Job responsibilities
- Review merchant applications, websites, ownership and business information, credit reports, bank statements, prior processing statements, internal history, and approved fraud-risk tools
- Validate business legitimacy and evaluate products or services, sales channels, and customer experience considerations
- Assess expected processing volume, average transaction size, fulfillment timing, refund practices, dispute and chargeback patterns, and processing history
- Calculate or validate processing exposure and non-delivery exposure; assign or confirm the appropriate Merchant Category Code
- Identify restricted, prohibited, or heightened-risk activity and complete or coordinate required due diligence
- Make or recommend approval, decline, retention, restriction, or termination decisions within established authority and risk appetite
- Contact merchants and internal partners to obtain missing information, resolve discrepancies, and document a clear decision rationale
- Serve as a primary contact for merchant risk escalations and provide an independent recommendation to onboard, retain, restrict, terminate, or escalate
- Perform or coordinate enhanced due diligence for elevated-risk merchants, including licensing, registration, ownership, and business-practice reviews where applicable
- Maintain complete, accurate, and audit-ready documentation of evidence, calculations, decisions, conditions, approvals, and escalations
- Identify recurring risks, control gaps, and policy ambiguities; recommend improvements to procedures, training, documentation, or systems
Required qualifications, capabilities and skills
- Minimum 3 years of experience in merchant underwriting, payments risk, fraud risk, credit risk, or a related financial risk discipline
- Demonstrated ability to analyze merchant documentation (for example: bank statements, processing statements, ownership and business information) and synthesize an evidence-based decision
- Working knowledge of merchant risk concepts including disputes, chargebacks, refunds, fulfillment/non-delivery exposure, and prohibited or restricted business activity
- Ability to apply documented risk criteria consistently and operate within defined approval authority and escalation requirements
- Strong attention to detail with the ability to maintain accurate, audit-ready documentation and a clear decision rationale
- Effective written and verbal communication skills, including comfort contacting merchants to clarify information and resolve discrepancies
- Ability to manage multiple reviews concurrently while meeting service-level and quality expectations
- Proficiency with spreadsheet and documentation tools for analysis, tracking, and reporting
- Understanding of relevant legal, regulatory, and payment-network requirements for merchant onboarding and monitoring
- Commitment to fair, consistent customer treatment and sound risk outcomes
Preferred qualifications, capabilities and skills
- Experience supporting enhanced due diligence reviews for elevated-risk merchants
- Experience evaluating complex or emerging merchant business models and sales channels (for example: online marketplaces or subscription-based models)
- Familiarity with Merchant Category Code assignment governance and high-risk category considerations
- Experience partnering with Risk, Legal, Compliance, Controls, Operations, Sales, Client Management, and know your customer / anti-money laundering stakeholders
- Experience participating in audits, control reviews, or issue remediation related to underwriting decisions and record retention
- Ability to identify policy gaps and propose practical improvements to procedures, training, or tooling
- Experience using approved fraud or risk tools to support merchant review and monitoring