Careers at Virtual Pay

About the Role

• We are seeking a Head of Risk & Compliance to lead the design, implementation, and continuous enhancement of Virtual pay’s enterprise risk management and regulatory compliance frameworks. The role is responsible for ensuring that the company operates within its approved risk appetite, maintains full compliance with all applicable legal and regulatory obligations, and sustains a strong control environment that supports business growth, operational resilience, and financial crime prevention. The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in risk management, regulatory compliance, fraud prevention, AML/CTF, information security governance, and payments regulation, with significant leadership experience within fintech, payment services, banking, or broader financial services.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Risk Management

• Develop and implement a comprehensive enterprise risk management strategy aligned with Virtual pay’s business objectives, growth plans, and regulatory requirements. 
• Lead the identification, assessment, measurement, monitoring, and reporting of strategic, operational, financial, compliance, technology, and fraud risks. 
• Define risk appetite statements, tolerance thresholds, and escalation protocols. 
• Oversee enterprise-wide risk registers and mitigation action plans. 

Payment Risk Management

• Lead the payment risk management framework covering transaction risk, merchantrisk, chargebacks, settlement exposure, and payment abuse.
• Oversee real-time transaction monitoring controls across cards, wallets, bank transfers, and alternative payment channels.
• Establish merchant onboarding, underwriting, reserve requirements, and continuous
  exposure monitoring standards.
• Monitor chargeback ratios, fraud-to-sales thresholds, authorization decline trends, refund abuse, and scheme compliance indicators.
• Strengthen controls over settlement risk, reconciliation breaks, payment exceptions, and partner bank exposure

Compliance Strategy & Governance

• Develop, implement, and maintain a robust compliance governance framework, including policies, procedures, standards, and internal controls. 
• Ensure compliance with all relevant laws, regulations, licensing obligations, card scheme rules, AML/CTF obligations, consumer protection requirements, and data privacy standards. 
• Provide continuous oversight of policy adherence and control effectiveness across all business units. 

Regulatory Engagement & Reporting

• Serve as the primary liaison with regulators, external auditors, banking partners, and other oversight bodies on risk and compliance matters. 
• Monitor global and local regulatory developments affecting PSPs, fin-techs, and digital financial services. 
• Oversee timely submission of regulatory returns, board reports, audit responses, and statutory filings. 
• Present risk and compliance reports, dashboards, and key findings to senior leadership and the Board. 

Financial Crime, AML & Transaction Monitoring

• Lead the design and implementation of robust AML, CTF, KYC, CDD, EDD, sanctions screening, and transaction monitoring frameworks. 
• Ensure effective detection, investigation, escalation, and reporting of suspicious activities. 
• Oversee fraud risk management controls, card transaction monitoring, and merchant risk reviews. 
• Continuously strengthen controls to mitigate money laundering, fraud, and payment abuse risks. 

Operational Risk, Fraud & Information Security

• Oversee operational risk management, including fraud prevention, cyber risk, business continuity, and third-party risk. 
• Lead the implementation and continuous improvement of the Information Security
• Management System (ISMS) aligned to ISO/IEC 27001 standards. 
• Identify information security risks and implement proportionate controls to mitigate vulnerabilities. 
• Coordinate internal and external audits to maintain compliance and certification requirements. 

Risk Assessment, Assurance & Controls

• Conduct periodic enterprise risk and compliance risk assessments. 
• Lead internal control reviews, compliance testing, and remediation tracking. 
• Ensure closure of audit findings and regulator action points within agreed timelines. 
• Drive continuous improvement of governance, risk, and control processes. 

Leadership, Culture & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing Risk & Compliance function. 
• Promote a strong culture of risk awareness, ethical conduct, and compliance accountability across the organization. 
• Partner closely with product, operations, legal, technology, and commercial teams to embed risk and compliance considerations into business initiatives. 
• Support new product development, market expansion, and strategic partnerships through proactive advisory

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Risk Management, Finance, Law, Business, Accounting, or a related field.
• Professional certifications such as FRM, PRM, CFA, ACAMS, ICA, CCEP, CCO, ISO 27001 Lead Implementer/Auditor, or equivalent are highly desirable.
• Minimum 7–10 years of progressive leadership experience in risk, compliance, AML, fraud, or governance roles within fintech, PSPs, banking, EMIs, or financial services.
• Strong understanding of Kenyan, regional, and global regulatory frameworks governing payment service providers.
• Proven expertise in AML/KYC, fraud risk, transaction monitoring, regulatory reporting, and information security governance.
• Demonstrated success in building scalable second-line risk and compliance frameworks in a high-growth environment.
• Strong leadership, strategic thinking, stakeholder management, and board-level reporting capabilities.
• High integrity, sound judgment, and exceptional analytical skills. 

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About the Role

• The Reconciliation Manager ensures that the PSP operates with accurate, transparent, and reliable reconciliation of all payment and financial transactions across the various jurisdictions in which the company is licensed and operates. This role is accountable for developing and managing a comprehensive reconciliation framework that supports financial integrity, strengthens internal controls, facilitates timely settlements, and enables effective collaboration with internal teams and external partners in a high‑volume, multi‑market payments environment

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Management

• Lead, build, and continuously enhance the reconciliation function to ensure accurate tracking of all transaction flows, settlements, and ledger balances across markets and products.
• Develop negotiation, documentation, and implementation of reconciliation policies, standards, procedures, and controls tailored to support international operations.
• Manage the reconciliation team, set performance expectations, support professional development, and ensure strong succession planning.

Reconciliation Operations & Controls

• Oversee the execution of daily, weekly, and monthly reconciliation processes for transactions across payment rails, banks, Virtual Pay partners, wallets and merchant accounts.
• Establish and maintain robust reconciliation controls, exception handling workflows, and escalation procedures to promptly resolve discrepancies and exceptions.
• Monitor reconciliation outcomes for accuracy and completeness; ensure that variances and unresolved items are investigated, analyzed, and addressed in a timely manner.

Settlement Oversight & Financial Reporting

• Ensure reconciliation supports timely and accurate settlement with banking and PSP partners in all operating jurisdictions.
• Work closely with Finance to validate general ledger balances and support month‑end, quarter‑end, and year‑end close activities related to reconciliation and financial reporting.
• Prepare and present reconciliation status reports, insights, and key performance indicators to senior leadership.

 Process Efficiency & Technology Integration

• Identify opportunities to automate reconciliation workflows, improve tools and systems integration, and eliminate manual inefficiencies.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, and IT teams to design and deploy scalable reconciliation solutions that support growth and operational reliability.

Compliance & Risk Management

• Ensure reconciliation practices align with internal controls, risk management frameworks, and applicable regulatory reporting obligations in all jurisdictions of operation.
• Support internal and external audits with detailed documentation, reconciliation evidence, and risk control validation.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with Finance, Compliance, Operations, Treasury, and other business units to resolve reconciliation issues, support new product launches, and address operational risks arising from transaction flows.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Professional qualifications such as CPA, ACCA, CIMA, or equivalent are highly advantageous.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in reconciliation, financial operations, or payment processing functions, preferably within fintech, PSPs, banks, or high‑volume transactional environments.
• Demonstrated experience managing and scaling reconciliation functions or teams in a dynamic, multi‑jurisdictional operational context.
•  Expertise in reconciliation principles, financial controls, exception management, and settlement operations.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret large data sets, identify trends, and resolve complex discrepancies.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and stakeholder management capabilities.
• High proficiency in Excel and familiarity with reconciliation tools, ERP/finance systems, and data analytics platforms.