Fraud & Risk Strategy Lead

Cleo; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Comprehensive health insurance

Pension / retirement contributions

Learning & development platform

Location-specific leave entitlements

Job summary

Cleo is building a world-class AI financial assistant. We are hiring a Head of Fraud to own and scale Cleo’s fraud strategy across debit, credit, and identity fraud, starting in the US and expanding globally.

You’ll partner with Credit, Product, Engineering, and Operations to build scalable controls that minimize loss while preserving customer experience. You will lead investigations, tighten risk frameworks, and align with regulatory requirements across US and UK markets, driving measurable

Qualifications

• First-line-of-defense fraud experience (hands-on)
• Experience across both debit and credit transaction fraud
• Identity fraud expertise: ATO, synthetic identities, KYC platform management
• Operational fraud experience: chargeback investigation and management
• Strong analytical and quantitative skills with data-driven guardrails
• Track record of collaborating with credit risk on metrics & trade-offs
• US market fraud experience, knowledge of US card regulations and CFPB
• Fintech background with lending/credit products
• Vendor evaluation experience for fraud tools
• Track record of shaping fraud strategy and frameworks at scale
• Senior gravitas & consensus-building across product, ops, credit, compliance
• 8+ years in fraud or financial crime

Responsibilities

• Own Cleo’s end-to-end fraud strategy across transaction, identity, and operational fraud.
• Set fraud risk frameworks, guardrails, and performance targets, balancing loss, approval rates, and customer friction.
• Collaborate with teams to design, measure, and continuously improve fraud controls and workflows.
• Lead fraud investigations, incident reviews, chargeback operations, and dispute management.
• Evaluate and manage fraud and KYC vendors, informing buy-vs-build decisions.
• Ensure compliance with US card, KYC, and financial-crime requirements, with UK scope to follow.
• Report fraud performance and risk posture to senior leadership and contribute to board-level risk discussions.

Skills

First-line fraud experience

Debit and Credit fraud

Identity fraud expertise

Operational fraud experience

Analytical & quantitative

Collaboration with credit risk

US market fraud experience

Fintech lending/credit background

Vendor evaluation experience

Shaping fraud strategy at scale

Senior gravitas & consensus-building

8+ years in fraud

Job description

Cleo is building a world-class AI financial assistant. We are hiring a Head of Fraud to own and scale Cleo’s fraud strategy across debit, credit, and identity fraud, starting in the US and expanding globally.

You’ll partner with Credit, Product, Engineering, and Operations to build scalable controls that minimize loss while preserving customer experience. You will lead investigations, tighten risk frameworks, and align with regulatory requirements across US and UK markets, driving measurable