongoing review cadences
- Act as internal challenger on all risk models; ensure models are documented, explainable, and auditable
- Establish thresholds for model risk escalation and lead remediation when models breach performance benchmarks
Risk Data Infrastructure (Design)
- Partner with the Data Engineering team as the Risk domain expert and architecture co-designer for the risk data infrastructure
- Define business and analytical requirements for risk data pipelines, feature stores, and reporting layers; ensure the infrastructure supports both real-time decisioning and portfolio analytics needs
- Drive adoption of robust data standards within the Risk function — lineage, quality controls, and documentation
- Translate Risk's analytical roadmap into concrete data infrastructure requirements; prioritize with the Data team based on business impact
Leadership & Stakeholder Management
- Build and manage a lean, high-performing Risk Analytics team; define hiring needs and grow the function as Clara scales
- Work closely with Credit Policy, Credit Desk, Portfolio Management, and Compliance — act as the technical partner that turns risk strategy into quantified models
- Present model performance, MRM status, and analytical insights to senior leadership and, when relevant, to regulators
- Champion a data-driven culture within Risk; define standards for analytical rigor and model documentation across the team
Who you are
Must haves
- Academic background in Statistics, Mathematics, Actuarial Science, Engineering, Economics, or a related quantitative field
- 7+ years of experience in credit risk analytics, with hands-on ownership of the full model lifecycle — from development and validation to production monitoring and recalibration
- Demonstrated experience building or managing a Model Risk Management framework (model inventory, validation governance, model risk appetite)
- Deep proficiency in Python or R for modeling, and SQL for data extraction and analysis
- Experience translating model requirements into data infrastructure needs; comfortable working alongside data engineers as a domain expert and co-designer
- Strong grasp of credit risk regulation in at least one of Clara's markets (CNBV/Mexico, SFC/Colombia, BACEN/Brazil)
- Proven ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders, including executive leadership
- Fluency in English and Spanish (Portuguese a strong plus)
Nice to haves
- Experience in B2B credit or working capital products (trade credit, credit lines, commercial cards)
- Familiarity with fintech or high-growth startup environments where you've had to build infrastructure and processes from scratch
- Exposure to audit processes, regulatory reporting, and model-related regulatory examinations
- Experience building or managing small analytics or data science teams
- Hands-on experience with MLOps tooling, model monitoring platforms, or feature stores
- Knowledge of Basel credit risk frameworks (IRB approaches, ECL under IFRS 9)
At Clara, you’ll have the autonomy, speed, and support to make meaningful impact — not just on your team, but on how organizations are run across Latin America.
Who we areWe’re the leading B2B fintech for spend management in Latin America.
Certified as one of the world's fastest-growing companies, a Great Place to Work, and a LinkedIn Top Startup.
Passionate about making Latin America more prosperous and competitive.
Constantly innovating to build financial infrastructure that enables each of our customers to thrive.
Product-led, high-talent-density culture — designed for builders who raise the bar.
Proud of our open, inclusive, and values-driven environment.
#Clarity. We say things clearly, directly, and proactively.
#Simplicity. We reduce noise to focus on what really matters.
#Ownership. We take responsibility and never wait to be told.
#Pride. We build products and experiences we’re proud of.
#Always Be Changing (ABC). We grow through feedback, risk-taking, and action.
#Inclusivity. Every voice counts. Everyone contributes to our mission.
Competitive salary and stock options (ESOP) from day one
Multicultural team with daily exposure to Portuguese, Spanish, and English (our corporate language)
Annual learning budget and internal accelerated development paths
High-ownership environment: we move fast, learn fast, and raise the bar — together
Smart, ambitious teammates — low ego, high impact
Flexible vacation and hybrid work model focused on results
If you’re ready for growth, ownership, and impact — apply now and help us redefine B2B finance in Latin America.
Clara’s Hybrid Policy
Claridians in a hybrid mode split their time between working from the office, talking to or visiting customers, or working from home. This hits a balance between bringing people together for in-person collaboration and learning from each other, while supporting flexibility about how to do this in a way that makes sense for each individual and team.
We don't enforce a minimum number of days for most roles, but you're expected to spend time at the office organically, and be at the office most days during your ramp-up or when required by your leader.
Skills Required
- Proven leadership of high-impact data science teams
- Project oversight and coordination for end-to-end data science projects
- Experience driving data-driven strategies in Credit Risk and Fraud
- Expertise developing and implementing advanced machine learning algorithms
- Proficiency designing and scaling robust, high-performance data models
- Strong experience in predictive analytics
- Effective collaboration with cross-functional teams and stakeholders
- Strategic planning for data initiatives with business impact focus
- Mentoring and upskilling team members
- Identifying and executing data-driven process optimizations
- Clear and persuasive communication of complex data insights to senior stakeholders
Clara Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Clara and has not been reviewed or approved by Clara.
-
Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity grants are emphasized across several descriptions, with stock options commonly included and in some instances available from day one. Feedback suggests this ownership component is a meaningful part of total rewards.
-
Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off offerings are portrayed as flexible, including references to flexible vacation and flexible time off policies. Feedback suggests this supports work–life balance for many roles.
-
Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Wellness support is cited through mental‑health platforms, coaching and meditation programs, and monthly wellness reimbursements in some contexts. Feedback suggests these offerings complement core benefits where available.
Clara Insights
What We Do
Clara is the leading payment platform for companies in Latin America. Our end-to-end solution includes our locally-issued corporate cards, Bill Pay, crossborder payments, and our highly-rated software platform used by thousands of the most successful companies across the region. Clara is backed by top global and regional investors such as Coatue, DST Global, General Catalyst, monashees, Kaszek, Canary, A*, BoxGroup, SV Angel, GFC, Picus Capital, Avid Ventures, ICONIQ Growth, Goldman Sachs, and prominent angel investors. Driven by our six core values (Ownership, Pride, ABC, Simplicity, Clarity and Inclusivity) we’ve reached a unicorn valuation in record time, have been recognized as a Great Place to Work and as one of the most promising startups according to Linkedin’s ranking “Top Startups 2021”. We’re looking for the best talent worldwide to join our team and be part of this journey, so you can't afford to miss this chance! We are: * Shaping business finances in Latin America * Driven by our 6 core values * Proud of our inclusive and caring culture * Certified as a Great Place to Work and a Top LinkedIn Startup
