Manager - Merchant Acquiring Risk

Pine Labs Singapore
Singapore, SG
On-site

Why this role

Pace
Steady
Collaboration
High
Autonomy
Medium
Decision Impact
Team
Role Level
Team Lead

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • lead and execute the operational risk framework
  • protect the platform, customers, and partner banks from fraud
Typical background
Master's or PhD in Finance, Risk Management, or related fieldExperience in merchant acquiring risk and transaction monitoring

Transferable backgrounds

  • Coming from risk analyst
  • Coming from fraud analyst

Skills & requirements

Required

Merchant Acquiring RiskTransaction MonitoringAML ControlsChargeback ManagementFraud Detection

Preferred

Ai-enabled Risk OperationsReal-time Decisioning

Stack & domain

Merchant Acquiring RiskTransaction MonitoringAml ControlsChargeback Management

About the role

Original posting from Pine Labs Singapore

We at Pine Labs are looking for those who share our core belief - “Every Day is Game day”. We bring our best selves to work each day to realize our mission of enriching the world through the power of digital commerce and financial services.

Role Purpose The Senior Manager Merchant Acquiring Risk is responsible for leading and executing the operational risk framework across Pine Labs’ card acquiring business, supporting secure scale across Southeast Asia. The role oversees key elements of the risk lifecycle including merchant onboarding risk, transaction monitoring, AML controls, chargeback and dispute management, ensuring alignment with regulatory and network standards.

As the acquiring business grows in scale, complexity, and transaction velocity, this role plays a critical part in protecting the platform, customers, and partner banks from fraud, misuse, financial loss, and operational risk.

The Senior

Manager/Manager is expected to drive continuous improvement in risk controls and contribute to the evolution from traditional rule‑based systems to intelligent, data‑led and AI‑enabled risk operations, embedding automation and real‑time decisioning into day‑to‑day risk management.

Responsibilities we entrust you with:

  • Merchant Onboarding & KYB Risk
  • Execute and manage KYB (Know Your Business) and merchant due diligence processes across assigned SEA markets, ensuring adherence to internal policies and regulatory expectations.
  • Apply defined merchant risk segmentation and tiering frameworks based on factors such as MCC, transaction volumes, and geography.
  • Operate and monitor automated onboarding risk scoring tools and workflows, including watchlist checks and adverse media screening.
  • Review and escalate high‑risk onboarding cases in line with defined approval and governance thresholds.
  • Support continuous improvement of onboarding controls through data analysis and feedback from fraud and AML outcomes.
  • Set and enforce policies for merchant approval, conditional approval, and decline, in line with scheme and regulatory requirements
  • Establish ongoing merchant monitoring cadences with periodic reviews and trigger-based re-evaluation
  • Transaction Monitoring & Fraud Risk
  • Operate and manage real‑time and batch transaction monitoring systems to detect fraud, unusual patterns, and policy violations across assigned merchant portfolios.
  • Implement and maintain risk rules, velocity controls, and threshold parameters as defined in collaboration with Technology and Data teams.
  • Monitor alerts, oversee transaction investigations, and ensure timely escalation, actioning, and closure in line with SOPs.
  • Support model and rule optimization efforts by providing operational insights, false‑positive feedback, and emerging fraud patterns.
  • Track and report key metrics including Fraud Losses, Alert volumes and False positive rates and detection effectiveness
  • Prepare regular MIS and support audits, scheme reviews, and management reporting.
  • AML / CFT Compliance
  • Execute the AML / CFT risk framework for the acquiring business in line with internal policies and regulatory requirements across respective countries.
  • Ensure day‑to‑day compliance with local AML regulations in markets such as Singapore and Malaysia,
  • Manage STR / SAR identification, documentation, and filing workflows, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and completeness.
  • Conduct and support Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) reviews for: High Risk merchants and high risk MCCs and High‑risk geographies and corridors
  • Act as the operational point of contact for AML audits, regulatory queries, and internal reviews, supporting data and evidence preparation.
  • Support delivery of AML training and awareness sessions for operations and business teams.
  • Chargeback Management
  • Manage end‑to‑end chargeback and dispute operations, including prevention, representment, and arbitration, in line with card‑scheme rules.
  • Monitor and apply defined chargeback thresholds and early warning triggers (e.g., Visa VAMP, Mastercard ECP) across assigned merchant portfolios.
  • Perform detailed analysis of:
  • Chargeback reason codes
  • Merchant‑level and segment‑level trends
  • Market‑specific exposure and ratios
  • Work closely with merchant‑facing and operations teams to Flag merchants with rising chargeback ratios
  • Execute representment strategies to:
  • Recover losses
  • Reduce chargeback‑to‑transaction ratios
  • Prepare regular MIS and dashboards for internal reporting and audits.
  • Risk Governance & Reporting
  • Support development and ongoing ma

Source: Pine Labs Singapore careers

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