Senior Fraud Investigator

Etsy; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 129,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity package

Annual performance bonus

Competitive benefits

Job summary

Etsy is seeking a Senior Investigator to lead high‑impact fraud investigations and strengthen account integrity at scale. You will define strategy, shape tooling and product requirements, and collaborate with product, engineering, analytics, and operations to drive risk mitigation across surfaces.

You will mentor other investigators, translate complex findings into actionable plans, and contribute to the evolution of fraud controls and workflows within Etsy’s Risk & Fraud team.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of fraud prevention or Trust & Safety investigations in ecommerce.
• Ability to lead cross-functional investigations across fraud surfaces.
• Strong SQL and data visualization skills.
• Ability to translate findings into actionable roadmap, policy, or tooling improvements.
• Proactive ownership in ambiguous environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex, cross‑vertical investigations and synthesize data patterns into executive‑level reports with remediation roadmaps.
• Shape ML strategy by partnering with Data Science and Engineering on feature engineering and experiments.
• Translate investigation findings into tooling and process requirements and drive delivery.
• Distill complex topics for non‑experts and keep stakeholders aligned on goals, trade‑offs, and outcomes.
• Mentor investigators and lead project workstreams, setting standards for quality and timelines.

Skills

Fraud investigations

Cross-functional investigations

SQL & data viz

Analytical thinking

Initiative in ambiguity

Tools

Looker

Tableau

SQL

Job description

Company Description

Etsy is the global marketplace for unique and creative goods. We build, power, and evolve the tools and technologies that connect millions of entrepreneurs with millions of buyers around the world. As an Etsy employee, you will tackle unique, meaningful, and large-scale problems alongside passionate coworkers, all the while making a rewarding impact and Keeping Commerce Human.

Company Description

Etsy is the global marketplace for unique and creative goods. We build, power, and evolve the tools and technologies that connect millions of entrepreneurs with millions of buyers around the world. As an Etsy employee, you will tackle unique, meaningful, and large-scale problems alongside passionate coworkers, all the while making a rewarding impact and Keeping Commerce Human.

We believe exceptional companies are built by exceptional teams, and we're intentional about it. That means hiring great people, setting them up for success from day one, and giving them real reasons to grow their careers here. We invest in development that goes beyond promotions, and we foster the trust and relationships that help people do their best work together.

What’s the role?

As a Senior Investigator, you are responsible for defining and driving high-impact investigations that strengthen Etsy’s ability to identify, understand, and respond to evolving fraud threats at scale. This role builds on strong investigative foundations, but the scope is broader and more strategic. Rather than only executing within a defined queue or assigned problem space, you’ll help identify the most important risks to the business, shape the investigative approach, and drive cross‑functional efforts from problem definition through remediation. You’ll use insights from complex casework, fraud trends, operational signals, and data analysis to connect patterns across multiple fraud surfaces, size impact, and develop evidence‑backed recommendations. From there, you’ll translate findings into improvements across fraud controls, tooling, workflows, model strategy, and risk mitigation approaches in partnership with Product, Engineering, Analytics, and other stakeholders. You’ll act as a senior subject matter expert for investigations, leading ambiguous and high‑stakes work across teams, communicating complex issues clearly to a range of audiences, and helping align partners around effective solutions. You’ll also serve as a force multiplier by mentoring other investigators, raising the quality bar for investigative work, and introducing stronger frameworks and practices that improve how the broader organization responds to fraud over time. This is a full‑time position reporting to the Sr Manager, Operations, Account Integrity & Security.

What’s this team like at Etsy?

Our Risk & Fraud organization is structured into four areas of focus: Account Integrity and Security, Merchant Risk, Transaction Fraud, and Marketplace Fraud. While we operate as one connected Risk & Fraud team, this role sits within Account Integrity and Security, where we focus on protecting Etsy accounts from compromise and abuse. This team works to prevent account takeovers, enforce platform policies, and safeguard the trust and safety of our marketplace by strengthening identity signals, clustering related accounts, and ensuring the overall integrity of user accounts.

What does the day‑to‑day look like?

