Payments Risk & Reporting Specialist

Lead is a fintech building banking infrastructure for embedded financial products and services. We operate an FDIC-insured bank headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Additionally, we have offices in San Francisco, Sunnyvale, and New York City, where our technical, product, design, and legal teams operate.

We are built for a constantly evolving financial landscape, where new ventures and technological advancements emerge daily. Guided by a team of entrepreneurs and technologists with decades of experience navigating intricate banking and payments regulations, Lead blends regulatory and technological expertise to help our fintech partners scale their operations with compliance and creativity.

Simply put, Lead offers the essential attributes that every fintech seeks in a partner bank. First, unparalleled technical expertise from a distinguished team of developers with an extensive understanding of the banking and payments systems. Second, oversight expertise, automated compliance systems, and bespoke program management to navigate the ever-shifting regulatory landscape. Finally, a commitment to transparency and operational rigor to ensure everyone’s money does what it’s supposed to do.

As a Community Bank, we provide personalized banking services and solutions to support the businesses, individuals, and charitable organizations of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, both in branch and online. We are committed to fostering strong relationships, supporting local economic growth, and we believe in the power of being an integral part of the community we serve.

Role Description

The Payments Risk & Reporting Specialist serves as the analytical DRI for the safety and compliance of the bank’s payment activities. This role maintains a dual focus: providing bank-wide oversight through daily and monthly reporting for all clients, while leading specialized risk assessments specifically for the Traditional Community Banking (TCB) portfolio. You will perform the analytical heavy lifting—monitoring return rate volatility and tracking Third-Party Sender (TPS) activity—to ensure that all payment activity remains within the bank’s risk appetite.

Key Responsibilities

• Portfolio Oversight: Monitor payment reports across the entire client base to detect early warning signs of fraud, credit risk, or compliance deviations.

• TCB Risk Architecture: Lead recurring risk reviews and gather updated due diligence specifically for TCB clients, ensuring their activity remains aligned with bank policy and original business use cases.

• Audit & Exam Facilitation: Act as a key technical resource during internal and external audits; you will be responsible for providing payment data and documentation requested by auditors. You will also serve as a subject matter expert to address follow-up inquiries, providing clear explanations of payment workflows and risk controls.

• Return Rate Management: Monitor monthly return reports for all clients, identifying accounts that exceed thresholds. You will lead the outreach and follow-up process, working directly with clients to resolve issues and bring activity back into alignment.

• Regulatory Compliance: Apply NACHA operating rules and federal regulatory requirements to your assessments, ensuring that the TCB portfolio is consistently prepared for regulatory scrutiny.

Qualifications

• Professional Background: 5+ years of expertise in ACH and Wire operations, with a strong understanding of commercial banking risk profiles. Experience navigating the Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) or Fintech landscapes is highly desirable.

• Technical Proficiency: Knowledge of Fiserv products, including Finxact and Payments Exchange as well as Q2 online banking preferred. Experience with APIs is a plus.

• Certification: AAP Accreditation strongly preferred (additional Nacha-related accreditations and certifications are a plus).

• Analytical Rigor: A self-directed professional with a "detective mindset" needed to spot patterns in large data sets and the judgment to take decisive action when activity deviates from the norm.

• Audit & Compliance Mindset: Experience navigating the audit process, with a high degree of comfort pulling technical reports and explaining payment workflows to auditors or examiners.

• Personal Profile: Mission-driven and adaptable, with a strong "roll up your sleeves" attitude. You bring high attention to detail to recurring monitoring while remaining proactive in a growth-oriented environment.

• Operational Architecture & Ownership: You don't just follow a checklist; you own the process. We’re looking for someone who proactively identifies operational gaps and has the drive to design and implement process improvements that strengthen our risk posture and streamline interdepartmental workflows.

What we offer

At Lead, we design our benefits to support company culture and principles, to foster an efficient and inspiring work environment, and to create the conditions for our team to give their best in both work and life

• Competitive compensation based on experience, geographic location, and role

• Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, 401k Matching, and other wellness benefits, including FSA, HSA and HRA

• Paid parental leave

• Flexible vacation policy, including PTO and paid holidays

• A fun and challenging team environment in a dynamic industry with ample opportunities for career growth

*Lead Bank is proud to have an inclusive culture committed to ensuring equal employment opportunity in all employment decisions regardless of race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, veteran status or any other legally protected status.

*Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

**Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several US geographic markets. Pay is based on a number of factors and may vary depending on geographical market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. These ranges may be modified in the future.

Zone 1: $107,500 - $126,500 (SF/Bay Area, NYC, Seattle)

Zone 2: $90,000 - $110,000 (Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, Denver, Boston, Washington DC, San Diego, Philadelphia, Portland, Sacramento, Miami)

Zone 3: $75,000 - $95,000 (Other US Metros)

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