Head of Fraud, Payments & Banking - Kraken

About the Role

Kraken is looking for a Head of Fraud, Payments & Banking to own the strategy, governance, and day-to-day execution of payments and banking fraud prevention programs—from front-line detection and analyst operations through policy design and executive reporting.

This role carries a mandate to bring a consistent global coverage lens across all markets, ensuring fraud controls, payments oversight, and banking risk programs meet regulatory bars across all operating jurisdictions.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategy & Vision: Own the end-to-end payments and banking fraud prevention strategy across all Kraken products, establishing roadmaps and OKRs in collaboration with Product, Engineering, Security, Compliance, and Legal.
• Team Leadership: Build, lead, and mentor a multi-tiered fraud organization (analysts, investigators, and managers), creating clear career progression frameworks.
• Industry & Regulatory Alignment: Work closely with the Executive Team and regulators to proactively track emerging fraud trends, payment technologies, and regulatory shifts (including UK/EU frameworks like FCA and PSR).
• Fraud Policy & Controls: Design, implement, and maintain fraud policies, rule frameworks, and risk assessment controls across card, third-party, and peer-to-peer payments.
• Operations & Systems: Oversee fraud detection systems, optimize real-time alert queues to meet SLA and QA standards, and manage escalation pathways for complex fraud cases.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Act as the primary bridge between Fraud Operations and Customer Support, Compliance, Legal, Product, and Security.
• Analytics & Reporting: Direct data analysis and reporting on key fraud and payment metrics, providing actionable insights to executive leadership on daily, weekly, and quarterly cadences.

What You Bring

• 10+ years of experience in banking, payment processing, or fraud risk management, including experience building and leading a fraud team.
• Proven track record managing both strategic fraud/payments programs and high-volume front-line analyst operations.
• Strong expertise in Card, Third-Party, and Peer-to-Peer payment fraud, along with banking compliance frameworks.
• Working knowledge of non-US regulatory regimes (e.g., FCA, PSR) relevant to fraud, payments, and banking; experience operating under UK/EU regulators strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and associated fraud risk vectors.
• Strong data analytics capability with experience guiding business decisions through data-driven insight.
• Excellent executive communication, interpersonal, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (Computer Science, Business Administration, Finance) or equivalent practical experience preferred.