Pliant
Senior Manager Operational Risk (UK) (m/f/d)
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About Us
Pliant is a modular B2B payments platform that combines commercial card issuing, payment accounts, FX, and spend management in one system — adapting to existing setups rather than requiring customers to replace them.
Businesses across industries such as travel, e-commerce, and insurance use Pliant to manage complex payment workflows with cards, backed by credit lines Pliant underwrites itself.
Fintechs and software platforms embed Pliant's payment infrastructure into their own products, from API-based Cards-as-a-Service to fully white-label solutions. Banks use Pliant's Card & Spend OS, the customer-facing interface, on their own infrastructure to run card programs.
Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Berlin, Pliant serves 5,000+ businesses and 40+ partners across Europe and the United States. A principal member of Visa and Mastercard, Pliant issues commercial cards in 13 currencies across 32 countries — under its own European e-money license and with licensed partners in the UK and US.
Learn more at www.getpliant.com
About the Role
As Senior Manager Operational Risk (m/f/d), you own the design and operation of the operational risk framework for the UK entity and make sure it meets Pliant’s risk appetite and FCA expectations for a card-issuing e-money business.
This role is based in the UK remote but if you are based in London, our office is open for you to work in.
What You’ll Do
Operational Risk Framework & Governance
- Maintain and improve the operational risk framework (risk appetite, risk taxonomy, policies, RCSA, KRIs, loss event and near-miss data, scenario analysis).
- Make sure governance and controls meet Pliant’s minimum standards, FCA requirements on systems and controls (SYSC) and the e-money and payment services conduct and prudential requirements.
- Provide regular, decision-oriented risk reporting to UK management, the UK Board and the Group Risk Committee.
- Advise on operational risk implications of new products, partners, markets and material changes (change risk assessments, new-product approval).
Safeguarding & Core E-Money / Payments Processes
- Oversee operational risk in the safeguarding of customer funds: reconciliations, account structure, third-party safeguarding providers, breaks and escalation, in line with the FCA’s safeguarding requirements.
- Assess end-to-end risks across the card programme (issuing, authorisation, clearing and settlement, chargebacks, fraud, scheme rule compliance with Visa and processors).
- Challenge the First Line on process, control and capacity risks as the business scales.
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Incident Management & Regulatory Reporting
- Own the incident management framework for operational and ICT/security incidents: classification, escalation, root cause analysis, remediation tracking.
- Make sure major operational and security incidents are assessed and reported to the FCA within the required timelines (PSRs 2017 incident reporting).
- Run post-incident reviews and feed the lessons learned back into the control framework.
Operational Resilience
- Lead the operational resilience programme under SYSC 15A: identify Important Business Services, set and test impact tolerances, run scenario testing, map dependencies and maintain the self-assessment.
- Oversee business continuity, disaster recovery and exit/wind-down planning, including alignment of RTO/RPO with impact tolerances.
Outsourcing & Third-Party Risk
- Own the third-party and outsourcing risk framework in line with the FCA’s outsourcing requirements (SYSC 8 and the FCA’s guidance for payment services and e-money firms), including intra-group outsourcing to Pliant GmbH.
- Run due diligence and ongoing monitoring of critical vendors (processors, cloud and banking partners), including exit plans and contractual requirements.
- Prepare and maintain material outsourcing notifications to the FCA.
Regulatory Engagement & Assurance
- Act as the day-to-day contact for the FCA on operational risk topics, in coordination with the senior management and the Compliance/MLRO function.
- Support regulatory reviews, audits and certification audits; track findings through to closure.
- Support the annual review of the risk framework and the regulatory returns that depend on operational risk data.
Culture & Training
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- Embed a strong risk culture; deliver training on incident reporting, operational resilience and risk ownership.
What You’ll Bring
- Degree in Risk Management, Finance, Information Systems or a related field (or equivalent experience).
- 5+ years in operational risk in payments, e-money, banking or fintech, ideally in an FCA-regulated EMI or PI.
- Solid knowledge of the UK regulatory framework for e-money and payments: EMRs, PSRs 2017, SYSC, operational resilience, safeguarding and outsourcing requirements.
- Hands-on experience with RCSA, KRIs, incident management and resilience testing.
- Ability to challenge the First Line constructively and to report clearly to senior management and regulators.
- Experience working with distributed teams across the UK and Germany
Nice to Have
- CRISC, CISM, ISO 22301 or ISO 27001 Lead Implementer/Auditor.
- Experience with card scheme (Visa/Mastercard) rules and PCI DSS.
- Familiarity with DORA (relevant for the EU group entities).
- German or another European language
What We Offer
The opportunity to work in a growing team with big responsibilities that thrives on a strong exchange of knowledge and excellence
- Attractive remuneration
- Flat hierarchy and transparent communication in a relaxed, professional atmosphere
- Opportunity to develop your talent in a dynamic team with ambitious goals
- Flexibility and possibility to work remotely
- Pliant Card with monthly credit to explore the product and enjoy food with colleagues
Pliant is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities and abilities, and are committed to an inclusive hiring process. If you need any accommodations during the interview process, please let us know.
At Pliant we use the Ashby AI Criteria to assist with looking over resumes against our job qualifications for this role. All final decisions are made by our Talent Team and Hiring Team. A human is behind these processes. Ashby does not automatically reject candidates or make final hiring decisions. Our teams review all results and make the final hiring decision with every candidate that applies.
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