Risk Operations Manager Merchant Risk

alpha ladder ai pte. ltd.; Singapore; On-site; SGD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

alpha ladder ai pte. ltd. is seeking a hands-on Risk Operations Manager to strengthen our merchant risk framework. You will own underwriting, transaction risk management, fraud detection, and portfolio monitoring to ensure compliant onboarding and healthy merchant activity.

The role covers establishing risk ratings, monitoring, escalation for high-risk merchants, and continuous policy improvements. A strong background in risk analytics, SQL and cross‑functional collaboration is essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in risk/finance or related field.
• 5–8 years of merchant risk, payment risk or related experience.
• Experience leading risk operations projects or teams.
• Knowledge of AML/CFT, sanctions and MAS guidelines is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Lead merchant risk assessment, underwriting and onboarding across models, industries and jurisdictions.
• Monitor merchant activity, review KYB/KYC data and set risk controls.
• Develop transaction risk rules, thresholds and automated alerts.
• Collaborate with Compliance, Payments, Product and Engineering on risk outcomes.
• Investigate high‑risk cases and drive remediation actions.

Skills

Risk assessment

Underwriting

Fraud detection

Transaction monitoring

AML/CFT

Sanctions

Data analytics

SQL

Excel

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Risk Management, Finance, Business, Economics, Accounting, Data Analytics or a related discipline

Tools

SQL

BI tools

Job description

As we continue to scale our payment and merchant ecosystem, we are looking for aRisk Operations Manager – Merchant Riskto strengthen our merchant risk management framework and ensure that merchants onboarded and transacting through our platforms remain within acceptable risk parameters.

This is a hands-on role combiningmerchant underwriting, transaction risk management, fraud detection, portfolio monitoring and risk operations.

Key Responsibilities

1. Merchant Risk Assessment & Underwriting

• Lead risk assessment and underwriting of new merchants across different business models, industries, jurisdictions and payment products.

• Review merchant KYB/KYC information, corporate structures, beneficial ownership, business activities, website/app presence, transaction flows and source of funds where applicable.

• Assess merchant risk across factors including:

  • Business model and industry risk

  • Geographic and jurisdictional exposure

  • Transaction characteristics and expected volumes

  • Product/service risk

  • Fraud and chargeback exposure

  • Financial and operational risk

  • Regulatory and reputational risk

  • AML/CFT and sanctions-related risk indicators

• Establish appropriate merchant risk ratings, transaction limits, reserves, velocity controls and other risk mitigation measures.

• Escalate high-risk or unusual merchants to Risk/Compliance for enhanced due diligence or approval.

2. Ongoing Merchant Monitoring

• Monitor the merchant portfolio to identify changes in business activity, transaction patterns and emerging risk indicators.

• Conduct periodic and event-driven merchant reviews based on risk level and predefined triggers.

• Identify unusual changes in:

  • Transaction volume

  • Average transaction size

  • Refund rates

  • Chargeback rates

  • Geographic distribution

  • Payment methods

  • Customer behaviour

  • Product/service mix

• Investigate merchants whose actual transaction behaviour materially deviates from their approved business profile.

• Recommend appropriate actions including enhanced monitoring, transaction restrictions, temporary suspension or termination.

3. Fraud & Transaction Risk Management

• Develop and operate merchant-level transaction risk controls to detect potential fraud, abuse and suspicious activity.

• Work with Risk Product / Engineering teams to develop and optimise transaction monitoring rules, risk thresholds and automated alerts.

• Analyse transaction patterns and merchant behaviour to identify emerging fraud typologies.

• Investigate suspicious transaction activity and determine appropriate operational actions.

• Monitor fraud losses, chargebacks, refunds and other merchant-related risk metrics.

• Identify opportunities to improve detection accuracy while minimising false positives and unnecessary friction for legitimate merchants.

4. Chargeback & Payment Risk

• Monitor merchant chargeback, dispute, refund and fraud performance.

• Identify merchants with deteriorating payment performance and proactively implement remediation measures.

• Establish risk thresholds and escalation triggers for high-chargeback or high-refund merchants.

• Work with Payments Operations, Finance and Commercial teams on merchant remediation and loss recovery.

• Analyse root causes of payment disputes and recommend preventive measures.

5. Risk Operations & Case Management

• Own day-to-day merchant risk investigations and ensure cases are reviewed and resolved within defined SLAs.

• Establish clear investigation procedures, escalation matrices and decision-making frameworks.

• Maintain complete and auditable documentation of merchant risk decisions.

• Ensure consistent application of risk policies across merchant onboarding, monitoring and remediation.

• Conduct quality assurance reviews to identify gaps in risk decisions and operational processes.

• Support incident management and urgent merchant risk escalations.

