Senior Product Manager, Risk Operations

Job description

At Wave, we help small businesses to thrive so the heart of our communities beats stronger. We work in an environment buzzing with creative energy and inspiration. No matter where you are or how you get the job done, you have what you need to be successful and connected. The mark of true success at Wave is the ability to be bold, learn quickly and share your knowledge generously. We’re looking for a **Senior Product Manager, Risk Operations Platform** to define and build the internal systems, workflows, and decisioning infrastructure that power Wave’s payments operations. You will own the strategy and roadmap for the tools used by Risk, Fraud, Compliance, Support, Finance, and Payments Operations teams. Your mission is to replace fragmented workflows and manual processes with scalable platform capabilities that improve operational efficiency, strengthen controls, and enable better customer outcomes. This is a 0→1 platform role with company-wide impact. In the short term, you’ll navigate and sunset legacy platform components while simultaneously partnering closely with Engineering, Risk, Compliance, Data, Finance, Customer Support, and Product teams to create the operational foundation that enables Wave to scale its payments business confidently and efficiently. While this role focuses on internal platforms and tooling, customer experience remains a core consideration. The systems you build will directly influence how quickly customers are onboarded, how reviews are handled, how issues are resolved, and how trust is maintained throughout the payments lifecycle. ### The Impact You'll Have: ### **Platform Strategy & Vision:** - Define the long-term vision for Wave’s Risk & Payment Operations Platform - Establish a unified strategy for operational workflows, decisioning, case management, and controls - Identify opportunities to reduce manual effort through automation and scalable platform capabilities - Balance operational efficiency, regulatory requirements, risk management, and customer experience ### **Internal Tools & Workflow Management:** - Build the systems that enable teams to investigate, review, approve, monitor, and manage customer activity - Define and improve operational workflows across risk reviews, compliance processes, fraud investigations, holds, reserves, disputes, and escalations - Create intuitive tooling that helps internal teams make consistent and effective decisions - Partner with stakeholders to eliminate operational bottlenecks and improve team productivity ### **Decisioning & Platform Infrastructure:** - Define platform capabilities for rules management, decision orchestration, case management, audit trails, and workflow automation - Partner with Engineering and Data teams to establish scalable foundations for operational decision-making - Create reusable platform services that can support multiple operational use cases across the business - Ensure systems are observable, measurable, and continuously improving ### **Customer Experience & Trust:** - Advocate for customer experience within operational and risk-related workflows - Ensure operational processes are transparent, predictable, and minimize friction for legitimate customers - Partner with Support and Customer Success teams to improve communication and resolution experiences - Measure the impact of operational decisions on customer trust and satisfaction ### **Cross-Functional Leadership:** - Serve as the product leader for internal operations platforms across Payments - Align stakeholders across Product, Engineering, Risk, Compliance, Finance, Support, and Data - Drive prioritization and strategic decision-making in a highly cross-functional environment - Communicate platform strategy, progress, and outcomes to senior leadership ### You Thrive Here By Possessing the Following: - **6+ years of Product Management experience**, with a proven track record in high-growth fintech environments or driving product strategy through critical scaling phases. - **Financial Operations:** Deep expertise in payments, financial operations, and navigating SMB-specific risk challenges in payments or payroll. - **Risk, Fraud & AI:** Experience applying machine learning or AI-based approaches to fraud detection, mitigation, and automated decisioning. - **0→1 System Generation:** Demonstrated success building complex systems from the ground up within SaaS, payments, or highly operational environments. - **Cross-Functional Influence:** Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with a history of aligning engineering, product, and diverse operational teams. - **Platform & Internal Tools:** Experience designing and launching platform infrastructure, case management systems, workflow engines, and operational tooling. - **Automation & Architecture:** Strong systems thinking with the ability to design end-to-end workflows, leverage decision engines/rules systems, and implement process automation. - **Regulatory Navigation:** Thorough understanding of compliance-driven requirements and relevant industry standards (e.g., AML, PCI-DSS, NACHA).