Head of Risk Ops

At Tilt, we see a side of people that traditional lenders miss. Our mobile-first products and machine learning-powered credit models look beyond credit scores, using over 250 real-time financial signals to recognize real potential. With millions of customers worldwide, we're not just changing how people access financial products — we're creating a new credit system that backs the working, whatever they're working toward.

Tilt is seeking a Head of Risk Operations to lead our non-customer-facing operations end to end. This is the senior leader accountable for the work that keeps Tilt running behind the scenes — everything from fraud prevention and dispute resolution to mail processing, refund processing, and the regulated back-office work that keeps the business defensible in an exam. Fraud and disputes are the largest pieces of this function today, spanning high-risk application review, transaction monitoring, FCRA credit bureau disputes, and Reg Z and Reg E transaction disputes. But the defining trait of this role is broader: you will lead the operational work that doesn't touch the customer directly, whatever form it takes, and oversee our 30+ workloads currently managed by the team.
You will own the entire function — the people, the workflows, the vendor stack, and the automation strategy that lets the team scale without scaling headcount one-for-one as well as playing a strong supporting role in our regulatory compliance. You will manage team leads and the analysts beneath them, set the operating rhythm across every workload the function carries, and own the metrics the function is measured on. You will be the executive-facing voice of the function, and the person responsible for making this regulated, high-volume work faster, more consistent, and more automated while maintaining a strong focus on quality and accuracy in the work over time.
In your first year, success will look like:

• The function operates against clear SLAs and quality standards across all workloads, with metrics visible to executive leadership.

• A concrete automation roadmap is live and showing measurable reductions in manual-review volume and dispute cycle time while maintaining and ultimately improving both accuracy and win rate.

• Chargeback win rate holds above 70% while fraud losses and customer friction trend down.

• Processing workloads (mail, refunds, and related back-office queues) clear within SLA at target accuracy, with no backlog buildup as volume grows.

• Team leads are developed and empowered, with a staffing and capacity model that scales with volume.

• The control environment is exam-ready, with documentation and QA that withstand regulatory scrutiny.

• End-to-end accountability: Own all non-customer-facing operations across every line of business — fraud prevention, dispute resolution, back-office compliance, and processing work including mail and refund processing — spanning the 30+ workloads currently managed by the team.

• Workload ownership: Set the standard for how every back-office workload runs, from the highest-stakes fraud and dispute casework to high-volume processing queues, ensuring each is staffed, measured, and continuously improved.

• Operating rhythm: Set goals, SLAs, and quality standards for the function; run the weekly and monthly cadence that keeps the team aligned and surfaces risk early.

• Executive voice: Serve as the senior point of contact for Risk operations, translating operational reality across fraud, disputes, and processing into clear tradeoffs for executive leadership and partners.

• Regulatory defensibility: Hold the function to a standard that withstands audit and regulatory exams, partnering with Legal and Compliance on FCRA, Reg Z, Reg E, SCRA, and related obligations.

• Lead the team (player-coach): Lead and develop a team of Team Leads and subject-matter experts, as well as the frontline investigators and analysts (Sr Risk Investigators, Risk Investigators, Risk Data Analyst). This is a hands-on leadership role, not a pure management one — you stay close to the work as the org flattens and AI absorbs routine volume.

• Org design & headcount: Own the structure, staffing model, and capacity planning for the function; make the build-vs-buy-vs-automate calls as volume grows.

• Talent: Hire, level, coach, and retain; build career paths and a bench of senior investigators and future team leads.

• Performance: Set individual and team performance expectations, run calibration, and hold the bar on quality through the QA rubric and review process.
  

• Automation strategy: Define and drive the roadmap to automate manual review, dispute intake and resolution, monitoring, and reporting; reduce cost-to-serve and cycle time while protecting accuracy.

• AI-enabled operations: Partner with the data and AI teams to deploy tooling that triages cases, drafts dispute responses, and flags anomalies, with humans focused on judgment-heavy work.

