Senior Lead - CRO Office

Operating directly out of the Chief Risk Officer's (CRO's) Office, the Individual will serve as the strategic enterprise lead for all fraud prevention, detection, and mitigation capabilities. This is a deeply tech and analytics-focused role sitting at the critical intersection of risk strategy, data science, tech innovation, product design, and operational execution.

As the company scales across diverse lending channels, spanning fully digital fintech integrations to branch-led physical/assisted operations, this leader will architect and execute robust product-level fraud control frameworks. You will be market-informed, technologically progressive, and execution-focused, bridging high-level risk strategy with day-to-day implementation across Product, Tech, Credit, Operations, Analytics, and Legal/Investigations teams.

Responsibilities:

• Tech and Analytics-Driven Fraud Architecture: Partner directly with Engineering, Data Science, and Product teams to design, build, and scale real-time automated fraud rule engines, predictive ML/AI fraud models, API security controls, device intelligence, and automated decisioning platforms.
• Advanced Analytics and Pattern Detection: Leverage data science, network graph analytics, anomaly detection, and predictive modeling to proactively identify complex fraud rings, synthetic identity networks, and emerging attack vectors across digital and branch portfolios.
• Strategic Fraud Governance and Frameworks: Design, implement, and continually evolve credit Saison's end-to-end fraud risk management strategy across both digital (APIs, fintech partnerships, app journeys) and branch-led (assisted, field operations, physical verification) lending channels, under the guidance of the CRO and Head of FCU. Establish Key Fraud Indicators (KFIs), risk tolerance thresholds, and fraud-loss mitigation goals.
• Product-Level Fraud Strategy: Partner closely with product managers to build friction-appropriate fraud controls into customer journeys across the lifecycle from acquisition, onboarding, and underwriting to disbursement and servicing.
• Cross-Functional Execution: Act as the primary engine for executing fraud initiatives. Work hand-in-hand with Tech, Product, Analytics, Operations, Compliance, and Field teams to translate high-level strategies into executable product features, rule engine deployments, and operational workflows.
• Market Benchmarking and Threat Intelligence: Maintain deep awareness of market standards, emerging fraud vectors, and evolving risk topologies across the Indian banking, NBFC, and fintech landscapes. Continuously benchmark internal controls against industry best practices.
• Vendor and Tooling Ecosystem: Evaluate, select, and integrate cutting-edge vendor solutions and fraud prevention technologies (e. g., fraud rule engines, biometrics, bank account validation, OCR/document verification systems, and device intelligence) working alongside tech and product teams.
• Analytics, Rule Engine, and ML Strategy: Oversee the performance, continuous tuning, and optimization of fraud rule engines and usage of machine-learning detection models in partnership with the Risk Analytics team.
• Incident Investigation and Root Cause Analysis (RCA): Lead post-incident analyses on fraud leakages, conduct vulnerability reviews, and rapidly deploy corrective strategies to prevent recurrence across affected channels.
• Regulatory Monitoring and Compliance: Actively monitor regulatory guidelines from the RBI regarding fraud reporting, cyber-resilience, and customer protection; work with respective teams to ensure seamless compliance and timely reporting.
• Leadership and Board Reporting: Develop strategic dashboards and threat assessment materials for the CRO and Management Committees.

Channel-Specific Fraud Controls:

• Digital: Define and deploy safeguards for digital journeys (device fingerprinting, synthetic identity detection, account takeover, dynamic OTP verification, and API security).
• Branch-Led: Establish controls for physical networks (safeguards against document forgery, field-level impersonation, collusion, first-party fraud, and channel partner misrepresentation).