Risk & Governance Lead

Our client is a leading financial infrastructure platform focused on enabling seamless, secure digital payments across Africa. It provides modern API-driven solutions that empower businesses to collect, manage, and move money more efficiently. The company is committed to expanding financial access, improving transaction reliability, and helping businesses scale their digital payment capabilities across multiple markets.

Job Type: Full Time/Permanent

Location: Johannesburg

Work Place: Remote

Reporting Line: Head of Legal (with dotted line direct to the board)

Division: Enabling

Department: Legal

Requirements

Experience:

• Proven experience in risk management, ideally within financial services, fintech, or another regulated industry.
• Solid understanding of risk management frameworks and corporate governance structures.
• Strong ability to work with cross-functional teams, consolidate information, and challenge constructively.
• Excellent reporting, communication, and stakeholder management skills - confident in presenting to senior leadership and boards.

Education & Qualifications (advantageous):

• Degree in Commerce, Law (LLB) or Risk Management
• Recognised professional qualification or certification in governance, risk and compliance management will be advantageous
• IT risk experience is an advantage
• 3 - 5 years' experience in risk management within the financial services, banking or payment industry
• Regulatory reporting experience is essential

Competencies:

• Team player - across all departments.
• Pragmatic risk judgment - calibrates risk to business context, proposes mitigations and clear trade-offs rather than "no", has a successful track record of aligning legal priorities with organisational objectives.
• Bias to clarity and action - produces crisp, plain-language summaries and recommended paths and is comfortable making calls with imperfect information.
• Prioritisation and throughput - juggles multiple matters, sets/keeps SLAs, and escalates smartly on pre-defined triggers.
• Negotiation and stakeholder management - credible with customers and partners and balances firmness with deal momentum.
• Ownership and reliability - high agency, low ego, high bar for quality and follow-through under pressure.

Responsibilities

Risk Framework & Governance

• Design, implement, and maintain an integrated and centralised enterprise risk management framework for our Group and/or its subsidiary companies, including policies, risk registers, reporting standards, and control documentation.
• Work with the board and senior leadership to define, communicate, and embed our client's risk appetite across all subsidiaries and functions of our client's Group.
• Ensure alignment with regulatory requirements, group procedures and audit standards.
• Develop and maintain monitoring plans for key controls, ensuring compliance with frameworks and control environments
• Drive a combined assurance approach, engaging assurance partners and specialists on key risk matters.
• Serve as chairperson or participant, as appropriate, for relevant risk committees and forums ensuring agendas, minutes, and follow-ups are effectively managed.

Operational Risk Management

• Oversee operational risk processes and reporting in line with the enterprise risk management framework.
• Evaluate, monitor, and challenge internal controls through reviews, testing, and root cause analyses.
• Ensure operational risk mitigation strategies are in place and aligned with business continuity management plans.
• Liaise with all applicable stakeholders to ensure adherence to statutory requirements.

Risk Identification & Assessment

• Facilitate enterprise-wide risk workshops and risk & control self-assessments.
• Ensure risk identification, assessment, and monitoring of key risks across all respective risk management functions (including, Compliance, Infosec, Operations).
• Act as second line of defence, providing challenge and oversight of risks and controls identified by business leads.
• Support risk assessments for new products, services, business ventures, third-party arrangements, and acquisitions.
• Anticipate and assess emerging risks, regulatory changes, and external trends relevant to our client's operations.

Reporting & Escalation

• Maintain and consolidate the enterprise risk register and related risk management systems.
• Prepare and present enterprise risk dashboards and reports for risk committees and the board.
• Escalate incidents, breaches, and critical risk events to relevant governance forums, ensuring lessons learned feed back into frameworks.
• Ensure accurate, timely, and reliable data integrity in risk reporting and analysis.
• Monitor and track action plans and remediation activities.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Strategic Enablement
• Partner with business units to understand drivers, concerns, and risk exposures.
• Build a strong risk management culture through training, awareness campaigns, and guidance on the application of risk tools.
• Review and optimise risk management processes and procedures, providing guidance on areas for improvement.
• Drive innovation in risk capabilities and solutions that support operational efficiency.
• Engage in cross-functional relationships to enhance the quality of risk management outcomes.