Payments Risk & Underwriting Lead

Manifest Financial Inc.; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Manifest Financial Inc. is seeking a Head of Risk & Underwriting to lead merchant underwriting, payments risk, fraud monitoring, and portfolio risk management for our payments business.

This hands-on leadership role will design scalable controls, set underwriting standards, and balance customer experience with risk discipline. The ideal candidate has 10+ years in payments risk, underwriting, and fintech risk, with strong communication and governance skills to partner with Sales, Product,

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in payments risk, merchant underwriting, fintech risk, or related roles.
• Experience underwriting for high-risk merchant categories, marketplaces, or complex payment flows.
• Strong knowledge of merchant acquiring, processing, settlements, disputes, and loss recovery.
• Familiarity with BSA/AML, OFAC, KYC/KYB, and third-party risk management.
• Ability to design underwriting policies, risk matrices, and monitoring rules.
• Proven ability to scale risk operations in a growth-stage fintech.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and improve underwriting policies, procedures, and risk matrices for merchants and platforms.
• Lead end-to-end underwriting for merchant, platform, and embedded finance relationships.
• Establish risk thresholds, approvals, and escalation procedures.
• Oversee portfolio risk monitoring, exposure management, reserves, and fraud indicators.
• Build and oversee risk technology, automation, and data governance.
• Present risk metrics and governance updates to leadership and partners.

Skills

Payments risk management

Merchant underwriting

Fraud monitoring

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Regulatory compliance

Data analysis

Job description

Manifest Financial Inc. is seeking a Head of Risk & Underwriting to lead merchant underwriting, payments risk, fraud monitoring, and portfolio risk management for our payments business.

This hands-on leadership role will design scalable controls, set underwriting standards, and balance customer experience with risk discipline. The ideal candidate has 10+ years in payments risk, underwriting, and fintech risk, with strong communication and governance skills to partner with Sales, Product,