Third Party Risk Lead

Our Story Hello there. We’re Zopa. We started our journey back in 2005, building the first ever peer‑to‑peer lending company. Fast forward to 2020 and we launched Zopa Bank – a bank that listens to what our customers don’t like about finance and does the opposite. We’re redefining what it feels like to work in finance. Our vision for a new era of banking puts people front and centre – we’ve built a business that empowers everyone to aim high, every day, to move finance forward. Find out more about our fantastic offerings at Zopa.com! We’re incredibly proud of our achievements and none of it would be possible without the amazing team here. It’s not just industry awards we’re winning – we’ve also been named in the top three UK’s Most Loved Workplaces. If you embrace unconventional challenges, are unafraid to think differently and are driven to make an outsized impact, you’ll thrive here at Zopa, so join us and make it count.

This role sits within Zopa’s 1st Line of Defence (1LoD) Risk Function, supporting the business to embed effective and efficient risk management into day‑to‑day decision making. You will lead the Distributor Risk Team, owning the end‑to‑end onboarding and ongoing oversight risk frameworks for Auto, Payments and Retail Finance distribution partners. You’ll build and run proportionate frameworks that protect Zopa’s risk appetite and control environment, while materially improving onboarding speed and partner lifecycle monitoring. You’ll be expected to operate as a domain expert who can set direction, shape clear frameworks, and communicate complex risk analysis effectively to senior stakeholders.

A day in the life:

• Own and operate onboarding risk frameworks.
• Design, iterate and operate a fast, risk‑based onboarding model for Auto, Payments and Retail Finance partners within clear, proportionate end‑to‑end risk frameworks.
• Define and maintain risk appetite guardrails, decision‑making authorities and minimum control standards for partner onboarding and changes to partner operating models, aligned to Zopa’s broader risk management model and appetite monitoring approach.
• Ensure distributor/partner risks (including failures in onboarding or ongoing management) are clearly captured and managed as part of the bank’s operational risk taxonomy for distribution methods/intermediaries.
• Embed data‑driven risk management.
• Translate risk appetite into measurable metrics and high‑quality MI for senior governance, using a robust set of KRIs/KCIs/KPIs and clear thresholds/trigger points.
• Build and calibrate monitoring that provides early warning indicators and actively manages risk exposure across the full partner lifecycle.
• Provide clear, structured risk analysis and recommendations to support decisions that balance risk and reward within appetite.
• Drive automation & tooling.
• Partner with Product and Engineering to digitise onboarding and monitoring workflows, converting policy requirements into scalable, system‑executable controls (e.g., automated checks, evidence capture, attestations, monitoring triggers).
• Help ensure control performance is measurable and evidenced appropriately, aligned with expectations for control ownership, operation and keeping risk/control data up to date.
• Continuous control improvement.
• Proactively identify weaknesses and friction points across onboarding and monitoring; implement enhancements that improve speed, clarity, and resilience.
• Use lessons learned (issues, incidents, near misses) to strengthen frameworks and controls, consistent with the “response and learning” cycle in Zopa’s risk model.
• Act as a commercial risk partner.
• Provide structured challenge and clear trade‑off analysis to enable growth within appetite.
• Build strong cross‑functional partnerships across 1LoD/2LoD and business teams, influencing outcomes through clear communication of complex topics to senior stakeholders.

About you:

• Deep experience designing and operating risk‑based onboarding and oversight frameworks for third parties, intermediaries, merchants, brokers, distributors, payment partners or similar.
• Strong capability in risk MI: defining KRIs/KCIs/KPIs, thresholds and early warning indicators; turning risk appetite into practical measurement and governance‑ready reporting.
• Proven track record of partnering with Product/Engineering to implement automation and system controls, not just writing policy.
• Confident communicator who can synthesize and explain complex risk analysis clearly to senior stakeholders and governance forums.
• People leadership experience: coaching, prioritisation, performance management and protecting team throughput during high‑demand periods.

Bonus points for:

• Experience in a regulated bank/fintech environment focusing on SMB risk and comfort working across the three lines of defence and governance routines.

At Zopa we value flexible ways of working. We value face‑to‑face collaboration and a good work‑life balance. This hybrid role requires you to come to our London office 2‑3 days a week. You’ll also have the option of working from abroad for up to 120 days a year! But no matter where you are, we’ll make sure you’ve got everything you need to thrive, both in your work and home life, from day one.

Diversity Statement Zopa is proud to offer a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives and backgrounds leads to better products for our customers and a unique company culture for our people. We are made up of nearly 50 nationalities, have a DE&I forum made up of Zopians wanting to make a difference and we are proud of our culture where everyone can bring their full self to work. Our approach to DE&I is reflected in our hiring process so please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.