Senior Lead Operational Risk & Resilience Architect

Equifax Inc.; St. Louis (MO); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Equifax Inc. is seeking a Senior Lead Operational Risk Specialist to drive operational stability across EWS Operations.

This role combines expert risk judgment with informal leadership to design, deploy, and monitor risk frameworks, RCSA processes, and risk appetites aligned to business goals. You will guide cross-functional teams in complex problem solving, develop automated KRI reporting for executive visibility, and forecast resources for major resilience initiatives while maintaining rapid

Qualifications

• 7+ years of progressive experience in Operational Risk Management, Technology Risk, IT Audit, or Operational Resilience within complex, cloud-enabled technology enterprise environments.
• Bachelor's degree
• Proven track record of providing informal leadership while building or scaling risk frameworks, control environments, or BCDR programs within complex technology or operational settings.
• Deep functional understanding of cloud environments, system dependency mapping and technology change management processes.
• Demonstrated critical thinking and decision-making capabilities in nonstandard situations, converting complex operational incidents into root-cause remediation plans and executive insights.
• Experience forecasting and planning resource requirements for large-scale risk initiatives while influencing cross-functional engineering and operations teams without direct line authority.

Responsibilities

• Shape Operational Risk Strategy & Governance: Apply specialized risk expertise and informal leadership to design, deploy, and operationalize EWS Operations’ risk framework, risk appetite statements, and RCSA processes aligned to business objectives.
• Complex Problem-Solving & KRI Dashboards: Employ sophisticated critical thinking to analyze multifaceted risk data, constructing automated key risk indicator (KRI) reporting systems that provide executive visibility into critical operational exposures.
• Resource Planning & Crisis Readiness: Forecast and plan resource requirements for complex resilience initiatives; execute Business Impact Analyses to establish RTO/RPO standards and conduct crisis simulations testing system resilience in nonstandard disruption scenarios.
• Nonstandard Decision-Making in Security & Risk: Make critical risk and operational decisions during nonstandard security events, orchestrating cross-functional responses to mitigate operational impact and protect customer deliverable commitments.
• Root-Cause Analysis & Corrective Action: Lead post-event operational investigations following major incidents, deploying advanced critical thinking to diagnose root causes and establish sustainable control enhancements across teams.
• Forecast & Oversee Modernization Initiatives: Embed specialized operational risk evaluations into legacy system rationalization and migration projects, forecasting requirements and guiding matrixed engineering groups through technical transitions.
• Third-Party Risk Management: Analyze and mitigate complex operational exposures stemming from vendor integrations, API dependencies, and external platforms, establishing risk management protocols for nonstandard partner scenarios.
• Informal Leadership in Control Design: Partner with engineering, DevOps, and platform teams to design automated controls, providing informal leadership and guidance to ensure system stability without creating workflow bottlenecks.
• Specialized Subject Matter Expertise: Serve as an expert authority for resolving highly complex, nonstandard operational risk issues, mentoring junior staff and determining escalation pathways for critical enterprise risks.
• Regulatory & Audit Advisory: Act as a key technical liaison for internal audit and regulatory compliance, navigating complex regulatory expectations across operational workflows.

Skills

Operational Risk Management

Informal Leadership

Critical Thinking

Risk Assessment

Third-Party Risk

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Equifax Inc. is seeking a Senior Lead Operational Risk Specialist to drive operational stability across EWS Operations.

This role combines expert risk judgment with informal leadership to design, deploy, and monitor risk frameworks, RCSA processes, and risk appetites aligned to business goals. You will guide cross-functional teams in complex problem solving, develop automated KRI reporting for executive visibility, and forecast resources for major resilience initiatives while maintaining rapid