Risk Lead

Paystack’s mission is to accelerate digital payments on the continent of Africa. Over 200K of some of the most renowned businesses in Nigeria, as well as a growing number of merchants in South Africa, Ghana, and Kenya use Paystack’s modern payments gateway. They include the likes of MTN, Burger King, UPS, AXA Mansard Insurance, FilmHouse Cinemas, Smile Communications, Air Peace Airlines, Crocs, Under Armour, Richemont Lifestyle Group (RLG), and many others.

In just over 8 years, our growing team has introduced a steady cadence of innovation within the online payments landscape, such as automated recurring payments, the ability for customers to pay directly from their bank accounts, automated chargebacks, and much more. We’ve been acquired by Stripe and are doubling down on the mission to help build out Africa’s payments infrastructure.

About the Risk Lead role

We are looking for a driven, forward-looking and experienced Risk Lead with in-depth knowledge of Risk and a love for data, technology, and innovation.

You will be part of the Risk and Compliance team, the second-line team that ensures risks are identified, assessed, managed and monitored in accordance to the company’s risk appetite. The team also works to ensure that Paystack’s products and business operations comply with laws, ethics and best practices.

This broad role will help develop and drive processes for our Global Risk Management Framework across all Paystack jurisdictions.

The role will report to Paystack’s Head of Risk & Compliance.

What you’ll do

• Support the Head of Risk & Compliance in Embedding and enhancing the global risk management framework across Paystack to ensure risks are properly identified, assessed, managed and controlled.
• Work closely with teams, risk champions, Risk DRIs (Direct Responsible Individuals) and the first line of defence across all business units within Paystack, acting as a Risk SME, providing coaching and training where required.
• Represent risk in all product-related conversations, pulling in relevant risk DRIs for assessments where needed.
• Define risk-mitigating controls and procedures considering your analysis of the Financial Services environment in all applicable jurisdictions;
• Responsible for coordination of reports across risk and opportunities, engaging with the business to ensure timely updates and reporting.
• Support the Head of Risk & Compliance in reporting to relevant board risk Committees and preparation of monthly, quarterly and annual reports to Paystack’s senior management;
• Work with risk owners to enhance or establish Key Risk Indicators across Paystacks identified operational risks and monitor reporting. Ensuring data is scrutinized and escalated appropriately.
• Monitor incidents reported, ensuring root causes are identified and actions undertaken to improve the risk and control environment
• Provide necessary training at Paystack and its first line of defence to ensure risk awareness and compliance; and promote a positive risk culture across Paystack
• continuous support to ensure that risk and control owners understand their roles and responsibilities, and execute their responsibilities effectively as assigned/accountable owners;
• Draft risk policies and procedures and maintain our risk register;
• Lead and guide the (future) members of your team to address all required risk areas, including but not limited to, Strategic, Fraud and Operational Risk;
• Work with our data analysts and define and manage core metrics to establish a reliable database for your ongoing analyses.
• Have a keen understanding of AML-CFT Risks and serve as a compliance officer in relevant jurisdictions.

What it takes to succeed at this role:

• 7 years of risk management and at least 4 years in a senior operational risk role in a regulated financial technology, payments and acquiring space;
• Product risk and compliance assessment experience;
• Exposure to Risk & Control Self-Assessment, Control testing, Scenario analysis, Risk monitoring and KRIs
• Preparation of risk reports and intelligence data for different audiences
• Exposure to various regulatory, payment and card scheme rules and regulations;
• A good understanding of financial technology products and solutions and the regulatory and legal environment in which they operate;
• A solid background in risk management and the confidence to build and operate a holistic risk function across various jurisdictions;
• Proficiency in data analysis tools e.g MS Excel
• Strong organisation and project management skills with the ability to work well on both long and short-term projects.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.

The person we want to hire for this role will also be:

• A team player who is willing to pitch in where needed in a fast-paced, growing company.
• Decisive, and capable of making smart decisions in the face of ambiguity and imperfect information.
• An exceptionally hard/smart worker, capable of getting things done.
• Passionate about Paystack’s mission of helping businesses grow and thrive.
• Required to travel frequently to countries where Paystack is active.
• Minimum education: Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Technology, Economics, Finance, Business or similar;
• Desired, but not required additional education: relevant and accredited certifications.

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Questions? Please contact [email protected].