Head of Merchant Risk - Europe

Head of Merchant Risk - Europe

Global Payments is seeking an experienced Head of Merchant Risk - Europe to lead regional risk ownership, including onboarding, merchant fraud, and ongoing monitoring. The role supports business priorities and collaborates closely with regional P&L owners.

Responsibilities

• Own end to end regional risk, acting as the single point of accountability for business priorities and proactive risk leadership.
• Lead strategy development: define and optimize credit policies, decision rules, and underwriting criteria for account acquisitions, portfolio management, and line management.
• Define risk appetite: establish the "credit box" in collaboration with business leaders, finance, and second line risk teams.
• Oversee governance & compliance: ensure risk governance frameworks meet regulatory requirements (e.g., consumer credit laws) and audit standards.
• Monitor performance: analyze portfolio data to identify trends, evaluate strategy performance, and adjust tactics to mitigate risk while encouraging growth.
• Manage projects: drive end to end strategic initiatives, including testing and launching new risk capabilities.

Qualifications Technical Skills

• Knowledge of underwriting, account fraud detection, and merchant lifecycle risk assessment.
• Familiarity with regulations and compliance standards governing KYC, AML, and high risk merchant oversight.
• Experience with risk engines, decisioning platforms, workflow automation, and integrated platform risk architecture.

Management Skills

• Skilled in leading teams on scalable risk operating models, governance frameworks, and policy structures across platforms and cross functional functions.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders and business partners.
• Experience managing teams within complex vendor ecosystems, risk partners, fraud tools, and technology platforms.

Mindset and Behaviors

• Data driven and analytical, making decisions rooted in insights, modeling, and predictive indicators.
• Strategic and innovative, exploring new technologies, automation, and analytics to elevate performance.
• Collaborative and solutions oriented, driving alignment across functions to support safe, scalable business expansion.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Global Payments Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Global Payments provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, veteran status, genetic information or any other basis protected by law. If you wish to request reasonable accommodations related to applying for employment or provide feedback about the accessibility of this website, please contact .