Merchant Risk Analyst (Fintech)

Up to COMPETITIVE plus excellent bonus and benefits

Due to exciting business growth, we are recruiting on behalf of a leading UK-based FinTech EMI that specializes in card issuing and acquiring. As they scale their merchant portfolio, they are looking for a sharp, analytically-minded Risk Analyst to join their First Line of Defence team.  This position is deeply rooted in Merchant Monitoring and Investigations. You will be the "boots on the ground," investigating unusual merchant behaviour, assessing portfolio health, and ensuring the business stays ahead of fraud and chargeback risks.

Key Responsibilities of the Merchant Risk Analyst (Fintech) to include:

• Deep-Dive Investigations: Conduct end-to-end investigations into merchant activity, looking beyond the surface of transaction alerts to identify underlying risks or shifts in business models.
• Merchant Lifecycle Monitoring: Perform ongoing reviews of the active merchant book, ensuring processing trends, refund levels, and settlement patterns remain within risk appetite.
• Portfolio Surveillance: Monitor for "red flags" such as high chargeback ratios or suspicious spikes in volume, ensuring the business remains compliant with Visa, Mastercard, and UnionPay scheme rules.
• Risk Re-grading: Use your findings to recommend changes to merchant risk ratings, processing caps, or settlement delays.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Work closely with Onboarding, Underwriting, and Financial Crime teams to ensure a joined-up view of merchant risk.

Requirements for the successful Merchant Risk Analyst (Fintech) to include:

• Acquiring Experience is Essential: You must have a solid understanding of the card acquiring ecosystem. You should know the difference between an ISO, a Payment Gateway, and an Acquirer.
• Investigative Mindset: You aren't just looking to "close alerts"; you enjoy digging into data to find the "why" behind a merchant's behaviour.
• Scheme Knowledge: A working understanding of card scheme monitoring programmes (e.g., Visa’s VDMP/VFMP or Mastercard’s EFM/ECM) is highly advantageous.
• First Line Mentality: You understand that 1st Line risk is about balancing commercial growth with rigorous control execution.
• Data Literate: Comfortable using Excel or similar tools to spot trends and produce actionable reports.

Why Join?

This role offers a significant platform for progression, providing exposure to executive leadership and the opportunity to shape the risk culture of a scaling business.

• Location: Central London (Modern office facilities).
• Holidays: 30 days of annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Benefits: Private healthcare, company pension plan, and support for professional certifications (e.g., ICA, ACAMS).

This vacancy is being advertised by Montpellier Resourcing Associates Limited. The services advertised by Montpellier Associates Resourcing Limited are those of an Employment Agency