Senior Director - Head of Corporate Risk CEMEA

Enterprise & Operational Risk Management

• Implement and embed the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework across the region, ensuring it becomes an integral part of how the business operates
• Drive the adoption and operationalization of the Operational Risk Framework, making risk identification, assessment, and mitigation a natural part business
• Partner with business teams across all functions to define in-scope processes for Risk and Control Self-Assessments (RCSA), ensuring comprehensive coverage of key operational activities
• Guide and enable business teams to complete RCSAs effectively, providing hands-on support, training, and quality assurance throughout the assessment process
• Drive consistent use of risk and issue logging system (GORO) across the region, ensuring data quality and completeness
• Establish processes that translate logged risks and issues into actionable management insights, driving awareness and appropriate response at all levels
• Work with business owners to develop and track risk mitigation plans, ensuring accountability and progress monitoring
• Develop comprehensive risk reporting that provides clear insights for senior management decision-making, highlighting trends, concentrations, and areas requiring attention
• Foster a culture where business teams view RCSA and risk assessment as valuable tools for their own operations, not just compliance exercises
• Collaborate with risk teams across other sub-regions to identify emerging risks and share best practices

Third-Party Risk Management

• Own end-to-end third-party lifecycle management including due diligence, onboarding approvals, and ongoing monitoring
• Embed robust vendor risk assessment processes that balance thoroughness with business agility
• Ensure third-party risks are properly identified, measured, and mitigated throughout the vendor relationship
• Collaborate with global third-party risk teams on projects and initiatives, ensuring regional alignment while addressing local requirements
• Embed and disseminate global best practices in third-party risk management across the region, adapting them appropriately for local context
• Provide timely reporting and escalation of significant third-party risks to management and risk committees
• Contribute regional insights and lessons learned to global third-party risk frameworks and standards

Supervisory Risk Management

• Partner closely with Legal, Country Management, Government Engagement and Compliance teams to ensure all regulatory requirements and changes are thoroughly understood and implemented flawlessly and on time
• Translate regulatory requirements into practical business changes and control enhancements
• Maintain deep understanding of the regional regulatory landscape affecting payments operations
• Work closely with global regulatory and supervisory risk teams on cross-border projects and initiatives to ensure consistent approaches
• Adopt and disseminate global regulatory best practices while ensuring they are appropriately tailored to regional supervisory expectations
• Establish robust processes for timely reporting and escalation of regulatory risks, breaches, and supervisory matters to management and risk committees
• Ensure proactive communication with global teams regarding emerging regulatory changes and their potential regional impact

Risk Governance & Committee Management

• Lead and facilitate the regional risk committee, ensuring it serves as an effective forum for surfacing and discussing key risks with senior management
• Drive consistent governance standards, frameworks, and reporting templates across all sub-regional risk committees to ensure quality and comparability
• Ensure local and sub-regional risks are adequately identified, discussed, and documented in sub-regional risk committees with appropriate rigor and accountability
• Establish clear escalation protocols and criteria to ensure material risks from sub-regional committees are escalated to the regional risk committee on a timely basis
• Develop high-quality, insightful content and materials that drive meaningful management discussions and decision-making at both regional and sub-regional levels
• Create a committee environment that encourages balanced, constructive conversations about risk appetite, emerging threats, and mitigation strategies
• Ensure risk committees highlight critical risks to the business in a clear, actionable manner that prompts appropriate management attention and response
• Drive accountability for risk decisions and follow-up actions identified in committee discussions across all levels

Critical Skills & Attributes

• Entrepreneurial self-starter - You take initiative, identify gaps, and drive solutions without waiting to be told
• Hands-on implementation expert - You roll up your sleeves and get into the details this isn't a purely strategic role
• Outstanding collaboration skills - You build strong relationships across functions and geographies, influencing without authority
• Exceptional communicator - Superior written and verbal communication skills with ability to articulate complex risk concepts clearly to diverse audiences
• Strong leadership abilities - Proven team leader who can inspire, develop, and manage high-performing risk professionals
• Business acumen - You understand how to balance risk management with business objectives and operational realities
• Change management capability - Experience driving organizational change and adoption of new frameworks and processes