About the Role

The Lead Risk Analyst will spearhead our risk management and fraud prevention efforts, ensuring that our fintech platform maintains the highest standards of security and compliance as we scale. In this role, you will own the monitoring and analysis of transaction activities and customer behaviors to detect fraud, mitigate risks, and protect both the company and our clients from losses or regulatory issues. As an early hire focused on risk, you’ll establish the policies, tools, and procedures we use to keep our payment system safe. This includes everything from analyzing patterns in transactional data for suspicious activity, to fine-tuning our risk scoring algorithms, to ensuring we meet compliance obligations like KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) regulations.

On a daily basis, you will review alerts generated by our transaction monitoring systems (for example, flags for unusual transfer amounts or frequency, identity mismatches, etc.). You’ll investigate these alerts in depth: using internal dashboards and databases to gather information about the users or transactions in question, and deciding on the appropriate action (such as holding a payout, requiring additional verification, or clearing a false alarm). You will work closely with our Technical Lead for Data Science to continuously improve the risk models and rules – providing feedback on what patterns you’re seeing, and helping to test model updates. Additionally, you’ll handle the compliance side of risk analysis: overseeing KYC and watchlist screening results for new customers, and making sure we follow proper procedures if any user hits a sanctions list or raises red flags.

Because this is a leadership role in a startup context, you will also be setting up the risk management framework that future analysts will follow. This means documenting policies (risk scoring criteria, investigation steps), selecting and implementing fraud detection tools as needed, and training other team members on risk-aware practices. You will liaise with external partners or regulators if required, perhaps in the event of fraud incidents or audits. Over time, as our volume grows, you may build and manage a small team of risk analysts. The role is full-time in Denver, CO (with remote flexibility) and comes with a combination of salary and equity. It’s an exciting opportunity to shape the risk culture and systems from the ground up at a rising fintech startup.

Key Responsibilities

• Transaction Monitoring & Analysis – Continuously monitor ongoing transactions and account activities through our risk dashboards and automated alert systems. Analyze transactions that trigger fraud alerts or fall outside normal patterns (e.g., unusually large ACH transfers, multiple rapid attempts from the same account, mismatched user details) and determine whether they are legitimate or fraudulent/suspicious.

• Investigation & Case Management – Conduct detailed investigations into suspicious accounts or activities. Gather all relevant data (user profile, linked bank accounts, transaction history, device info, etc.) to build a case. Document your findings and conclusions in an organized manner. Decide on actions such as freezing transactions, suspending accounts pending verification, or reporting incidents.

• Risk Rule & Model Tuning – Work with our data science and engineering team to refine the risk scoring models and business rules. Provide insight into the efficacy of current rules (false positives/negatives) and suggest new rules or thresholds based on your investigations. For example, you might notice a pattern of fraud that slips through and recommend a new rule to catch it. Test changes to risk logic in a sandbox environment and validate improvements.

• KYC/Onboarding Oversight – Review the results of customer due diligence processes. Ensure that all new customers (businesses or individuals) have passed KYC checks, and any that trigger warnings (e.g., on watchlist/OFAC screenings or identity verification discrepancies) are given proper attention. Work with the Customer Success and Support teams to request additional documentation or clarification from customers when needed.

• Compliance & Reporting – Ensure our risk management practices comply with relevant financial regulations and internal policies. Prepare reports or summaries of risk events and key risk indicators for management and potentially for regulatory audits or partner banks. If required, assist in filing any regulatory reports (such as Suspicious Activity Reports - SARs) in coordination with a compliance officer or legal counsel.

• Fraud Prevention Strategy – Develop and continuously update our fraud prevention strategy. Stay informed about emerging fraud trends in the payments/banking industry (such as new phishing schemes, identity theft tactics, account takeover patterns). Adjust our internal strategies proactively to address these threats. This might involve proposing new verification steps, transaction limits, or partnering with external fraud prevention services.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration – Collaborate with the Product Lead to incorporate risk considerations into product features (for instance, adding a step for high-risk users). Work with Customer Support and Success teams to handle fraud cases delicately when legitimate customers are affected (such as communicating why a transaction was flagged and what’s needed to resolve it). Educate the broader team on risk awareness and best practices.

