Fraud Strategy Manager / Senior Manager (Transaction Fraud)

Job Summary

We are seeking a Fraud Strategy Manager or Senior Manager – Transaction Fraud to lead our transaction-level fraud decisions, account takeover controls, and payment hold strategy. This role will also be responsible for outburst detection and performance measurement.

About the Role

Reporting to the Chief Risk Officer, you will define transaction-level decisioning logic, build controls for account takeover and PII change events, and develop outburst detection strategies. You will also measure performance and monitor the fraud portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end framework for transaction-level fraud decisions: approve, decline, and conditional approval (step-up / challenge) across all Cardless-issued cards.

• Design and continuously tune decision logic that balances fraud loss prevention with authorization rates and cardholder experience.

• Define step-up and cardholder challenge strategies (e.g., OTP, push notification) for elevated-risk transactions, including triggers, cadence, and fallback handling.

• Partner with data science to translate model scores into operational policy; define score thresholds, override logic, and population segmentation.

• Build the fraud control framework for account takeover, covering credential compromise, SIM swap, social engineering, and call center impersonation vectors.

• Define detection logic and intervention strategy for high-risk account events: address changes, phone/email updates, card reissue requests, and beneficiary modifications.

• Establish authentication and step-up requirements for sensitive account changes, balancing fraud prevention with legitimate cardholder self-service.

• Track ATO rates, detection coverage, and false positive impact; build feedback loops to continuously refine controls.

• Define the strategy for placing, managing, and releasing holds on payment activity (ACH payments, statement payments, balance transfers) based on fraud risk signals.

• Identify high-risk payment patterns: funding fraud, payment reversal abuse, and bust-out payment behavior, and design controls to intercept them before loss is realized.

• Establish clear SLAs and cardholder communication standards for payment holds to minimize friction for legitimate customers.

• Build the detection and response framework for outburst events: coordinated fraud attacks, BIN attacks, merchant-level compromise, and fraud ring activity.

• Define real-time and near-real-time monitoring thresholds that trigger outburst protocols, including auto-controls and escalation paths.

• Lead the strategic response to active outbursts: scoping the affected population, applying targeted controls, and coordinating cross-functionally with Operations, Product, and network partners.

• Conduct post-event reviews to extract learnings and harden detection for future attacks.

• Define and own the KPI framework for transaction fraud: fraud rate by transaction type, channel, and partner; false positive rate; authorization decline rate; ATO rate; chargeback rate; and outburst loss exposure.

• Conduct regular portfolio reviews to surface emerging fraud patterns, track loss trends, and assess control effectiveness.

• Build reporting infrastructure to enable real-time monitoring and rapid policy response.

• Partner with Product and Engineering to translate fraud strategy into system requirements and influence roadmap prioritization.

• Work with Compliance and Legal to ensure transaction controls meet Reg E, Reg Z, network operating regulations, and UDAAP requirements.

• Collaborate with Customer Operations to handle cardholder disputes, false positive escalations, and ATO recovery workflows.

Requirements

• 5–10 years of experience in transaction fraud strategy at a credit card issuer, fintech, payments network, or financial institution.

• Deep expertise in transaction fraud decisioning: CNP fraud, card-present fraud, ATO, payment fraud, and coordinated fraud attacks.

• Strong working knowledge of Visa, Mastercard, and/or Amex network rules: authorization, chargeback, dispute frameworks, and fraud monitoring programs.

• Experience owning ATO and account event fraud controls, including PII change monitoring and authentication strategy.

• Familiarity with payment hold strategy and funding fraud vectors (ACH returns, payment reversal abuse, bust-out patterns).

• Experience designing or responding to outburst / fraud ring events, including real-time detection and response.

• Strong SQL skills and experience using data to build, evaluate, and tune fraud rules and models.

• Excellent communication skills: you can translate complex fraud tradeoffs into clear recommendations for executives, card network partners, and compliance teams.

• Proactive, bias-to-action mindset: you move quickly, ask the right questions, and drive alignment across teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Finance, Economics, or a related field.

• Experience with fraud analytics tools and platforms.

• Knowledge of regulatory requirements and compliance standards relevant to financial services.

Skills

• Advanced SQL and data analysis skills.

• Experience with fraud modeling and machine learning techniques.

• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

• Ability to work independently and manage multiple projects simultaneously.

Benefits

• Meaningful start-up equity

• 100% health, vision & dental primary coverage ➕ 75% health, vision & dental dependent coverage

• Catered lunches

• $250/month Commuter benefit

• Parental leave

• Flexible PTO with a minimum of 15 days off per year

• Apple equipment

• 401k plan

Pay

The annual starting salary range for this role is $150,000 - $210,000 + equity + benefits.