Senior Operational Risk Manager - Mercury

Mercury is revolutionizing finance for startups by building a complete, user-friendly banking* stack. We prioritize creating a secure and seamless experience for entrepreneurs while upholding the highest standards of compliance and safety.

In this role, you will own the day-to-day operation of Mercury's Operational Risk program. You will report to the Head of Operational Risk, within the Risk organization under the Chief Risk Officer, and partner closely with first-line risk teams, Compliance, Third-Party Risk, Information Security, and Internal Audit.

You will run the centralized issues and events program, coordinate risk and control assessments with first line teams, and drive reporting that give leadership and the Board a clear view of operational risk. This is a builder role. Much of the program is being stood up now, and you will have the autonomy to shape how it operates as Mercury prepares to operate as a bank.

*Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC.

Key Responsibilities

• Set the risk and control assessment standard. Review and challenge first-line RCMs; independently test design and operating effectiveness on critical processes and issue findings.
• Oversee the operational event program: challenge first-line root cause, ratings and fixes; trend events across the enterprise.
• Own the centralized issues management program across operational events, incidents, testing and regulatory findings, from intake and triage through remediation tracking, validation, and closure.
• Define enterprise KRIs and thresholds for each L2, tied to risk appetite, and aggregate first-line metrics into Board reporting.
• Partner with 1LOD teams, InfoSec, Compliance and model risk owners to collect inputs, challenge assessments and make sure risks are raised early.
• Provide second-line review and concurrence on high-risk new activities.
• Write and maintain the ORM standards, procedures and templates that first-line teams execute against.
• Support regulatory examinations, audits, and charter readiness reviews.

Candidate Profile

• 8+ years in operational risk, compliance, or internal audit at a bank or a fintech partnered with a bank.
• Hands-on ownership of an issues management or operational event program, including severity rating, escalation, and validation of remediation.
• Experience administering a GRC platform (LogicGate, Archer, or similar), including workflow configuration and reporting.
• Strong data skills: you turn raw issue and event data into trends leadership can act on.
• Familiarity with interagency and OCC expectations for operational risk management.
• Ability to challenge constructively, with evidence, while maintaining strong relationships with the teams you oversee.
• Ability to find, prioritize, and execute key projects independently, balancing program build with daily operations.

Compensation

Our target new hire base salary ranges for this role are:

• US (NYC, LA, Seattle, or SF Bay Area): $199,900 — $249,900 USD
• US (Other locations): $179,900 — $224,900 USD
• Canada (Any location): $189,000 — $236,200 CAD