Head of Risk

About Step

Step's mission is to improve the financial future of the next generation. Millions of people use our banking and borrowing products to manage, build, and grow their money. Now that we're part of Beast Industries – the company behind MrBeast – we're poised for a new phase of growth to deliver financial literacy and tools at massive scale.

About the Role

We're looking for a Head of Risk to lead our Risk team, partnering with Product, Engineering, Compliance and Data teams to own risk decisioning, scaling risk operations and minimizing fraud losses. You'll lead our high-performing risk team to drive decisions covering transactional risk, first party fraud, targeted fraud attacks, ATO risk and is no stranger to making difficult decisions delivering both great customer experiences, while also mitigating fraud. As part of Beast Industries, MrBeast's family of companies, Step is positioned to scale significantly over the next 12-24 months, and deliver best in class risk controls and protection will be critical to support that growth.

In this role, you will:

• Lead Step’s Risk strategy that balances aggressive fraud mitigation with a frictionless, world-class user experience
• Champion cross-functional partnership with Data Science, Product, Engineering, and Compliance to embed risk-aware decisioning into the product lifecycle
• Own Step’s fraud loss outcomes by partnering with Finance to balance revenue growth against risk overhead and operational costs
• Scale the Risk organization to meet hyper-growth demands, prioritizing automated, technical-first solutions to improve operational efficiency
• Drive continuous improvement of risk prediction models to minimize false positives and enhance precision in high-stakes environments
• Execute a customer-centric risk culture that views every mitigation effort through the lens of user trust and retention

You might thrive in this role if you have:

• 10+ years of high-impact risk leadership, with a strong preference for candidates offering expertise in risk analytics and/or data science
• Proven track record of analytical leadership, using data to navigate complex challenges and drive strategic business results
• Extensive experience within Fintech or Banking, specifically managing high-risk consumer technology environments and payment platforms
• Demonstrated success in neutralising transactional fraud while maintaining full accountability for fraud losses
• Expertise in developing defense strategies against sophisticated attack vectors, including first-party and friendly fraud
• History of collaborating with Product teams to deliver seamless, "good-customer" experiences without compromising security
• Proactive, outcome-oriented mindset with a deep commitment to advocating for the customer at every decision point
• Mastery of cross-functional influence, building consensus and alignment across disparate internal teams and stakeholders
• Extensive experience building and mentoring multi-disciplinary teams across Risk Ops, Analytics, Disputes, and Investigations

Logistics

Location: Remote (US) or San Mateo, CA, with occasional travel for team offsites and key meetings

Reports to: Chief Operating Officer

Education: Bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience

We encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every single qualification. Strong candidates rarely check every box, and we'd rather meet you than miss you.