Head of Risk

Aave Labs; New York (NY); On-site; USD 220,000 - 380,000; Full time

Job summary

Aave Labs in New York seeks a Head of Risk to lead the Risk team and own risk-governance across the Aave Protocol and products. You will coordinate with external risk providers, set and monitor risk parameters, and sign off on collateral onboarding and material risk decisions.

This leadership role requires deep protocol knowledge, strong accountability, and the judgment to make high-stakes decisions at scale as the protocol expands into new markets and asset classes.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in risk management, with a strong preference for DeFi or crypto-native experience.
• Proven experience leading and managing a risk team.
• Deep understanding of the Aave Protocol, its markets, governance, parameters, and risk dynamics.
• Strong grasp of market structure, portfolio risk management, and stress testing methodologies.
• Experience governing risk for composable DeFi products or pooled strategies, including external protocol, liquidity, oracle and execution dependencies.
• Experience working with or managing external risk service providers.

Responsibilities

• Lead and build the Risk team, setting direction, priorities, and standards for the function.
• Own and evolve Aave’s risk management frameworks and policies.
• Set minimum review standards and provide independent challenge for product-specific risk frameworks.
• Establish model-risk and data-governance standards for material quantitative models and external risk inputs.
• Review product and engineering controls for approved risk requirements and own gaps, exceptions and incident response.
• Establish standards for external risk providers and data dependencies, including methodology and data quality.
• Own governance, approval thresholds and escalation for protocol-risk parameters; oversee monitoring and material change reviews.
• Approve collateral onboarding decisions and risk assessments.
• Review liquidation performance and suggest improvements to liquidation mechanisms.
• Lead risk governance processes and present risk analyses to the DAO.

Skills

Risk management

Leadership

Aave Protocol knowledge

Market risk

Stress testing

Governance

External risk providers

Data governance

Model risk

Job description

Aave Labs began with a simple question: how do we make financial services like borrowing, saving, and earning more accessible globally?

We built the Aave Protocol, now the world’s largest and most trusted onchain lending market, connecting decentralized finance with individuals, traditional finance, and fintech.

Today, we build trusted, high-quality products that expand access to lending, credit, and savings globally

Our culture

We build trusted products that help people access and discover economic opportunities.

We hold a high bar for quality and craftsmanship. No detail is too small. Trust depends on it.

We’re a global team building products people can actually use, turning complex technology into something simple and reliable.

We stay aligned, move quickly, and think long term, while keeping teams lean and focused on impact.

About the role

We’re looking for a Head of Risk to lead the Risk team and own Aave Labs’ risk-governance framework across its contributions to the Aave Protocol and its products. You’ll coordinate with external risk service providers, set and monitor risk parameters, and provide final internal Risk sign-off on collateral onboarding, material protocol-risk recommendations, and product or strategy launches and material changes. This is a leadership role that requires deep protocol knowledge, strong accountability, and the judgment to make high-stakes decisions.

You’ll lead the Risk team and work closely with embedded quantitative, product and engineering specialists, as well as external risk providers to ensure Aave’s risk posture remains best-in-class as the protocol scales into new markets and asset classes. If you understand market structure, portfolio risk management, and the Aave Protocol at a deep level, and you’re ready to take ownership of risk at scale, this role is designed for you.

How you can make an impact:

• Lead and build the Risk team, setting direction, priorities, and standards for the function
• Own and evolve Aave’s risk management frameworks and policies
• Set minimum review standards and provide independent challenge for product-specific risk frameworks
• Establish model-risk and data-governance standards for material quantitative models and external risk inputs, including validation, versioning and monitoring
• Review whether product and engineering controls adequately implement approved risk requirements, with explicit ownership of gaps, exceptions and incident response
• Establish standards for external risk providers and data dependencies, including methodology, independence, conflicts, data quality, performance and fallback arrangements
• Own the governance, approval thresholds and escalation process for protocol-risk parameters; oversee monitoring and review material change recommendations
• Approve and sign off on collateral onboarding decisions and risk assessments
• Review liquidation performance and recommend improvements to liquidation mechanisms
• Lead risk governance processes and present risk analyses to the DAO
• Monitor market structure changes and their implications for protocol risk
• Take accountability for the quality, independence and timeliness of Risk’s assessments, ensuring residual risks, decision owners and escalation paths are explicit and drive a culture of ownership within the team

Let’s connect if you have:

• 5+ years of experience in risk management, with a strong preference for DeFi or crypto-native experience
• Proven experience leading and managing a risk team
• Deep understanding of the Aave Protocol: its markets, governance, parameters, and risk dynamics
• Strong grasp of market structure, portfolio risk management, and stress testing methodologies
• Experience governing risk for composable DeFi products or pooled strategies, including external protocol, liquidity, oracle, counterparty, execution and operational dependencies
• Experience working with or managing external risk service providers
• Strong sense of accountability and ownership. You take responsibility for outcomes and hold your team to the same standard
• Excellent judgment under uncertainty. You’re comfortable making consequential decisions with imperfect information
• Strong communication skills for governance proposals, risk reports, and stakeholder alignment

Nice to have:

• Previous experience working directly with DeFi governance processes
• Background in traditional finance risk management (portfolio, credit, or market risk)
• Familiarity with risk tooling and simulation platforms used in DeFi

Haven’t quite met all the criteria? Let’s not miss out on the chance to speak. Whilst you might not meet every single requirement, you might bring other, more exciting skills to the companies!