Independent Risk Management Director, Big Business Banking

The role:

SoFi is seeking an energetic, detail-oriented, self-motivated, and intellectually curious Independent Risk Management Director to support the development and launch of SoFi’s Big Business Banking (Commercial) products.  Your success in this role will rely on deep subject matter expertise in commercial banking risks, especially as it relates to payments and high velocity money movement ecosystems.  Looking for a leader with comprehensive understanding of the mitigating controls needed across risk types - including operational, counterparty, liquidity, fraud, financial crime, technology, third-party, and regulatory risk. Compliance (including AML/BSA program ownership) remains within dedicated compliance functions.  You will apply lessons learned from peers across the industry - both benchmarking against industry leaders as well as learning from underperforming commercial payment platforms, ensuring strong risk governance, diversified exposures, and rigorous controls.

As part of the Second Line of Defense (2LOD), this individual will provide oversight across risk types for all product and feature launches as well as partner with 1LOD risk owners on ensuring we are appropriately identifying, monitoring, and mitigating risks as part of our framework programs as we scale and grow this business.  The ideal candidate brings experience overseeing commercial portfolios from a risk governance perspective and is comfortable challenging business assumptions, escalation decisions, and risk-taking activities to ensure alignment with approved risk appetite.

By joining SoFi, you'll become part of a forward-thinking company that is transforming financial services for the better. We offer the excitement of a rapidly growing startup with the stability of an industry leading leadership team.

What you’ll do: 

• Become a trusted advisor for business unit leadership, assessing and challenging the risks and detailed control environment to successfully bring strategic Big Business Banking products to market through a second line lens, ensuring appropriate risk identification, control maturity, and governance prior to deployment.
• Oversee aggregate portfolio risk trends, including deposit volatility characteristics, concentration exposures (industry, counterparty, geography, product), and emerging systemic vulnerabilities.
• Monitor and address risks, issues, and resolve escalation items resulting from our commercial activities including onboarding, servicing, and payments - where upstream weaknesses can expose the bank to regulatory and reputational risk
• Identify thematic and emerging risk trends and ensure timely root-cause analysis, corrective action plans, and sustainable remediation.
• Oversee the commercial risk management framework and governance for the execution of risk-related initiatives.
• Interface with Regulatory Affairs, Internal Audit, and exam teams to support regulatory engagement and ensure defensible documentation of independent risk perspectives.
• Collaborate with business units, Enterprise Risk Management, and commercial teams to define the Enterprise Risk Appetite and tolerance.  Monitor Key Risk Indicators (KRIs) against tolerance thresholds.
• Evaluate liquidity and funding assumptions associated with commercial deposit behavior, including stress scenario performance and intraday liquidity demands tied to high-speed payment rails.
• Support post-launch reviews and continuous control enhancements as the business scales.
• Benchmark risk practices against peer institutions and incorporate lessons learned from industry stress events or control failures.

What you’ll need:

• Bachelor’s degree with 10+ years experience in commercial banking including functional responsibility in risk management.
• Deep knowledge of commercial banking products and operations, payment channels and operations, KYC/AML expectations, treasury operations, and institutional client risk drivers.
• Demonstrated expertise in concentration risk, liquidity risk, , operational, and financial crime risks in commercial or high-velocity payment environments.
• Ability to independently challenge business growth assumptions and identify latent risks associated with scale, client mix, or insufficient controls.
• Exceptional interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills
• Strong leadership, collaboration, influencing and organizational skills with attention to detail
• Must be self-motivated with the ability to work independently or within a group under minimal daily direction.
• Intellectually curious. You adapt to change, embrace bold ideas, ask questions, test assumptions, and challenge conventional thinking
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to analyze complex issues, develop innovative solutions, and make data-driven decisions
• Experience leading and managing meetings with cross functional teams, effectively and efficiently communicating and driving engagement.
• Proficiency in data analysis preferred and deriving meaningful insights for decision-making
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, take ownership of deliverables, and drive assigned tasks to completion, in a timely manner.
• Strong knowledge of risk management principles and practices including risk and control assessments
• Experience with regulatory compliance and corporate governance standards
• Ability to work under tight deadlines
• Ability to manage multiple initiatives and competing priorities, meet deadlines, and adapt to change
• Proficiency with Google Suite and/or Microsoft Office products
• Strong team player
• Experience with Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) systems