🌍 About the Company

The client is building a regulated payments business focused on merchant acquiring and cross-border payment flows. Its portfolio includes international merchants operating across e-commerce, SaaS, subscriptions etc.
The company is currently undergoing the electronic money institution licensing process with the Bank of Latvia, with the licence expected in January.
This is an opportunity to influence the risk foundations of the business before it enters its next stage of regulated growth.

💼 About the Role

As Head of Risk, you will lead the Risk Department and take ownership of the company’s enterprise and merchant risk framework. Your mandate is to support sustainable acquiring growth while protecting the business from financial, operational, ICT, cyber, outsourcing, and merchant-related risks. You will have the authority to challenge commercial decisions, set portfolio controls, and shape the risk function during the licensing process.

🔍 Responsibilities

• Lead, develop, and supervise the Risk Department, including risk analysts and monitoring specialists;

• Define and maintain the company’s risk framework, risk appetite, merchant risk policies, and decision-making standards;

• Assess and approve new merchants, including businesses operating in higher-risk industries and cross-border markets;

• Decide on onboarding, restrictions, reserves, exposure limits, enhanced monitoring, and termination of merchant relationships;

• Monitor fraud, chargebacks, operational losses, portfolio performance, emerging threats, and risk-adjusted profitability;

• Set and oversee rolling reserves, security deposits, exposure limits, and other financial risk mitigation measures;

• Conduct enterprise-wide risk assessments covering operational, financial, liquidity, ICT, cyber, outsourcing, legal, reputational, and merchant risk;

• Review major operational, fraud, security, and ICT incidents, establish their root causes, and drive remediation;

• Oversee third-party, outsourcing, ICT, cyber, and DORA-related risk assessments;

• Maintain compliance with Visa, Mastercard, PCI DSS, and relevant scheme monitoring programmes, working closely with Compliance, AML, Operations, Finance, Sales, and IT.

🎓 Requirements

• Higher education in Finance, Economics, Mathematics, Risk Management, or a related discipline;

• At least 7 years of experience in banking, merchant acquiring, payments, FinTech, or risk management;

• At least 3 years of leadership experience within a risk, underwriting, fraud, or monitoring function;

• Strong knowledge of acquiring, merchant underwriting, fraud prevention, and chargeback management;

• Practical understanding of Visa and Mastercard requirements and the risks associated with higher-risk merchant categories;

• Experience assessing international merchants and cross-border payment flows;

• Experience working with regulators, payment schemes, acquirers, banking partners, or other regulated stakeholders;

• Fluent English and the judgement to make well-supported decisions when information is incomplete.

Nice to Have

• Experience supporting an EMI, payment institution, or banking licensing process;

• Knowledge of DORA, ICT risk, cyber risk, outsourcing, and third-party risk management;

• Familiarity with PCI DSS, VAMP, MATCH, and other card-scheme monitoring requirements;

• Experience designing enterprise-wide risk assessments and reporting risk indicators to senior management or a board.

🤝 Key Competencies

• Independent judgement and the confidence to challenge decisions that exceed the company’s risk appetite;

• Commercial awareness, including the ability to balance portfolio growth with risk-adjusted profitability;

• Clear communication with regulators, banking partners, payment schemes, and internal stakeholders;

• A structured leadership style that develops people, strengthens controls, and creates accountable risk ownership.

✨ The Employer Offers

• A €5,000–€7,000 gross monthly salary;

• A hybrid working model based in the Riga office;

• Leadership responsibility for building and developing the Risk Department;

• Direct influence over the company’s risk strategy during its EMI licensing process;

• Broad decision-making authority across merchant onboarding, portfolio controls, and enterprise risk;

• International scope involving cross-border payments and merchants from varied business models;

• Professional growth alongside the development of a newly regulated payments business.
  

If you know how to grow an acquiring portfolio without losing control of its risk, this role gives you the mandate to put that expertise into practice. Apply and help build a risk function ready for regulated, international growth.