6. Risk Policy, Controls & Process Improvement

• Develop and continuously improve merchant risk policies, procedures and operational playbooks.

• Define merchant risk segmentation and risk appetite criteria together with Risk and Compliance leadership.

• Review existing controls and identify opportunities for automation and process optimisation.

• Partner with Product, Engineering and Data teams to enhance merchant risk tooling and dashboards.

• Support the development of automated merchant risk scoring and decisioning frameworks.

• Conduct periodic reviews of risk rules to ensure they remain effective against evolving fraud and payment risk patterns.

7. Risk Analytics & Reporting

• Develop and maintain merchant risk dashboards and management reporting.

• Monitor key risk indicators including:

  • Merchant approval / rejection rates

  • High-risk merchant volumes

  • Fraud rates

  • Chargeback rates

  • Refund rates

  • Transaction decline rates

  • Risk alert volumes

  • Loss rates

  • Merchant concentration risk

  • Risk review turnaround time

• Provide regular portfolio risk reporting and insights to senior management.

• Identify emerging trends and recommend appropriate risk appetite or control adjustments.

8. Cross-Functional Stakeholder Management

• Work closely withCompliance / AML, Payments Operations, Product, Engineering, Finance, Sales and Customer Supportto manage merchant risk.

• Partner with Commercial teams to balance business growth with appropriate risk controls.

• Provide risk guidance during the launch of new merchant products, payment methods, markets and business models.

• Act as a key risk escalation point for complex merchant cases.

• Support internal audits, compliance reviews and regulatory examinations relating to merchant risk management.

Requirements

Experience

• Bachelor's degree inRisk Management, Finance, Business, Economics, Accounting, Data Analytics or a related discipline.

• 5–8 years of relevant experiencein merchant risk, payment risk, fraud risk, transaction monitoring, acquiring, payment operations, fintech or financial services.

• Experience managingmerchant onboarding and ongoing merchant risk monitoringis highly preferred.

• Experience in a payment institution, PSP, acquirer, fintech, bank, card network or digital asset company is advantageous.

• Strong understanding of merchant fraud, payment risk and chargeback management.

• Experience managing risk operations teams or leading risk operations projects is preferred.

Technical & Analytical Skills

• Strong ability to analyse large volumes of transactional and merchant data.

• Comfortable working with risk dashboards, transaction monitoring systems and case management tools.

• Strong Excel/Google Sheets skills; SQL, BI or data analytics experience is a strong advantage.

• Ability to translate data and risk signals into clear operational decisions.

• Experience designing risk rules, thresholds, scoring models or monitoring frameworks is preferred.

Risk Knowledge

Strong understanding of several of the following:

• Merchant underwriting

• KYB/KYC and merchant due diligence

• Fraud detection and prevention

• Transaction monitoring

• Chargeback and dispute management

• Payment fraud

• Merchant monitoring

• AML/CFT risk

• Sanctions and adverse media risk

• Risk-based merchant segmentation

• Payment processing and acquiring

• Digital payment / fintech risk

Knowledge of Singapore's payment services regulatory environment and MAS AML/CFT requirements is an advantage. MAS expectations include ongoing monitoring of business relationships and scrutiny of transactions against a customer's known business and risk profile.

Competencies

• Strong risk judgement– able to make sound decisions under uncertainty and balance commercial considerations with risk appetite.

• Analytical thinking– able to identify patterns and connect seemingly unrelated risk indicators.

• Attention to detail– strong discipline in reviewing merchant information and documenting decisions.

• Problem solving– able to investigate complex merchant and transaction issues independently.

• Ownership– takes accountability for risk decisions and operational outcomes.

• Communication– able to explain risk decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Stakeholder management– comfortable challenging business stakeholders when risk concerns arise.

• Execution-oriented– able to operate effectively in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Merchant risk review SLA achievement

• Accuracy and consistency of merchant risk decisions

• Fraud loss rate / merchant fraud exposure

• Chargeback and dispute rate

• High-risk merchant identification effectiveness

• False-positive rate of risk controls

• Risk incident response and resolution time

• Quality and completeness of merchant risk documentation

• Effectiveness of merchant monitoring controls

• Reduction in preventable merchant-related losses

• Timely implementation of risk control enhancements

• Successful automation and process improvement initiatives

What We Offer

• Opportunity to build and scale merchant risk operations within ahigh-growth fintech environment.

• Exposure to payments, cross-border transactions, digital assets and emerging financial products.

• High level of ownership and direct exposure to senior Risk, Compliance, Product and Business stakeholders.

• Opportunity to build and improve merchant risk frameworks, processes and technology from the ground up.

• Fast-paced, international and highly collaborative working environment.