Senior First Line Risk and Control Officer

First Horizon Bank; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

First Horizon Corp. in Charlotte, NC is seeking a Senior First Line Risk & Control Officer to lead the design of risk and control programs, own the live risk environment, and partner with regulators and auditors.

The role blends strategic governance with hands-on issue remediation and root-cause analysis across consumer banking domains. Responsibilities include leading risk events, RCSA execution, controls management, and shaping risk reporting for senior leadership while fostering a strong risk

Qualifications

• Fifteen or more years of related experience in banking or a regulated financial institution.
• Deep expertise across the full first line risk and control toolkit, including issue lifecycle, remediation, events and loss data management.
• Proven ability to design or mature risk and control programs and set standards.
• Advanced consumer and small business banking knowledge across deposit, payment, digital, fraud, origination, and servicing processes.
• Strong command of the three lines of defense model and interaction with internal audit and regulators.

Responsibilities

• Lead the first line issue lifecycle across assigned business verticals, including validation, root cause analysis, action plan design, owner accountability, escalation, closure evidence, and sustainability validation.
• Direct the capture, triage, and escalation of risk events; lead root cause analysis and ensure events become issues where a control failed.
• Own RCSA execution across multiple units, map processes to risk and controls, challenge residual risk ratings, and drive remediation of gaps.
• Set and apply first line control standards, ensure control design is documented and owned, and govern the control inventory.
• Serve as the senior risk partner to business leaders, guiding decisions and providing technical direction to risk staff.
• Represent the first line to regulators and auditors, coordinating responses and assessing regulatory change impact.
• Shape risk reporting and indicators for senior leadership and drive a strong risk culture.

Skills

Risk management

First line risk

RCSA

Regulatory engagement

Consumer banking knowledge

Job description

SUMMARY

The Senior First Line Risk & Control Officer role sits within the first line of defense, working directly with business leaders and control owners and partnering with the second (2LOD) and third (3LOD) Lines of Defense to build and sustain a strong first line risk and control environment.

The role blends two complementary responsibilities at a senior level. The individual sets direction for the function itself by leading the design of risk and control programs, owning process and control documentation, maturing the control inventory, establishing and governing assessment cycles, and shaping the reporting that gives leadership a clear view of the risk profile. In equal measure, the individual owns risk management in a live operating environment by driving complex issues to closure, leading root cause and thematic analysis of operational risk events, representing the first line to auditors and regulators, and serving as a trusted senior risk partner to the business.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Issues management. Lead the first line issue lifecycle across assigned business verticals, including validation, root cause analysis, action plan design, owner accountability, escalation of aging or at-risk items, closure evidence, and sustainability validation. Set the standard for issue owner meetings and ensure closed items withstand second line challenge, audit review, and regulatory examination.
• Risk event management. Direct the capture, triage, and escalation of risk events within established thresholds; lead root cause analysis on significant events; ensure events convert into issues where a control failed or was absent; and own thematic analysis that turns the event population into control improvements.
• Risk and control self-assessment (RCSA). Own RCSA execution across a portfolio of risk assessable units, including building the process universe, leading process-to-risk-to-control mapping, challenging residual risk ratings with the business, and driving remediation of control gaps under the enterprise methodology.
• Controls management. Set and apply first line control standards, prioritizing higher-risk controls; ensure control design is documented and owned; safeguard the integrity of the control inventory in the system of record; and lead assessment of design and operating effectiveness.
• Business partnership and proactive risk identification. Serve as the senior first line risk partner to business leaders, anticipating emerging risk ahead of events and influencing decisions before losses occur, while providing guidance and technical direction to less-experienced risk and control staff.
• Regulatory and audit engagement. Represent the first line to examiners and internal audit for assigned areas, coordinate and quality-review responses, and assess how regulatory change affects the risk and control environment.
• Reporting, indicators, and risk culture. Shape recurring risk reporting and Risk and Control Forum materials for senior leadership and second line partners, define and monitor risk and control indicators, and drive a strong risk culture across first line associates and leaders.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Additionally, the qualifications listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required in this position:

• Fifteen or more years of related experience in banking or a regulated financial institution, including at least ten years of direct experience in risk management, risk and control, or a comparable control discipline, including a sustained track record leading issues management and risk and control self-assessment (RCSA).
• Deep, demonstrated expertise across the full first line risk and control toolkit, including issue lifecycle and remediation, operational risk event and loss data management, control design and testing, RCSA methodology, and regulatory and audit engagement, with the ability to set standards that others follow.
• Proven record designing, building, or maturing a risk and control program, framework, or taxonomy, not only operating one, and driving it to a sustainable, examinable state.
• Advanced consumer and small business banking knowledge across deposit, payment, digital channel, fraud, origination, and servicing processes, sufficient to challenge process and control owners and anticipate emerging risk.
• Strong command of the three lines of defense model and the first-to-second line boundary, with a track record of influencing senior business and risk leaders, holding the quality bar under pressure, and representing the first line directly to internal audit and regulators.

Preferred Qualifications

• Extensive experience inside a first line risk and control or business control function, including in a lead or program-owner capacity.
• Second line operational risk, First line Risk Management, internal audit, or regulatory examination background, with an authoritative view of supervisory expectations.
• Track record of helping build, scale, or modernize a risk and control function.
• Deep familiarity with the risk domains concentrated in a consumer banking profile, including external fraud, manual processing error, technology and third-party dependence, data quality, and workforce and incentive risk.
• Demonstrated experience building or mapping enterprise risk, control, or process taxonomies, and applying automation and analytics to control testing and monitoring by designing test logic.
• Experience mentoring or providing technical direction to risk and control staff.
• Professional certification such as CRCM, CIA, CRMA, CAMS, PRM, or an equivalent; advanced degree a plus.