Senior Director - Head of Risk GCC

Visas Global Risk organization is seeking a dynamic and experienced Senior Director to lead its Risk team in the GCC region focusing on Digital Payment Risks. This pivotal role will oversee risk management across the UAE Saudi Arabia Qatar Kuwait Bahrain and Oman. The ideal candidate will be responsible for proactively identifying assessing and mitigating risks while providing strategic guidance to the payment ecosystem in alignment with Visas growth objectives. As a member of Visas CEMEA Risk Leadership Team the Senior Director will play a vital role in shaping the risk management landscape by being an effective risk business partner to the Group Country Manager for the GCC Sub-regionThe Head of Risk for GCC is expected to drive effective risk management practices enabling cross-functional teams to handle Visas Strategic Regulatory Compliance and Third-Party risks efficiently. This leader will be responsible for maturing and advancing Visas Risk roadmap initiatives and providing risk thought leadership for the GCC subregion. The role will also be a member of the GCC Leadership Team.Reporting directly to the Regional Risk Officer CEMEA this high impact and high visibility leadership role requires frequent collaboration with senior internal stakeholders across the GCC and CEMEA region including teams in Business Finance Operations Controls Processing Government Engagements Risk Value Added Services Visa Consultancy & Analytics and Risk. Importantly the position involves extensive external engagements with clients partners government and other payment industry stakeholders. The Senior Director will provide leadership and guidance to a team of risk managers supporting the GCC subregion.Purpose:Lead the team to ensure that Visas interactions with clients merchants regulators and other third parties on risk-related matters are well-informed effective and collectively moving the Visa ecosystem towards a stronger state.Build and leverage market knowledge and presence to ensure Visas risk-related policies programs and frameworks are aligned with current and future business demands.Engage clients merchants and other stakeholders to mitigate fraud and data compromise events promote stronger authentication and data security and help enforce Visas external risk programs and policies.Provide deep insights and support against a broader set of risk-related issues and activities including client fraud and approval optimization credit settlement risk anti-money laundering deployment of Visa Risk Products the use of third parties and deployment of emerging technologies.Promote effective and executive-level information flow around strategic regulatory and other risks to the Visa enterprise and minimize audit and compliance concerns.Key Responsibilities:Ecosystem Risk Management: Provide deep insights of the country/sub-regional business environment payment systems and other risks to senior client executives operating in each market and serve as the trusted risk advisor to the leadership across all Visa business functions Business Alignment: Align Visas risk-related objectives and activities with Visas business goals in the sub-region to optimize long-term growth while ensuring that risk management strategies support and enhance the overall business strategy.Risk Relationship Management: Engage key senior stakeholders including clients law enforcement government and other relevant entities to secure support for Visas goals and address identified risks and foster strong relationships to facilitate risk management efforts.Thought Leadership: Differentiate Visa by demonstrating thought leadership on risk issues to senior payment system stakeholders. Lead and orchestrate client meetings (e.g. sub-regional Risk Executive Councils meetings) and industry forums (Risk Summits government initiatives) of payment system stakeholders (e.g. clients law enforcement regulators industry participants) to drive greater awareness and support for Visas payment system risk strategy. Positively influence regulations and risk/security-related practices to ensure a strong payment ecosystem and a growth environment for Visa its clients and the industry..Communication: Deliver effective and executive level communication and provide marketplace feedback regarding Visas risk-related programs policies and other activities while maintaining transparency and keeping all relevant parties informed about risk management initiatives and outcomes.Skills and Experience:Has been on the leadership team of the Chief Risk Officer of a large financial institution preferably in the GCC region or regions of similar maturity and diversityHas led underwriting operations for SME Retail or corporate lending for a large Financial Institution as the functional head for a minimum of 5 years taking wing-to-wing accountability for application processing credit decisioning and disbursal.Has held responsibility for a period of at least 5 years for the credit risk policy function w