• Lead complex, cross‑vertical investigations: Proactively identify and frame investigations, rather than only working from an assigned queue. Synthesize complex data patterns such as enforcement trends and chargeback spikes into executive‑level reports with clear remediation roadmaps for both technical and non‑technical stakeholders. Drive end‑to‑end investigations across diverse domains (fraud, account integrity, content abuse, and security signals) to move beyond siloed specialties. Leverage advanced analytics (SQL, Looker) to define investigation objectives, conduct investigations, size impact, and provide evidence‑backed strategic recommendations.
• Shape models, tooling, and product strategy: Directly influence ML strategy by partnering with Data Science and Engineering on feature engineering, labeling strategies, and experiment design, proposing new features, labeling strategies, evaluation criteria, and experiment designs, not just providing operational feedback after the fact. Translate investigation findings into tooling and process requirements (e.g., rule engine enhancements, reviewer workflows, logging, and observability) and drive these through to delivery. Co‑lead fraud risk assessments for new and evolving products, defining control requirements, acceptable risk thresholds, and launch criteria in partnership with Product, Design, Engineering, Legal, and Support.
• Drive cross‑functional alignment and communication: Distill complex, technical topics (e.g., model behavior, security telemetry, multi‑step fraud patterns) in ways that non‑experts can understand, enabling better decisions across partner teams. Proactively communicate plans and impact, draft investigation briefs, lead readouts, and keep stakeholders aligned on goals, trade‑offs, progress, and outcomes. Represent Fraud Operations in cross‑functional working groups, incidents, and roadmap discussions, often as the primary subject matter expert.
• Elevate operational excellence and craft: Turn investigation learnings into playbooks, runbooks, documentation, and training that upskill the broader operations team and make core enforcement reviews more effective at scale. Identify and act on systemic issues in policies, workflows, and tooling that drive repeated fraud patterns, and propose durable fixes. Stay current on industry fraud trends and investigative techniques and introduce practical concepts that help yourself and others deliver higher‑quality work.
• Mentor and multiply others (without direct reports): Mentor Fraud investigators on scoping, analysis, data usage, documentation, and stakeholder communication; give actionable feedback on casework and deep‑dives. Informally lead pods or project workstreams for major investigations, setting standards for quality, timelines, and inclusive collaboration. Model behaviors that inspire others to come together around shared fraud and risk goals.
• Of course, this is just a sample of the kinds of work this role will require! You should assume that your role will encompass other tasks, too, and that your job duties and responsibilities may change from time to time at Etsy's discretion, or otherwise applicable with local law.

Qualities that will help you thrive in this role are:

• 5+ years of experience in fraud prevention, risk management, or Trust & Safety investigations within e‑commerce, marketplace, payments, or fin-tech environments.
• Proven ability to lead complex, cross‑functional investigations spanning multiple fraud surfaces and stakeholder groups.
• Advanced SQL and data visualization skills (e.g., Looker, Tableau), with experience analyzing large, complex datasets to identify insights and quantify impact.
• Strong analytical and critical‑thinking skills, with a track record of translating investigation findings into scalable roadmap, policy, or tooling improvements.
• Demonstrated initiative and ownership in ambiguous environments, including the ability to anticipate dependencies and trade‑offs and develop clear, actionable plans.

Compensation & Benefits

In addition to salary, you'll be eligible for an equity package, an annual performance bonus, and our competitive benefits that support you and your family. Base salary is determined by your location, skills, and experience. Etsy uses two geographic pay zones to reflect the labor markets where we compete for talent: one called Geo‑1, covering the New York City metropolitan area, San Francisco Bay Area, and Seattle metropolitan area, and one called Geo‑2, covering all other U.S. locations. Salary ranges for this role vary by zone and are listed below.

Location

We prioritize candidates based within commutable distance of Etsy’s Brooklyn Office. Depending on proximity, we ask team members to come in once or twice per week. Remote candidates outside commutable distance may be considered on a case‑by‑case basis, with the expectation of occasional travel to the office. Learn more details about our work modes and workplace safety policies here.

Salary Range

• Geo‑1: 129,000.00 - 175,000.00 USD Annual
• Geo‑2: 116,000.00 - 158,000.00 USD Annual

Our Promise

At Etsy, we believe that a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace furthers relevance, resilience, and longevity. We encourage people from all backgrounds, ages, abilities, and experiences to apply. Etsy is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion or creed, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth and related medical conditions), gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, citizenship or immigration status, marital or familial status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status**, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law**. If, due to a disability, you need an accommodation during any part of the interview or hiring process, please let your recruiter know and we will work with you to meet your needs. While Etsy supports visa sponsorship, sponsorship opportunities may be limited to certain roles and skills.