Payments and Risk Operations Lead

Atoms; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

401(k)

Health Savings Account

Flexible Spending Accounts

Paid holidays

Discretionary vacation days

Job summary

Atoms is building real-world robotic systems to modernize industries like food, mining, and transport. The Payments & Risk Operations team protects our platform's integrity and scale, handling fraud, chargebacks, KYC/KYB, and sanctions while coordinating with Product, Sales, Legal, and Support.

The role requires 4–7 years in payments operations and risk, strong SQL skills, and proven leadership with vendors/partners.

Qualifications

• 4–7 years of hands-on experience in payments operations, fraud, or financial operations.
• Strong understanding of payment processing, money movement, reconciliation, and processor operations.
• Analytical skills with data-driven approach to identify trends and KPIs.
• Experience leading/helping BPO teams and managing processor relationships.
• High-agency operator with clear cross-functional communication.

Responsibilities

• Own Payments & Risk Operations end to end and drive improvements.
• Manage the full risk portfolio: fraud, account takeovers, chargebacks, refunds, KYC/KYB, and escalations.
• Serve as the central contact for major fraud events and high-severity escalations.
• Lead a BPO team; set SOPs, workflows, and quality standards.
• Collaborate with Product, Sales, Legal, Customer Success, and Support to align risk strategies.
• Own risk P&L and report loss metrics with Finance.
• Lead red team exercises to identify vulnerabilities and drive mitigation.

Skills

Payments operations

Fraud & risk management

SQL

BPO management

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

SQL

Job description

Atoms is building the machines that power the next era of progress.

Over the last decade, software has transformed the digital world. But the physical world, where food is made, minerals are mined, goods are moved, and industries are run, remains far less intelligent, far less efficient, and far more constrained. We’re changing that.

Atoms builds Physical AI— real-world robots for the industries that move civilization forward, starting with food, mining, and transport. Our systems are designed to understand, predict, and control the real world with precision, turning complex physical operations into something more reliable, more scalable, and more productive.

This work requires more than robotics. It requires deep integration across hardware, software, AI, operations, manufacturing, and real estate. We don’t just build machines in a lab. We deploy them into real environments, operate them, learn from them, and improve them until they work at scale.

We are roboticists, engineers, operators, and builders. We believe the next great technology companies will not only transform information, but the physical systems that shape everyday life.

If you want to work on hard problems with real-world impact, join us.

About the Role

Our Payments & Risk Operations team is responsible for the day to day health, reliability, and integrity of our payments platform across the Atoms portfolio, including Otter, CloudKitchens, Picnic, Lab37, and more.

What you’ll do

• Own Payments & Risk Operations end to end. Set the operating agenda, identify where we need to improve, and drive the work forward across both payment operations and risk.
• Own the full risk operations portfolio, including transaction fraud, account takeovers, chargebacks, refunds and appeasements, promotional abuse, KYC/KYB, sanctions related operations, and emerging risk vectors. Continuously evaluate where our controls need to evolve as the business and threat landscape change.
• Serve as the central point of contact for major fraud events and high severity payment or risk escalations, including executive escalations. Take ownership of the response, bring together the right stakeholders, and drive issues through resolution.
• Ability to operate independently and navigate ambiguity with minimal guidance.
• Lead a BPO team responsible for frontline payment and risk operations. Set the team's SOPs, workflows, escalation paths, quality standards, and priorities, and make sure they have the context and tools needed to operate effectively.
• Identify operational pain points before they become recurring problems. Develop a clear point of view on where processes need to change, where tooling is falling short, and where Product and Engineering investment can make the function more scalable.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams including Product, Sales, Legal, Customer Success, and Customer Support to drive coordinated risk strategies.
• Own the risk P&L, partnering with Finance and Accounting to report on loss metrics and surface key trends impacting the business.
• Lead red team exercises in collaboration with stakeholders across the company to proactively identify vulnerabilities and stay ahead of emerging risks.

What we’re looking for

• 4-7 years of hands on experience in payments operations, fraud and risk, or financial operations, with meaningful experience across both payments and risk.
• Strong understanding of payment processing and money movement, including pay-ins, payouts, settlement, reconciliation, and processor operations.
• Strong analytical skills, including SQL, with experience using data to identify trends, define KPIs, and drive operational improvements.
• Experience leading or partnering with BPO teams and managing relationships with payment processors, financial partners, and third-party risk vendors.
• High-agency operator with strong cross-functional communication skills, a bias for action, and a proven ability to take ambiguous problems from identification through resolution.

At Atoms, you’ll work on one of the defining challenges of our time—bringing automation into the physical world to drive real, lasting impact. We exist to uncover valuable unknown truths and turn them into progress, which means constantly pushing beyond what’s known and building what doesn’t yet exist. The work is ambitious and often challenging, but it’s grounded in a shared sense of purpose and a team committed to seeing it through together. Our work only matters if it serves others, and we know that meaningful progress depends on the trust of the people we serve and the strength of our team—so we invest in both, creating an environment where you can do your best work and grow.

What else you need to know

This role is based in our San Franciscooffice. Atoms is a company driven by invention and continuous change - we are constantly reimagining our industries, building new products, and refining how we operate. We do our best work together. That’s why all of our office-based teams work onsite, five days a week.

The base salary range for this role is $140,000 - $165,000 per year.

Actual compensation will be determined on an individual basis and may vary depending on experience, skills, and qualifications.

Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package. You may also be eligible for equity awards and an annual performance-based bonus.

Benefits Summary (USA Full-Time Exempt Employees):

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance (multiple plans, incl. HSA options).
• Company-paid life and disability insurance (short- and long-term).
• Voluntary insurance: accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity.
• Optional supplemental life insurance for self, spouse, and children.
• 401(k).
• Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Flexible Spending Accounts (Healthcare, Dependent Care, Commuter)
• Discretionary vacation days
• 8 paid holidays per year

Benefits are subject to change at the company's discretion.
Atoms accepts applications on an ongoing basis.

Ready to join us as we serve those who serve others?

#LI-Onsite

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As set forth in Atoms’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

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