Principal: Fraud Risk

Role Overview

You will own and drive the entire fraud risk management program for Cellulant’s payment products across every market the company operates in, acting as both a first-line control builder and a second-line overseer. Day to day, you will scan for new fraud schemes, tune detection rules, lead major incident responses, and advise product and engineering teams on how to design payment flows that are secure without frustrating legitimate customers. Your work directly protects revenue, customer trust, and Cellulant’s regulatory standing across card, bank transfer, mobile money, and alternative payment channels continent-wide.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and maintain the enterprise fraud detection strategy, including rule architecture, risk appetite thresholds, and fraud policies that align with Board-approved limits.
• Design, test, and continuously refine risk-based fraud controls that minimise losses while preserving a smooth customer experience, approving threshold changes within your delegated authority.
• Oversee the fraud monitoring platform roadmap, including vendor selection, performance reviews, and relationship management with tools such as Falcon, Feedzai, Featurespace, Cybersource, Visa Risk Manager, or mobile-money-specific equivalents.
• Lead fraud analytics and intelligence efforts by analysing attack vectors, emerging typologies, and channel-specific patterns, then translating findings into actionable rules and executive-level dashboards.
• Take command of significant external fraud incidents, chair post-incident root-cause reviews, track remediation actions to completion, and escalate to the VP: Risk or the Risk Committee when thresholds are met.
• Set standards, service levels, and quality benchmarks for the fraud operations team, review complex cases that exceed standard investigation parameters, and drive automation of case management workflows.
• Own the full lifecycle of internal fraud investigations, including collusion and financial crime involving employees, contractors, or third-party agents, coordinating with HR, Legal, and Audit throughout.
• Represent fraud risk in cross-functional governance forums, product launch reviews, and market expansion projects, while partnering with Compliance on AML-related typologies and regulatory fraud reporting obligations.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Experience: A proven track record leading fraud risk management in fintech, payments, banking, or financial services, with direct exposure to mobile money environments.
• Channel expertise: Hands-on experience monitoring and investigating transaction fraud across card, bank transfer, and mobile money channels, including specific typologies such as SIM-swap fraud, agent-network abuse, and USSD-based social engineering.
• Investigation skills: Demonstrated ability to lead complex fraud investigations from detection through resolution, including forensic analysis and post-incident reporting.
• Technical acumen: Strong working knowledge of payment ecosystems, transaction lifecycles, APIs, and payment integrations, particularly across African markets.
• Controls design: Proven capability in building, optimising, and approving fraud detection rules and controls within a first-line control function.
• Platform experience: Prior experience directing or working within enterprise fraud monitoring platforms, preferably with rule-based and/or machine learning models.
• Analytics tools: Working knowledge of SQL, Power BI, Tableau, or similar analytics tools is preferred, along with exposure to AI-driven fraud detection solutions.
• Regulatory engagement: A history of supporting fraud controls across multiple African markets and interacting with in-country regulators is an advantage.
• Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Risk Management, Business Administration, Criminology, Forensic Studies, Law, Information Systems, or Data Analytics; alternative academic paths are acceptable when paired with a strong fraud or financial-crime track record.
• Certifications: Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and CAMS/ACAMS certification are required. CISA, CISM, or PCI DSS certifications are advantageous given the platform and technical ownership in this role.