Director,Payments Risk and Compliance Job Toronto area,Ontario Canada,Finance & Banking

Join a Challenger

At EQ, we're remaking banking so every Canadian gets ahead, every day. Serving nearly 4 million Canadians from coast to coast, we offer a wide variety of financial services from banking and lending, to trust and credit union solutions.

We've been at this since 1970, challenging the conventions of traditional banking with smarter, faster, and more connected financial experiences.

What's kept us moving?

The people behind it all: challengers who ask better questions, push back on old assumptions, and look for a better way forward.

If you're driven to help reshape how banking works for Canadians and the businesses that power our economy, this could be your next big opportunity.

We can't wait to get to know you!

The Work

The Director, Payments Risk & Compliance is the first-line accountability leader for all risk and compliance activities across the bank's B2B Payments & Partnerships business line, including BIN Sponsorship, program management, and strategic fintech partnerships.

This role is responsible for establishing and leading a comprehensive first-line risk framework, ensuring that all payment activities operate within the bank's risk appetite, regulatory expectations (e.g., RPAA, FINTRAC, network rules), and contractual obligations.

The Director plays a critical leadership role in balancing growth and risk, partnering closely with Product, Legal, Compliance (2nd line), and external partners to enable compliant innovation while maintaining robust controls across third-party risk, credit/financial risk, operational risk, regulatory/reputational risk, and exit planning.

This role ensures that all activities operate within the bank’s established risk appetite, comply with applicable regulatory and network requirements, and are supported by sound controls and governance. The Risk Manager works closely with second-line functions to ensure that risks are effectively identified, assessed, mitigated, and monitored.

The ideal candidate combines deep payments industry knowledge with strong risk management, governance, and control capabilities, and can navigate the intersection of traditional banking oversight and modern fintech partnerships.

The Core Responsibilities

First-Line Risk Leadership & Governance

Act as the designated first-line risk owner for all B2B Payments activities.
Serve as the first-line risk owner for B2B Payments business activities, ensuring compliance with the bank's risk management framework and regulatory expectations.
Lead ongoing risk assessments (including Third Party Risk Management, Regulatory Compliance Management) and control testing across all B2B payments processes.
Partner with second-line functions to align business practices with enterprise risk frameworks, policies, and regulatory guidance.
Guide the Risk and Control Self-Assessment (RCSA) process for all significant business activities and lines of business, assessing and challenging the inherent and residual risk.
Establish and maintain a comprehensive risk governance framework across Payments, aligned to enterprise risk management standards.
Define and enforce risk appetite, tolerances, and escalation protocols specific to payments programs and partnerships.
Lead RCSA, NIRA, and risk governance forums; ensure effective challenge of residual risk positions.
Provide executive-level risk reporting and insights to senior leadership and Board committees.

End-to-End Risk & Control Framework

Oversee design and execution of controls across:
Third-Party Risk (TPRM) – onboarding, due diligence, ongoing monitoring
Credit & Financial Risk – partner financial health, reserve frameworks, exposure management
Operational Risk – processing, settlement, reconciliation, fraud controls
Regulatory & Compliance Risk – RPAA, AML/ATF, network compliance (Visa/Mastercard)
Legal & Reputational Risk – use case and program structure, branding, consumer protection
Ensure all processes are supported by auditable, scalable, and technology-enabled controls.
Work with product and implementation team on New Initiative Risk Assessment (NIRA) process and the New Initiative Approval Process (NIAP) for new initiatives to properly assess and mitigate high…

Director, Payments Risk and Compliance