Head of Risk, Highnote
$200-275k
+ Equity
Card issuer and payments services
Be an early applicant
Card issuer and payments services
101-200 employees
Be an early applicant
$200-275k
+ Equity
101-200 employees
Company mission
To address limitations in the growing embedded finance market.
Role
Who you are
- This role is ideal for a leader who brings deep operational excellence and expertise with card issuing and acquiring risk, a data-driven mindset, and proven success growing and leading teams in high-growth payments and/or fintech environments
- 20+ years of experience in fraud and risk operations in payments, fintech, card issuing (acquiring is a plus)
- Demonstrated senior leadership experience across both issuing and acquiring fraud domains
- Expertise in all fraud typologies (e.g., ATO, synthetic identity, transaction fraud, merchant collusion)
- Strong working knowledge of applicable regulations including Reg E, Reg Z, and card network chargeback frameworks
- Experience defining business requirements for fraud tools and systems; fluent in AI/ML detection concepts, tools and deployment
- Operationally strong and metrics-focused; able to identify inefficiencies and drive automated, scalable, data-backed solutions
- Excellent communicator and cross-functional leader; experienced in aligning technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Experience building and scaling high-volume fraud and disputes operations from early-stage to mature organizations
- Experience managing fraud and risk for both embedded finance and API-based card programs
- Experience as the fraud, risk and disputes executive leader and SME in regulatory reviews, sponsor bank and customer discussions
- Outstanding executive communication and problem solving skills, able to tackle complex problems with confidence and creativity and able to communicate issues and solutions with credibility and clarity
What the job involves
- We are seeking an accomplished and technically fluent executive to head our Fraud, Risk, and Disputes organization across both our issuing and acquiring businesses. In this role, you will set the strategic direction for risk management and fraud mitigation, define operational requirements, and manage the performance of our fraud and disputes functions
- You will drive the continuous evolution of the company’s risk management discipline and tools to achieve best in class risk management services for our customers. You’ll work closely with Engineering, Operations, Compliance, and Finance to build scalable and effective risk controls—driving business-appropriate protection, automation, and performance across the entire customer and transaction lifecycle
- As Head of Risk, you will be responsible for protecting our customers and our platform while enabling business growth. You’ll lead one of the company’s most critical functions—setting the standard for operational excellence, customer trust, and regulatory integrity. Your work will directly influence company performance and reputation as we scale
- Develop and execute the company-wide risk and dispute management strategy across issuing and acquiring programs
- Align risk policies with customer experience, customer risk appetite and regulatory expectations
- Define clear business requirements for and lead the development of tools, models, and workflows; ensure solutions are scalable and measurable
- Establish and enforce key metrics to understand and enable management of fraud loss, false positives, dispute win rates, and operational efficiency
- Establish strong documentation, SOPs, and QA standards across risk and disputes functions
- Design dashboards and KPIs to provide visibility into trends, gaps, and performance against goals
- Drive company wide alignment on risk priorities
- Lead the end-to-end fraud strategy—including account onboarding, transaction monitoring, and account takeover prevention
- Manage risk and fraud for card issuing across onboarding, funding, and usage
- Manage merchant risk in acquiring—covering merchant onboarding, transaction monitoring, and chargeback exposure
- Proactively detect and mitigate anomalies or systemic risks across both business lines
- Collaborate with engineering and data science to operationalize machine learning and AI-driven fraud detection
- Stay ahead of emerging fraud patterns and typologies across both issuing and acquiring
- Own the full lifecycle of disputes and chargebacks, ensuring Reg E, Reg Z, and network rule compliance
- Define automated and scalable processes that improve recovery rates, minimize false disputes, and reduce resolution time
- Partner with engineering to design and enhance user-facing dispute flows and supporting infrastructure
Our take
Highnote is revolutionizing the world of branded payment cards, offering businesses of all sizes the ability to issue customizable cards for customers or employees. Whether for in-store shopping, loyalty programs, or corporate expenses, Highnote makes the process quick and affordable - something that was once only accessible to the largest companies.
Founded by former BrainTree and PayPal executives, Highnote has quickly gained traction in the fintech space. With significant funding and a focus on innovation, the company is positioning itself to surpass competitors like Marqeta. By leveraging the latest technology, Highnote has built a modern platform that enables businesses to create and manage payment cards more efficiently.
With a fresh $90M in funding, new acquiring capabilities, and a strong backing from major investors and partners, Highnote is clearly making its makr. As it continues to grow its platform and expand its global reach, the company is ready to be a key player in the future of embedded finance.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
11% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 3 rounds)
Jun 2022
$25m
CONVERTIBLE
Sep 2021
$54m
SERIES A
Total funding: $90.5m
Company benefits
- Equity
- Health, Dental and Vision Insurance
- Flexible PTO
- Parental Leave
- 401k Plan
- Paid Lunch During Work Days
- Work From Home Stipend
- Team Events and Offsites
Company HQ
Yerba Buena, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
John MacIlwaine
(Co-Founder & CEO)Previously CTO of Morgan Stanley's Private Client Group, and Head of Global Development at Visa.
Kin Kee
(Co-Founder & CTO)Previously founded KCUBE SOlutions. They also spent 4 years at Lending CLub as the VP of Technology, and 3 years at Braintree as the Director of Architecture.
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