• Policy Development – Establish internal risk and compliance policies. This includes drafting standard operating procedures for risk investigations, defining escalation paths for severe cases, setting guidelines for when to block or allow transactions, and outlining the responsibilities and limits of various team members in the risk management process. Update these policies as the business and regulatory landscape evolves.

• Team Leadership & Growth – As the lead, mentor any junior risk/compliance analysts as they come on board. Provide training on our systems and analytical methods. Set the tone for a risk-conscious culture. Manage the workload and case queue, ensuring investigations are completed thoroughly and timely. Plan for scaling the risk team in alignment with company growth.

Required Qualifications

• Risk/Fraud Analysis Experience – 4+ years experience in a risk management, fraud analysis, or compliance analyst role within financial services or fintech. You should have hands-on experience monitoring transactions and investigating fraud or suspicious activities.

• Knowledge of Financial Crimes – Strong understanding of common fraud schemes (ACH/wire fraud, identity theft, social engineering scams, etc.) and preventative controls. Familiar with AML concepts and regulations – you know the basics of KYC, OFAC sanctions screening, suspicious activity reporting, and have possibly worked under BSA/AML compliance programs.

• Analytical Skills – Excellent analytical and critical thinking skills. Comfort working with data; able to interpret statistical outputs of risk models or analyze transaction datasets (using Excel, SQL, or analytics tools) to detect patterns. Detail-oriented in examining individual cases and conscientious in documentation.

• Decision-Making – Ability to make swift but sound judgments on potentially ambiguous cases. Knack for assessing risk and deciding when to escalate or act conservatively. You can balance being thorough with being efficient to keep up with a fast-moving queue of alerts.

• Tools & Systems – Experience with risk management and fraud detection tools or platforms (for example, third-party fraud detection systems, or in-house dashboards). Comfortable with the concept of risk scoring engines. If you’ve used case management systems or alert handling systems, that’s a plus. Some familiarity with SQL or data querying to pull investigation data is helpful.

• Communication – Strong written and verbal communication skills, especially when documenting investigations or explaining risk decisions. Able to draft clear internal reports and also communicate findings or requirements to non-risk colleagues (or even external parties) in a concise manner.

• Integrity & Compliance Mindset – High ethical standards. In a role dealing with sensitive financial information and decisions that can impact customers and compliance, integrity is paramount. You understand the importance of confidentiality and diligence.

• Adaptability – Comfortable working in a startup where you may need to build processes from scratch. Able to adapt to new tools and changing fraud patterns quickly. Eager to take initiative and create structure in a fast-paced, resource-limited environment.

• Bachelor’s Degree – in Finance, Business, Data Analytics, or related field; or equivalent work experience in risk management. Additional relevant certifications or training are welcome.

Preferred Qualifications

• Fintech/Payments Background – Direct experience in a fintech startup or payments company’s risk/fraud team. Knowledge of the ACH network rules, credit card fraud mitigation, chargeback processes, and/or faster payment systems (RTP/FedNow) risk considerations.

• Certifications – Professional certifications such as CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist), CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner), or CFCS (Certified Financial Crime Specialist) which demonstrate formal training in financial crime detection and prevention.

• SQL and Data Skills – Ability to write SQL queries to fetch specific data for investigations or to perform ad-hoc analyses of transaction trends. Experience using data analysis or visualization tools to report on risk KPIs (e.g., fraud rate, SAR filings, etc.).

• Policy and Audit Experience – Experience writing or updating risk/compliance policies and participating in audits or regulatory examinations. Familiarity with what regulators or banking partners typically require from a payments company in terms of risk controls.

• Use of Fraud Tech – Hands-on experience with modern fraud prevention technologies, such as device fingerprinting, behavior analytics, or machine-learning based risk scoring systems. Understanding their inputs and outputs can help in tuning our in-house systems.

• Crisis Management – Experience handling incidents of significant fraud or data breaches, coordinating responses to minimize damage and remediate issues. Shows that you can perform under pressure and know how to communicate during crises.

• Continuous Learning – Demonstrated interest in staying current on the latest in fintech fraud and AML news/trends, possibly via memberships in fraud prevention networks or attending relevant workshops/seminars.