Head of Payment Risk and Operations

Location

United States, Chicago Office

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

Remote

Department

Compliance & Payments

Compensation

$140K – $160K

Hi! I'm Zaky, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at WeTravel Over the past 11 years, I’ve focused on building the leading vertical SaaS for the $300B multi-day travel segment, helping tour companies manage their operations from A to Z. At WeTravel, I lead compliance, payment partnerships, and people functions, working closely with talented teams to drive impact across the business.

About WeTravel

Multi-day travel businesses (think 7-day safari in the Serengeti or 5-day scuba diving in the Galapagos) use WeTravel as their all-in-one platform to manage sales processes, collect payments, and run the back office.

We monetize as a vertical SaaS for these multi-day travel businesses through transaction volume. This is possible because our clients trust WeTravel as their agent of payees, accepting payments from travelers on behalf of the travel businesses. WeTravel also acts as the merchant of record, processing the payments and handling the chargebacks. Therefore, it is undeniably essential that we protect our user funds from any bad actors, while ensuring that the funds move smoothly from pay-in (travelers) to payout (travel businesses and their suppliers).

What’s the role

You will join the company at a pivotal moment. As the company scales and transacts billions of USD, we have transformed from a SaaS company to a payment / fintech company. These people below, including yourself, will work closely on any payment-related topic :

Product Manager - Payments & Engineering Manager - Payments : product and technical matters of payments

COO : commercial and compliance matters of payments

You (alongside your KYC and Payment Operations teams) : risk and operational matters of payments

Therefore, you will shape our payment risk management strategy and roll up your sleeves to immediately implement the short-term actions with the CEO's and COO's full support, so we can safely and responsibly grow our transaction volume and revenue.

Your mission and objectives

Your mission is to ensure our user funds flow securely and smoothly from pay-in to payout while considering our ambitious growth and revenue plans. To do that, you have to drive two things :

Payment Risk & Fraud Management

Identifying all the risks and vulnerabilities from pay-in to payout, and ensuring we are protected against any potential bad actors

Performing robust due diligence and risk assessment on new and existing clients

Running a rapid escalation process for payment fraud incidents

Payment Operations

Manage disputes / chargebacks and fund recovery from delinquent accounts

Resolve any operational issues on pay-in and payout process that still require coordination with PSPs / payment service providers, e.g., wire issues.

We have built the foundation to ensure user funds can flow securely and smoothly from pay-in to payout. Until now, the COO and Chief of Staff have jointly managed the teams and tools for this. Moving forward, you will take over to manage and build :

In-house KYC / KYB and Payment Operations teams

KYC / KYB : perform robust due diligence on travel businesses worldwide, joining as WeTravel clients

Payment Operations : monitor every transaction for any red flags or operational issues, then work with other departments and PSPs to escalate and resolve the issues

Tools, e.g., Persona for KYC / KYB automation, Stripe’s Radar for fraud prevention

Additionally, the CEO and COO are very involved in monitoring the security of our user funds daily, and working closely with company leaders, including Product and Engineering, to take whatever action is needed to keep the funds safe and secure.

Your Daily Activities

We expect you to have the “owner” mentality to build and run the Payment Risks and Operations organization. Examples of daily activities include :

Develop a payment risk management strategy

Manage the daily operations of the KYC / KYB and Payment Operations teams, and possibly a new Risk / Compliance team based on the strategy above

Monitor any red flags of possible fraud / scam / account takeover, and escalate with any relevant stakeholders

Coordinate case management and communication of fraud incidents

Help the Payment Operations team coordinate with PSPs to resolve any operational payment issues, e.g., the supplier hasn’t received the paid-out funds due to additional compliance documentation needed by the beneficiary bank

Review accounts with negative balances due to chargebacks, and work with the Payment Operations team to recover the funds

Build dashboards, with support from Business Intelligence / Product / Engineering teams, to evaluate the risk score of any client and transaction

Update the list of Prohibited Businesses based on requirements from PSPs and directions from the CEO and COO

Review the new KYC / KYB SOP on a new segment that the sales team is considering to approach

Work with the COO to provide compliance documents to PSPs

Manage the filing process of 1099K forms for applicable clients annually

Why You Should or Shouldn’t Apply

You should apply if you

Have 10+ years of experience in payment risks / operations or fraud management

Are a payment nerd : you have experience working for PSPs or closely with them, and you enjoy learning about the payment industry

Have experience with both the US and non-US markets; while we have tour operator clients worldwide, most of the payments still originate from the US

Have an “owner” mentality : you care so much about your team and your customers, and you are obsessed with fighting any form of fraudsters

Are an effective team leader and communicator : you will run a team of more than 10 people, including two direct reports who lead KYC and Payment Operations teams, and work regularly with all C-suite members

Having knowledge of the travel industry is a plus, but not required

You might not be the right fit if you :

Are not comfortable with creating structures and frameworks to resolve ambiguous situations

Are not ready to be available for your team whenever they need you the most (this is not typical, but there will be times when your team needs your direction urgently and you are the only person who can do it; usually related to a case escalation, e.g., the team identifies a scammer with extremely high value over the weekend, a major account experiences account takeover on holiday season)

Benefits

Competitive salary

Your health matters – US team members get 100% employer-covered HDHP medical, DHMO dental, and standard vision coverages or a choice of plans that suit your needs.

Generous "Time to Recharge" policy — enjoy unlimited paid time off to rest, recharge, and show up as your best self.

Amsterdam Program – visit us in Amsterdam (HQ) for 2-4 weeks every year, staying in one of our WeTravel apartments.

Work remotely for a maximum of 4 weeks per calendar year.

Annual team off-site (often somewhere sunny ).

Extensive paid family leave.

Three paid volunteer days per year — take time to give back to causes you care about, on us.

2-week cross-functional onboarding program.

Cutting-edge equipment and tools to set you up for success. Coverage for certain work-from-home (WFH) equipment.

Join an international, travel-loving team with a passion for adventure and innovation.

Please Note :

For candidates based in Chicago, please note that we have an office there and this role requires working from the office 3 days a week. For candidates outside of Chicago, the role is remote but aligned to EST working hours.

Ready to build something meaningful? Apply now.

Equal Opportunities

WeTravel is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. If you're excited about this opportunity and believe you're a good fit, we encourage you to apply and join us in transforming the travel industry!

Compensation Range : $140K - $160K

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