Onboarding Risk Team Lead

What do we do?

Paddle offers SaaS companies a completely different approach to their payment infrastructure. Instead of assembling and maintaining a complex stack of payments-related apps and services, we’re a Merchant of Record for our customers. That means we take away 100% of the pain of payment fragmentation. It’s faster, safer, cheaper, and, above all, way better.

We’re backed by investors including KKR, FTV Capital, Kindred, Notion, and 83North and serve over 5000 software sellers in 245 territories globally.

The Role:

We are looking for a highly motivated self-starter who will bring with them a solid background in leadership and onboarding risk management in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment. You will be accountable for the Onboarding Risk Team, evaluating prospective SaaS suppliers and monitoring transactions for high-risk accounts in their early stages. You will report to and support the Onboarding Risk Manager to identify and drive improvements to ensure our risk processes are holistic, compliant, and of exceptional standards.

This position requires someone who can think outside the box, has a “can do” attitude, has strong onboarding and leadership experience in ecommerce, and a willingness to learn and adapt in the ever changing world of payments.

Your key responsibilities will be

• Managing daily operations of the Onboarding Risk team, including coordinating workflows, ensuring timely task completion, and optimising resource allocation to maintain efficiency and compliance.

• Growing and developing the team by helping to recruit, providing coaching, mentorship, and training opportunities, and fostering a culture of continuous professional growth, performance improvement, and positivity.

• Supporting teams on complex applications and decision-making by offering expert guidance, reviewing high-stakes scenarios, and collaborating to resolve challenges while minimising potential risks.

• Documenting, maintaining, and improving procedures to ensure accuracy, accessibility, and alignment with evolving standards and best practices.

• Building internal and external relationships for the Risk department through networking, stakeholder engagement, and collaboration with other departments to enhance information sharing and strategic alignment.

• Overseeing and assisting with risk management activities, such as identifying emerging threats, implementing mitigation strategies, and monitoring overall risk exposure to safeguard organisational objectives.

In addition to your key day to day responsibilities you will also collaborate with the Legal & Compliance, Customer Support, Operations, and Product teams in projects to help improve the overall Risk function at Paddle.

What you'll do:

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of high-performing analysts focused on onboarding by setting clear goals, priorities and SLAs and providing ongoing feedback, performance evaluations, and career development opportunities to build a high-performing team

• Provide guidance on complex escalations, offering timely resolutions, sharing best practices, and upholding risk processes

• Provide expertise on onboarding, screening, and monitoring processes, facilitating cross-functional alignment and contributing to informed, risk-aware strategies.

• Be confident in making judgment calls, often based on limited information, to balance speed with accuracy in dynamic environments

• Communicate in a clear and concise manner across all levels of the organisation, including written reports, verbal updates, and presentations

• Apply and enforce Paddle’s Acceptable Use Policy along with scheme and PSP obligations, while maintaining compliance to mitigate legal and operational risks.

• Drive continuous improvement initiatives aimed at reducing false positives and increasing operational efficiencies without elevating loss exposure

• Prepare clear communications on incidents, trends, and actions, including executive-ready report summaries

• Continuously evaluate and improve risk processes and workflows by identifying bottlenecks, incorporating feedback, and testing enhancements to ensure they remain scalable and aligned with industry standards

• Conduct quality assurance (QA) reviews on analysts’ cases to verify accuracy, completeness, and adherence to processes, providing positive and constructive feedback

• Create and maintain process documentation to keep Paddle's risk management practices efficient

• Create and deploy new hire training programs, along with ongoing training opportunities

We'd love to hear from you if you are:

• You have 4+ years experience in a risk, or financial crime team within payments (ideally within Merchant Acquiring, E-Commerce, or a similar role at a FinTech)

• You have 2+ years experience in team leadership

• You are familiar with the specific risks associated with software, SaaS, and Generative AI

• You are comfortable working with team members in multiple time zones

• You have a positive attitude and enjoy supporting and nurturing others

• You bring solutions to the table and you aren’t afraid to point out where you’re/ we’re going wrong

• You have excellent communication skills

• You’re comfortable with a little chaos and uncertainty. We move fast and must make decisions quickly

Everyone is welcome at Paddle

At Paddle, we’re committed to removing invisible barriers, both for our customers and within our own teams. We recognise and celebrate that every Paddler is unique and we welcome every individual perspective. As an inclusive employer, we don’t care if, or where, you studied, what you look like or where you’re from. We’re more interested in your craft, curiosity, passion for learning and what you’ll add to our culture. We encourage you to apply even if you don’t match every part of the job ad, especially if you’re part of an underrepresented group.

Please let us know if there’s anything we can do to better support you through the application process and in the workplace. We will do everything we can to support any accommodations needed. We’re committed to building a diverse team where everyone feels safe to be their authentic self. Let’s grow together.

Why you’ll love working at Paddle

We are a diverse, growing group of Paddlers across the globe who pride ourselves on our transparent, collaborative and respectful culture.

We live and breathe our values, which are:

Paddle for Others

Paddle Together

Paddle Simply

We offer a full suite of benefits, including attractive salaries, stock options, retirement plans, private healthcare and well-being initiatives.

We are a ‘digital-first’ company, which means you can work remotely, from one of our stylish hubs, or even a bit of both! We offer all team members unlimited holidays and 4 months of paid family leave regardless of gender. We invest in learning and will help you with your personal development via constant exposure to new challenges, an annual learning fund, and regular internal and external training.