Operational Risk Specialist II - Data Risk

Early Warning (Zelle); Scottsdale (AZ); Hybrid; USD 75,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Early Warning seeks an Operational Risk Specialist II in Scottsdale. The role supports second-line risk activities, including assessments, control testing, monitoring, and advisory support. Focus areas may include AI risk, data risk, or third-party risk, with collaboration across risk teams.

You will help identify and remediate risks, maintain records, and develop risk metrics and dashboards for leadership and governance forums, while working in a hybrid environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and professional experience.
• Typically 2+ years in a risk management function.
• Experience in operational risk, data risk, AI risk, compliance, or related discipline.
• Experience conducting risk assessments, control testing, due diligence, or risk reporting.
• Understanding of internal controls and three-lines model.

Responsibilities

• Perform operational risk assessments, control evaluations, due diligence, testing, monitoring, and QA.
• Identify risks, control gaps, emerging issues, and remediation needs with recommendations.
• Review risk assessments and escalate exceptions as appropriate.
• Maintain records of risks, controls, assessments, testing, issues, and remediation.
• Monitor corrective actions, analyze trends, and escalate material concerns.
• Support audits, regulatory reviews, and risk self-assessments.
• Develop risk metrics, dashboards, and reporting for governance forums.

Skills

Operational risk

Data risk

AI risk

Regulatory compliance

Risk assessments

Controls testing

Issue management

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Job description

At Early Warning, we've powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses.

Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment.

Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship.

Overall Purpose

The Operational Risk Specialist II supports second-line operational risk activities through risk assessments, control testing, monitoring, reporting, and advisory support. The role helps identify, evaluate, and communicate risks; monitor remediation; and promote compliance with established policies, standards, regulatory requirements, and risk appetite.

The position may focus on one of the following areas: Artificial Intelligence Risk Management, Data Risk Management, or Third-Party Risk Management.

This position helps ensure operational risks are managed in accordance with established policies, standards, procedures, contractual requirements, regulatory expectations, and the organization's risk appetite.

Essential Functions

• Perform operational risk assessments, control evaluations, due diligence reviews as well as testing, monitoring, and quality assurance activities.
• Identify and evaluate risks, control gaps, emerging issues, and remediation needs; document conclusions and recommend appropriate actions.
• Review and challenge of risk assessments, controls, findings, mitigation plans, and risk acceptance decisions against established requirements; escalat exceptions as appropriate.
• Maintain accurate records of risks, controls, assessments, testing, issues, findings, and remediation activities in applicable systems and repositories.
• Monitor corrective actions, analyze trends and root causes, and identify and escalte material concerns or risks outside established tolerances.
• Support audits, regulatory reviews, customer assessments, management self-assessments, and risk and control self-assessments.
• Develop and monitor risk metrics, dashboards, and reporting for management, governance forums, and other stakeholders.
• Provide guidance to business partners on risk requirements, documentation standards, control expectations, and remediation activities.
• Coordinate with first- and second-line stakeholders to resolve issues, clarify requirements, and support consistent execution of risk processes.
• Identify opportunities to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and consistency of operational risk practices.
• Maintain the protection, confidentiality, integrity, and availability of systems, data, and information assets.

Areas of Focus

Data Risk Management

• Evaluate data risks using established policies, standards, and masethodologies; recommend appropriate risk-mitigation requirements and escalat material concerns. Evaluate risks associated with data governance, data integrity, information classification, data protection, and policy compliance.
• Support the development, maintenance, and enforcement of data risk policies, standards, procedures, and guidelines.
• Manage information classification activities, including intake review, documentation preparation, risk statement development, stakeholder review, approval, distribution, and inventory maintenance.
• Design, execute, and report on internal control testing related to data risk and data integrity.
• Identify data control gaps, document issues, monitor remediation, and conduct root cause analysis.
• Prepare Data Risk and Data Integrity reporting, including metrics, dashboards, testing results, and management materials.
• Analyze established metrics and testing results to identify trends and prepare insights and recommendations for management.
• Support applicable data management, information security, privacy, regulatory, and assurance requirements.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.
• Typically, has 2 or more years of experience in a risk management function.
• Experience in operational risk, data risk, artificial intelligence risk, compliance, audit, information security, data management, technology risk, third-party risk, or a related discipline.
• Experience conducting or supporting risk assessments, control testing, due diligence, audit activities, issue management, or risk reporting.
• Working knowledge of operational risk management concepts, internal controls, and the three-lines model.
• Ability to collect and analyze information, identify risk or control gaps, document conclusions, and recommend appropriate actions.
• Ability to interpret policies, standards, procedure