Head of Payment Operations Risk & Controls

Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move and manage the world’s money.
Min fees. Max ease. Full speed.

Whether people and businesses are sending money to another country, spending abroad, or making and receiving international payments, Wise is on a mission to make their lives easier and save them money.

As part of our team, you will be helping us create an entirely new network for the world's money.
For everyone, everywhere.

More about our mission and what we offer.

Payments move at the speed of light, and so do the risks. We are looking for a visionary leader to own the first line of defense for our Global Payment Operations. You will be the guardian of our payment integrity, ensuring that as we scale, our controls remain unbreakable. If you have a passion for deconstructing complex financial flows and building scalable frameworks that prevent loss without killing innovation, this might be the role for you.

What You’ll Be Doing

• 1st Line Architecture: Design and maintain a global "First Line of Defense" (1LoD) framework, including RCSA, to ensure our controls remain unbreakable as we scale.

• Audit & Regulatory Shield: Serve as the primary interface for all internal and external audits, ensuring the business stays "inspection-ready" year-round through high-quality evidence and remediation.

• Incident Resilience: Lead the response to operational failures, conducting deep root-cause analysis to turn every "break" into a permanent system fix.

• Reconciliation Authority: Oversee our global reconciliation team to ensure every penny is accounted for, while aggressively driving automation to eliminate data mismatches.

• Strategic Leadership: Manage a global team of managers, fostering a culture of high accountability and data-driven decision-making.

What we’re looking for

• A "Lead of Leads": You have a track record of developing senior individual contributors and managers into high-performing units.

• A System Builder: You have a "controls-by-design" mindset—preferring automated, system-enforced alerts over manual spreadsheets.

• The Diplomat: You can challenge an auditor on technical nuances one hour and partner with Product teams to make safety a "feature" the next.

• A Risk Veteran: You thrive in highly regulated environments and understand how to navigate the tension between growth objectives and risk requirements.

Must Have:

• Lead-of-Leads Experience: 5+ years in Risk, Controls, or Financial Operations, with a proven track record of managing other managers.

• First Line (1 LoD) Mastery: Extensive experience building and owning operational risk and control frameworks (including RCSA) in a regulated environment.

• Audit Management: Proven ability to act as the primary lead for complex internal and external audits, ensuring high-quality evidence and remediation.

• Incident Oversight: Expertise in managing operational incident frameworks and driving root-cause analysis to prevent recurrence.

• Stakeholder Diplomacy: Ability to influence senior leadership and navigate conflicts between growth objectives and risk requirements.

• Data-Driven Leadership: Experience using data to identify system gaps and justify the transition from manual to automated controls.

Nice to Have:

• Reconciliation Scaling: Experience managing high-volume global reconciliation functions and driving "break" reduction.

• Audit Background: Previous career experience specifically within an internal or external audit firm.

• Risk Tooling: Familiarity with GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) platforms or automated monitoring tools.

• Regulatory Depth: Specific knowledge of global banking or payment regulations (e.g., safeguarding of funds or regional payment standards).

• Technical Literacy: Ability to interact with Product and Engineering teams on a technical level (e.g., understanding API flows or basic SQL).

Salary: 5550 - 7450 EUR gross monthly + RSUs

Please submit a cover letter addressing the following questions: 

On Philosophy: "What does a 'healthy' risk culture look like to you in a fast-paced operations environment?"

On the 'First Line' Role: "What do you believe is the most common mistake organizations make when building their first line of defense?"

On Influence: "How do you handle situations where the need for speed and the need for control are in direct competition?"

For everyone, everywhere. We're people building money without borders  — without judgement or prejudice, too. We believe teams are strongest when they are diverse, equitable and inclusive.

We're proud to have a truly international team, and we celebrate our differences.
Inclusive teams help us live our values and make sure every Wiser feels respected, empowered to contribute towards our mission and able to progress in their careers.

If you want to find out more about what it's like to work at Wise visit Wise.Jobs.

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