Director, Risk & Fraud

Here's how you'll make an impact:

• Define and oversee the development and monitoring of key performance indicators for the risk and fraud teams and provide regular reporting/metrics to leadership including maintaining accurate loss forecasts.
• Oversee a team of risk analysts, team leads, and managers, and Lead and develop a high-performing, risk team by setting strategic direction, coaching leadership, and ensuring operational excellence.
• Own and evolve Wave’s enterprise fraud and risk management framework, including long-term strategy and annual roadmap.
• Oversee and manage the risk and fraud department’s budget, ensuring optimal allocation of resources and alignment with overall financial goals.
• Design, implement, and continuously refine risk and fraud policies, ensuring they effectively mitigate exposure across all business lines.
• Establish and maintain robust procedures and partner with product to proactively detect, prevent, and respond to fraudulent activities.
• Work with internal partners to develop and implement strategies, policies and processes to minimize fraud, shrink and chargebacks.
• Create and develop risk and underwriting performance reporting to drive awareness of decision accuracy and performance.
• Partner with CX teams to review escalations and manage recourse programs.
• Monitor industry and competitive trends to ensure Wave is aligned from a regulatory and market perspective.
• Provide oversight and guidance on complex or high-risk escalations, ensuring consistency with risk policies and business objectives.
• Act as a Subject Matter Expert on projects to improve and streamline Risk functions.
• Be a thought leader on technology and AI and how it can be used to improve employee and customer outcomes.
• Act as a key partner to Legal, Compliance, Finance, Product, and Engineering teams to embed risk mitigation across product design and customer experience.
• Own vendor relationships and roadmap for risk tooling (e.g., onboarding verification, transaction monitoring, chargeback mitigation).
• Lead incident response and root cause analysis for major fraud or risk events.
• Foster a risk-aware culture across the organization through education and influence.
• Ensure Wave’s fraud and risk programs align with regulatory requirements and industry best practices.

You'll thrive here by possessing the following:

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Finance, Risk Management or related Field.
• 10 years of experience in fraud or risk roles in fintech, payments, or banking industry, including experience leading a high-performing team that includes managers or team leads.
• Experience using Alloy, Plaid, and credit bureau vendors.
• Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) Certification or similar designation.
• Extensive experience with fraud and risk management in both Canadian and U.S. financial ecosystems, including knowledge of regulatory requirements. 
• Experience with chargeback operations.
• Understanding of AI/ML risk detection technologies.
• Previous experience scaling risk functions.
• Strong analytical and reporting skills, with experience developing KPIs and dashboards.
• Deep understanding of fraud prevention tools, onboarding risk, and transaction monitoring.