• Tooling & vendors: Own the fraud and dispute tech stack (Alloy, Socure, Persona, LexisNexis, Helix, Centrix, Zendesk, Peach) and the vendor strategy behind it, including utilization, contracts, and consolidation.

• Data & measurement: Ensure the function operates on a reliable single source of truth in Databricks; instrument the metrics that prove impact (loss rates, chargeback win rate, dispute cycle time, manual-review rate, QA scores).
  

• Controls: Own the control environment for fraud and disputes; ensure QA, escalation, and documentation standards keep decisions defensible.

• Cross-functional partnership: Work with Compliance, Legal, Product, and Engineering to translate regulatory change into operational reality and to close control gaps before they become findings.

• Risk appetite: Operationalize the company's risk appetite: Build and tune the systems, thresholds, and workflows that embed Tilt's balance of fraud prevention and fair customer treatment into day-to-day operations, and serve as the escalation point for any gray-areas.

• 8+ years in fraud, disputes, and overall risk operations, including 3+ years leading teams — ideally including managing managers.

• Deep, practical knowledge of consumer protection regulation as it applies to operations: FCRA credit disputes, Reg Z and Reg E transaction disputes, and the back-office obligations (SCRA, bankruptcy, deceased handling, proof of authorization).

• A track record of building and scaling operations through process and automation, not just headcount.

• Strong command of fraud typologies across card, ACH, and P2P — ATO, identity fraud, payments fraud, abuse, social engineering.

• Comfort operating on data: able to set and interpret operational metrics, work with SQL/BI outputs, and hold the team to a single source of truth.

• Proven success partnering with Compliance, Legal, Product, and Engineering, and communicating risk and tradeoffs to executives.
  

• Experience in fintech, banking, or lending with an active regulatory exam environment.

• Hands-on experience deploying AI or automation in an operations setting.

• Familiarity with the fraud and dispute tooling ecosystem (Alloy, Socure, Persona, LexisNexis, Helix, Centrix, Zendesk, Peach) or close equivalents.

• Experience owning vendor relationships, contracts, and budget for a function.

1. Initial recruiter call: A conversation to learn about your experience and what you're looking for in your next role.

2. Hiring manager interview: A deeper discussion about your background and approach to solving challenges.

3. Skills panel: Meet with Tilt team members to discuss your expertise and problem-solving approach through real-world scenarios.

4. Leadership conversations: Conversations with our CFO and CEO to discuss our mission and how you could contribute to it (and how we can help you achieve your career goals along the way).
   

Don’t meet every qualification? We care about potential over your past. If you're bringing ambition and drive to what we're building, we want to hear from you.

• Virtual-first teamwork: The Tilt team is collaborating across 14 countries, 12 time zones, and counting. You’ll get started with a WFH office reimbursement.

• Competitive pay: We're big on potential, and it's reflected in our competitive compensation packages and generous equity.

• Complete support: Find flexible health plans at every premium level, and substantial subsidies that stand up to global standards.

• Visibility is yours: You can count on direct exposure to our leadership team — we’re a team where good ideas travel quickly.

• Paid global onsites: Magic happens IRL: we gather twice yearly to reconnect over shared meals or kayaking adventures. (We’ve visited Vail, San Diego, and Mexico City, to name a few.)

• Impact is recognized: Growth opportunities follow your contributions, not rigid promotion timelines.

We're looking for people who chase excellence and impact. Those who stand behind their work, celebrating the wins and learning from the missteps equally. We foster an environment where every voice is valued and mutual respect is non-negotiable — brilliant jerks need not apply. We're in this together, working to expand access to fair credit and prove that people are incredible. When you join us, it's not just another day at the [virtual] office, you're helping millions of hardworking people reach better financial futures.

You’re pushing ahead in your career? We can get behind that. Join us in building the credit system that people deserve.