Director of Risk Management in London

Requirements

• Graduate degree in business, finance or a related discipline
• Experience in credit risk assessment, financial statements analysis and management is a prerequisite; experience in / knowledge of the banking sector and the European payments regulation landscape are a strong plus
• Experience in leading complex, cross-functional initiatives or programmes end to end, from scoping and prioritisation through implementation and ongoing oversight
• Ability to manage a portfolio of risk initiatives, balancing priorities, dependencies and resources
• Commercial mindset with sound judgement to balance between risk and reward in support of sustainable customer growth
• Ability to think outside the box and identify potential sources of risk and provide solutions, strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills, including at the very senior management levels
• Ability to manage through a crisis, leading a team to make tough decisions with imperfect/incomplete information
• Excellent written and verbal English communication skills

What the job involves

We are currently looking for a Director, reporting to the Head of Customer Risk Management (CRM) for Europe. Mastercard has over $70B credit exposure to its customers and other counterparties worldwide, placing the CRM role as a key part of its evolving and quickly growing business model. The CRM team operates as a vital component of the broader Strategy & Operations organization, playing a critical role in supporting and driving Mastercard’s success. The magnitude and strategic nature of this exposure necessitates engagement with senior management, Mastercard’s sales and product organizations as well as our customers. This further provides great opportunities to grow your career within Mastercard.

This role is on the first line of defense, with key responsibilities including CRM strategy and roadmap for the assigned portfolio, customer credit analysis and underwriting, formulating risk mitigation approach, developing risk management solutions for new products, and engaging regulators within the region. The primary responsibility is to own and manage the CRM initiatives for Europe while ensuring they are scalable across other regions. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Leading the end-to-end governance and delivery of complex, cross-functional CRM initiatives across Europe — from scoping and stakeholder alignment through to implementation and post-launch monitoring
• Establishing and maintaining a programme-level view of CRM priorities, dependencies, and risks across the European portfolio, with regular reporting and clear escalation paths to the Head of CRM
• Driving initiative prioritisation and resource allocation decisions in partnership with the Head of CRM, ensuring team capacity is directed at the highest-impact workstreams
• Partnering with senior stakeholders to embed CRM initiatives into wider business processes, ensuring alignment with CRM strategy and effective translation of strategic objectives into day to day execution
• Developing and maintaining CRM playbooks, frameworks, and operating procedures that can be scaled and replicated across markets
• Understanding and partnering to design innovative approaches to cater to customers with different business models
• Proactively liaising with CRM Directors and Risk Managers to identify and develop risk mitigants for customers
• Abide by Mastercard’s security policies and practices
• Ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the information being accessed
• Report any suspected information security violation or breach
• Complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard’s guidelines