Head of Risk & Underwriting, Payments

Role Description

Manifest is seeking a Head of Risk & Underwriting to lead merchant underwriting, payments risk, fraud monitoring, and portfolio risk management for our payments business. This role will be responsible for building and operating the frameworks Manifest uses to evaluate merchant and platform risk, approve and monitor accounts, prevent fraud, manage processing exposure, establish reserves and limits, support sponsor bank and processor requirements, and maintain strong risk governance as the business scales. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who understands payments risk in practice, not just in policy.

Key Responsibilities

• Merchant Underwriting & Approval Strategy
  • Develop, maintain, and continuously improve Manifest’s merchant underwriting policies, procedures, approval standards, restricted/prohibited business categories, risk matrices, and escalation protocols.
  • Lead the end-to-end underwriting process for new merchant, platform, and embedded finance relationships.
  • Create clear underwriting standards for creator economy, marketplace, platform, B2B2C, high-risk, and emerging payment models.
  • Establish approval authority levels, review requirements, exception processes, merchant risk tiers, and documentation standards.
  • Partner with Sales, Product, Operations, Legal, and Compliance to support responsible growth while maintaining appropriate risk standards.
• Portfolio Risk, Exposure & Reserves
  • Own ongoing portfolio monitoring across transaction activity, settlement exposure, chargebacks, ACH returns, disputes, reversals, negative balances, refunds, fraud indicators, and other operational risk signals.
  • Establish merchant volume limits, velocity controls, exposure thresholds, funding holds, reserve requirements, collateral requirements, and other risk-based controls.
  • Develop procedures for periodic merchant reviews, enhanced due diligence reviews, trigger-based reviews, and annual risk reassessments.
  • Identify portfolio-level trends and emerging risks.
  • Work with Finance and Operations to prevent and address settlement failures, funding gaps, reconciliation issues, loss events, and recovery matters.
• Fraud Mitigation & Risk Operations
  • Develop and oversee fraud prevention and mitigation controls across merchant acquiring, payouts, card activity, ACH activity, account activity, and platform-based payment flows.
  • Build escalation procedures for fraud events, high-risk activity, suspicious merchant behavior, excessive disputes, chargeback spikes, return rate issues, and urgent partner notifications.
  • Create feedback loops between underwriting, transaction monitoring, disputes, operations, and compliance to continuously improve risk decisions.
  • Support incident response for material risk events.
• Risk Technology, Automation & Data
  • Own the business configuration and performance of Manifest’s identity, KYB/KYC, underwriting, fraud, transaction monitoring, and merchant risk tools.
  • Partner with Product, Engineering, Data, and Operations to build automated underwriting, merchant risk scoring, risk segmentation, fraud detection, and transaction monitoring capabilities.
  • Help evaluate and implement AI, machine learning, and rules-based decisioning tools.
  • Monitor model and rules performance.
  • Ensure risk systems produce reliable reporting, audit trails, and decision documentation.
• Payments Compliance & Partner Oversight
  • Ensure Manifest’s underwriting and payments risk activities align with applicable laws, regulations, card network rules, NACHA requirements, sponsor bank requirements, processor requirements, and internal policies.
  • Serve as a senior risk contact for sponsor banks, processors, vendors, auditors, and other external partners.
  • Prepare and present risk reporting, key metrics, trends, loss events, portfolio issues, and recommendations to internal leadership and risk governance forums.
  • Support updates to Manifest’s BSA/AML risk assessment, payments risk assessment, merchant risk assessment, and related governance documents.
  • Partner with Compliance and Legal on suspicious activity escalation, regulatory inquiries, audits, exams, partner reviews, and third-party risk management.
  • Review new products, payment flows, platform models, and major product changes through a risk and compliance lens before launch.
• Leadership & Cross-Functional Partnership
  • Build and scale the risk and underwriting function, including policies, workflows, metrics, quality assurance, documentation, and team structure.
  • Train internal teams on risk appetite, underwriting standards, prohibited/restricted categories, referral escalation, and responsible growth practices.
  • Create practical risk guidance for Sales and Product teams.
  • Bring strong judgment to ambiguous situations.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in payments risk, merchant acquiring, merchant underwriting, fintech risk, fraud risk, embedded finance, payment facilitator risk, or related financial services risk roles.
• Significant experience underwriting and managing risk for higher-risk merchant categories, marketplaces, platforms, or complex payment flows.
• Strong understanding of merchant acquiring, payment processing, underwriting, settlement, reserves, chargebacks, disputes, ACH returns, fraud, and loss recovery.
• Deep familiarity with Visa, Mastercard, NACHA, PCI DSS, sponsor bank oversight, processor requirements, and payment facilitator or embedded finance risk requirements.
• Experience designing and implementing underwriting policies, risk matrices, monitoring rules, escalation procedures, and operational controls.
• Familiarity with BSA/AML, OFAC, KYC/KYB, suspicious activity escalation, beneficial ownership, and third-party risk management requirements.
• Experience working directly with sponsor banks, processors, card networks, payment facilitators, marketplaces, or embedded finance programs.
• Ability to make practical, well-documented risk decisions in a fast-moving environment.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to translate complex risk, compliance, and operational issues into clear business recommendations.
• Experience building or scaling risk operations, underwriting workflows, QA processes, and reporting in a growth-stage business.
• Strong operator mindset with sound judgment, curiosity, accountability, and a sense of humor.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting creator economy, marketplace, gig economy, platform, B2B2C, or small business payment models.
• Experience with payment facilitator, embedded finance, sponsor bank, or banking-as-a-service program structures.
• Familiarity with ACH, wires, card payments, push-to-card, RTP, FedNow, and emerging payment rails.
• Experience implementing or managing KYB/KYC, fraud, transaction monitoring, case management, or merchant risk platforms.
• Experience with automated underwriting, rules engines, risk scoring, behavioral analytics, AI/ML-enabled fraud tools, or model governance.
• Prior experience managing audits, sponsor bank reviews, processor reviews, regulatory exams, compliance testing, or remediation plans.
• Experience hiring, training, and managing underwriting, fraud, or risk operations team members.

What Success Looks Like

• In the first 90 days, you will understand Manifest’s products, payment flows, partner requirements, customer segments, and current risk controls.
• In the first six months, you will improve underwriting standards, strengthen portfolio monitoring, formalize escalation procedures, enhance risk reporting, and help Manifest support growth while maintaining strong risk discipline.
• Over time, you will build a scalable risk and underwriting function that protects Manifest, supports responsible revenue growth, strengthens partner confidence, and creates a better experience for legitimate customers.

Application Process

Interested candidates should submit a resume and a brief note outlining their relevant payments risk, underwriting, fraud, or embedded finance experience. Manifest Financial is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.