Overview
As the Payment Risk Strategy Lead at a fast-growing Payment Service Provider (PSP), you will be directly accountable for the company’s Loss Ratio, channel security (MID/VASP Health), and merchant settlement protection.
You must possess both deep regulatory insights and battle-tested payment risk operations experience. Focusing on iGaming and CFD—two high-risk, high-frequency, and high-volume merchant verticals—you will build a dynamic, hybrid On-Chain & Off-Chain customer risk tiering framework. You will design differentiated On/Off-ramp risk rules, settlement reserve mechanisms, and real-time interception strategies to isolate illicit money, laundering schemes, bonus abuse, and fraud while maintaining optimal conversion rates.
Key Responsibilities
1.Merchant Risk Tiering Framework (iGaming & CFD)
Establish a dynamic 4-tier risk matrix (Tier 1 to Tier 4) based on merchant licensing, transaction volume, historical loss ratios, traffic sources, and settlement models:
- Tier 1 (Top Tier / Fully Licensed - e.g., MGA, FCA, CySEC):
Risk Strategy: Express Line. Automatic API-triggered quick settlements, high processing caps, lower rolling reserves, and real-time API payouts enabled.
- Tier 2 (Medium Risk - Curacao / Anjouan Licenses or New Brands):
Risk Strategy: Standard Monitoring. T+1 to T+3 delayed settlements; 10%–15% rolling reserves (held for 90–180 days); secondary manual review triggered for single payouts exceeding 50,000 USDT.
- Tier 3 (High Risk - Unlicensed / Weak Licensing / High-Hedging CFD Platforms):
Risk Strategy: Strict Caps. Tiered withdrawal limits (Daily/Weekly hard caps); mandatory physical segregation of C2B (deposits) and B2C (payouts) accounts; high rolling reserve requirements (20%+).
- Tier 4 (Observation Period / High-Risk Alerts):
Risk Strategy: Real-Time Payout Hold. Immediate suspension of Off-ramp (fiat conversion) features, 100% deep on-chain transaction tracing (KYT), and secondary document verification.
2. iGaming Micro-Risk Operations
- Anti-Smurfing, Structuring & Anti-Money Laundering (AML): Configure system-level logic rules targeting low-wagering behaviors (e.g., players depositing and immediately attempting to cash out). If stablecoin deposits do not meet a 100%–300% wagering ratio requirement, instant payout triggers are blocked.
- Syndicate Fraud & Bonus Abuse: Combine merchant-side device fingerprinting, IP/VPN proxy detection, and blockchain address cluster identification to intercept syndicates abusing stablecoin deposits for bonus harvesting and laundering.
- Payout & Off-Ramp Security Control: Build a "C2B (Deposit) vs. B2C (Payout) Address Mapping Pool." Automatically trigger a Pause-and-Check protocol if a payout target stablecoin address is blacklisted, associated with mixers, or has no historical link to deposit sources.
3.CFD / Forex Broker Risk Operations
- Auditing B-Book & Ponzi Architectures: Uncover the operational models of offshore CFD platforms. For B-book operations (unhedged, high-leverage client loss models), monitor withdrawal liquidity failure risks to prevent sudden exit scams via large stablecoin outflows.
- Liquidity Pool & Margin Hedging Control: Monitor CFD settlement flows to prevent brokers from unlawfully redirecting client margins into on-chain DeFi staking or high-risk yield farming. Enforce segregated wallet architectures.
4.Stablecoin & On-Chain Risk Engineering
- Real-Time On-Chain Contamination Screening (KYT / Sanctions): Deploy TRM Labs / Chainalysis APIs with custom Risk Score Thresholds. System-level auto-rejection and transaction freezes trigger instantly if a deposit address exhibits direct exposure to Darknet markets, OFAC sanctions, scams, or hacks.
- Anti-Mixers & Chain-Hopping Alerts: Develop on-chain aggregation algorithms and warning mechanisms to detect illicit funds hopping across chains (e.g., TRC20-USDT to ERC20-USDC) or DEXs/Mixers to obscure audit trails.
- Travel Rule Implementation: Integrate Travel Rule protocols (e.g., Notabene, Sygna) for high-value stablecoin transfers (> $1,000 USD/EUR equivalent) to achieve automated VASP-to-VASP identity matching and compliant clearing.
5.Channel Health & Loss Mitigation
- Banking Rails & Upstream Off-Ramp Protection: Formulate traffic routing and shielding strategies to prevent illicit flows from individual iGaming/CFD merchants from contaminating upstream fiat banking partners and fiat rails.
- Chargeback & Dispute Recovery: Implement automated deduction mechanisms against merchant rolling reserves to cover fiat chargebacks resulting from stolen credit cards used to purchase crypto for iGaming/CFD deposits.
Qualifications
- 5+ years of hands-on experience leading Risk & Compliance operations at a PSP, Crypto Payment Gateway, Ramp provider, or 3rd-party payment institution.
- Direct operational risk experience handling transaction flows for iGaming or CFD/Forex/Crypto Brokers. Ability to articulate common fraud vectors, laundering paths, and payout security logic in these domains.
- Hands-on experience with Chainalysis (KYT/Reactor), TRM Labs, or Elliptic. Ability to independently configure Risk Engine parameters and optimize False Positive vs. False Negative ratios.
- Directly accountable for key operational metrics, including Loss Ratio, Approval Rate, Chargeback Rate, and False Positive Rate.
- Deep understanding of USDT (Tron, Ethereum, Solana) and USDC on-chain mechanics, blacklist mint/burn functions, and settlement nuances.
