Head of Enterprise Risk – Payments

Head of Enterprise Risk – PaymentsWe are supporting a high-growth European technology company that is building out a newly regulated payments business and is looking for a senior Risk professional to build the Enterprise Risk function from the ground up.This is not a role for someone who wants to inherit and optimise an established framework.The successful person will be comfortable starting with a blank page: defining the Risk framework, creating the policies and controls, designing the reporting, establishing the Risk processes and helping the wider organisation understand what good Risk management looks like.The role reports directly to the Chief Risk & Compliance Officer and offers significant exposure to senior leadership, the Board and regulators.The mandate: You will take ownership of the Enterprise Risk framework across the regulated payments business, including:Risk taxonomy, Risk Appetite and tolerances,Enterprise Risk assessments and RCSA,KRIs and Board-level Risk reporting,Internal controls and control monitoring,Operational Risk and incident management,DORA and operational resilience,Third-party and outsourcing Risk,New product and change Risk,Payments-specific Risk including safeguarding, settlement, liquidity, fraud and scheme/acquirer exposure,Regulatory and Board Risk governance.A major part of the role will be helping the business build a Risk culture in a fast-moving, technology-led environment.Payments experience matters! We are specifically interested in people who understand payments beyond regulation. You should be comfortable discussing payment flows, payment architecture, acquiring, card schemes, iDEAL, safeguarding and settlement, and understand how these translate into Risk and control requirements.Experience within a regulated payments, EMI, digital banking or high-growth fintech environment is strongly preferred.This is a genuine 0 to 1 builder role. You should be someone who enjoys building rather than simply maintaining.You will need to be comfortable:creating frameworks and documents yourself,designing controls and Risk processes from scratch,working independently without a large team,challenging senior stakeholders,bringing structure to an environment where very little is already established.This is initially a senior individual-contributor role. AI and technology mindset: The company operates in an increasingly AI-native environment, and this is an important part of the role.We are looking for someone who is already using AI, automation or workflow tools in their own work and who is thinking about how Risk management needs to evolve in organisations where systems, processes and AI agents are changing continuously.You do not need to be an engineer, but you should be technically curious and comfortable thinking beyond traditional quarterly Risk processes.What we are looking for:Significant experience in Enterprise or Operational Risk,Direct experience within payments, EMI, fintech or digital banking,Proven experience building or materially rebuilding a Risk framework,Strong knowledge of Risk Appetite, RCSA, KRIs and internal controls,Experience with DORA, resilience and third-party Risk,Strong understanding of payment flows and payments architecture,Board and senior stakeholder credibility,Comfortable operating as a hands-on senior IC,Practical use of AI, automation or data-driven Risk monitoring is a strong advantage.Location: Netherlands preferred.The role is hybrid, with typically 1–2 days per week with the team during the build phase.Relocation within the EU may be considered for the right candidate.Package: Up to €150,000 base salary, plus:holiday allowance,pension,equity,additional benefits.If you have built Risk functions before and enjoy creating something from scratch rather than inheriting an established setup, this is a particularly interesting opportunity.Interested? Please apply or reach out directly for a confidential conversation.