Fintech Risk Associate

Grasshopper Bank is a client-first, digital bank built for the business and innovation economy, with an obsession for providing leading-edge technology, solutions-driven products and superior service through a combination of passionate people and digital resources. We are a highly experienced team who pride ourselves on diversity of thought and perspective. Nationally chartered, our portfolio of products and services range from VC, PE & Portfolio Companies to SBA Lending, as well as direct SMB and Embedded Banking. Our entrepreneurial drive allows us to support the growth and success of a wide range of clients at every stage of their business through inclusive partnership. We seek out team members who will enable both our organization and our people to grow and thrive through collaboration and acting with integrity and respect. Our focus on cross-functional teamwork provides a culture where ideas are valued, accountability is encouraged, and successes are celebrated. We welcome all those searching for the opportunity to contribute to banking innovation that influences and supports the emerging digital world of Financial Services. Our digital first approach enables our teams the flexibility to work remotely. We have offices in NYC and Boston.

What you'll do:

Reporting to the Director of Fintech Risk, the Fintech Risk Associate will independently execute risk-management activities across Grasshopper Bank’s Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) portfolio. This second-line role serves as a trusted risk advisor to business leaders, internal stakeholders, and fintech partners, owning due diligence, ongoing monitoring, remediation, and cross-functional initiatives.

• Lead risk-based due diligence for prospective fintech partners, evaluating business model, products, inherent risk, control design and effectiveness, residual risk, regulatory considerations, and operational environment; present findings and recommendations to senior management before onboarding.
• Own pre- and post-launch risk and compliance requirements for new partners, tracking commitments and ensuring launch-readiness.
• Conduct ongoing monitoring, testing, quality assurance, and risk reviews for assigned partners; assess adherence to Bank policies, regulatory requirements, contractual obligations, and approved risk tolerances.
• Track findings and remediation plans to closure, identify trends and emerging risks, and escalate material issues appropriately. Own process enhancements to due diligence, monitoring, testing, and assessment templates to improve consistency, efficiency, and risk coverage.
• Serve as a primary risk and compliance contact for assigned fintech partners. Build trusted relationships, field partner questions and requests, coordinate timely responses, and provide practical guidance on Bank requirements and applicable regulations.
• Develop a deep understanding of each partner’s business model, products, customer journey, technology and operations, control framework, and risk profile.
• Evaluate proposed products, features, customer journeys, and partnership structures for risk, compliance, control, and operational considerations; help enable responsible launches by defining requirements, mitigations, and approval conditions.
• Partner with BSA, Embedded Finance, Operations, Product, Legal, Information Security, Compliance, Technology, and other teams to assess risks, implement controls, and resolve issues.
• Own cross-functional initiatives from scope through implementation, managing workplans, dependencies, stakeholder alignment, decisions, and outcomes.
• Maintain a prioritized roadmap for control gaps and process improvements; contribute to policies, procedures, monitoring programs, reporting, dashboards, presentations, and governance materials.
• Monitor developments in fintech, payments, lending, and regulation and assess implications for the Bank’s BaaS portfolio.

What you need:

• Typically 5–8 years of experience in banking, fintech, risk management, compliance, third-party risk management, internal audit, or a related field, with demonstrated ability to independently lead risk assessments, due diligence, monitoring, testing, issue management, or remediation.
• Strong experience with financial crimes compliance, including BSA/AML, OFAC watchlists and sanctions, and fraud risk.
• Working knowledge of banking and payments compliance, including UDAAP; NACHA, Visa/Mastercard, FedNow, and The Clearing House RTP; Reg E, Reg Z, Reg DD, Reg CC, ECOA, and FCRA; and data privacy requirements such as GLBA, FCRA, and applicable state laws.
• Experience with Third-Party Risk Management and related interagency guidance from the OCC, FDIC, and Federal Reserve.
• Knowledge of fintech, payments, embedded finance, BaaS, or lending business models; experience with Lending-as-a-Service, fintech lending, loan products, or lending-partner risk management is a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to manage external relationships, field partner requests, communicate with senior stakeholders, and influence without direct authority.
• Proven project-management, analytical, problem-solving, decision-making, risk-escalation, and reporting skills, including experience reviewing or developing risk assessment, monitoring, testing, and reporting templates and processes.
• Strong judgment, attention to detail, collaboration, creativity, and ability to prioritize competing demands in an evolving environment.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant work experience.

Originally posted on Himalayas