First Line Risk & Control Officer

Location: On site at location listed in job posting. 

The First Line Risk & Control Officer role sits within the first line of defense, working directly with business leaders and control owners and partnering with the second (2LOD) and third (3LOD) Lines of Defense to build and sustain a strong first line risk and control environment.

The role blends two complementary responsibilities. The individual helps shape the function itself by supporting the design of risk and control programs, documenting processes, strengthening the control inventory, establishing assessment cycles, and contributing to reporting that gives leadership a clear view of the risk profile. In equal measure, the individual manages risk in a live operating environment by driving issues to timely closure, escalating and analyzing operational risk events, responding to regulatory and audit inquiries, and serving as a trusted risk partner to the business.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

•     Issues management. Execute the first line issue lifecycle for assigned areas, including intake and validation, root cause analysis, action plan design, owner assignment, tracking, escalation of aging or at-risk items, closure evidence, and sustainability validation. Run recurring issue owner meetings and prepare closed items to withstand second line challenge, audit review, and regulatory examination.

•     Risk event management. Capture, triage, and escalate operational risk events within established thresholds and required timelines; perform root cause analysis; route events into the issue program where a control failed or was absent; and support thematic analysis across the event population.

•     Risk and control self-assessment (RCSA). Document the process universe for assigned areas, perform process-to-risk-to-control mapping, assess residual risk with the business, and drive control gaps and weak ratings into active remediation on a risk-based cadence under the enterprise methodology.

•     Controls management. Apply first line control standards, prioritizing higher-risk controls; document control design; confirm accountable owners; maintain inventory accuracy in the system of record; and support assessment of design and operating effectiveness.

•     Business partnership and proactive risk identification. Serve as a first line risk partner to assigned business leaders, carrying a risk-theme lens across their operation and identifying new and emerging risk ahead of events using indicators, event trends, and process knowledge.

•     Regulatory and audit engagement. Support first line responses to examinations, internal audit engagements, findings, and regulatory change in assigned areas, and help assess impacts to the risk and control environment.

•     Reporting, indicators, and risk culture. Contribute to recurring risk reporting and Risk and Control Forum materials for senior leadership and second line partners, monitor risk and control indicators, and promote ownership of risk responsibilities among first line associates.
 

QUALIFICATIONS: 
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Additionally, the qualifications listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required in this position:

•     Ten or more years of related experience in banking or a regulated financial institution, including at least five years of direct, hands-on experience in risk management, risk and control, or a comparable control discipline, including direct, hands-on ownership of issues management or risk and control self-assessment (RCSA).

•     Working proficiency across the first line risk and control toolkit, including issue lifecycle and remediation management, risk event and loss data management, control design documentation and testing, and regulatory and audit engagement.

•     Demonstrated ability to perform root cause analysis and author corrective action plans accepted by a second line risk function, internal audit, or a regulator.

•     Consumer banking, small business banking, or consumer lending knowledge sufficient to understand deposit, payment, digital channel, fraud, origination, and servicing processes.

•     Working knowledge of the three lines of defense model and the boundary between first line execution and second line oversight, with the ability to influence business leaders and control owners without direct authority and to produce written work suitable for senior leadership, audit, and regulators.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
 

•     Experience inside a first line risk and control or business control function.

•     Second line operational risk, First line Risk Management, internal audit, or regulatory examination background, and a clear view of what good looks like from that side of the table.

•     Experience in a risk and control function that was growing, scaling, or modernizing.

•     Familiarity with the risk domains concentrated in a consumer banking profile, including external fraud, manual processing error, technology and third-party dependence, data quality, and workforce and incentive risk.

•     Experience building or mapping a risk, control, or process taxonomy, and comfort applying automation and analytics to control testing and monitoring by designing test logic rather than executing tests manually.

•     Professional certification such as CRCM, CIA, CRMA, CAMS, PRM, or an equivalent.

EDUCATION:

Bachelor (4-year college) degree
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE REQUIRED: 

10+ years of related banking or financial services experience, including 5+ years of direct experience in risk management or first line risk and control, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
COMPUTER AND OFFICE EQUIPMENT SKILLS

1. Microsoft Office suite