Payments Risk & Controls Expert

Mercor is collaborating with a leading AI research initiative focused on evaluating payments risk and control assessments across banking and payments operations.

This role is designed for experienced operational risk and payments risk professionals who can apply real-world banking standards and risk judgment to improve the reliability and evaluation quality of frontier AI systems.

Contributors will author and review structured risk and control rubrics covering payment workflows, operational controls, compliance considerations, and risk management practices.

This is a time-sensitive, project-based engagement with preference for near-term availability.

Key Responsibilities

• Review and author payments risk and control assessments across:

  • Payment capture and validation
  • Authorization workflows
  • Payment tracking
  • Funds control
  • Smart routing
  • FX conversion
  • Netting
  • Payment prioritization
  • Returns processing
  • Tokenization

• Evaluate:

  • Inherent risk
  • Residual risk
  • Control effectiveness

using standard impact-and-likelihood risk frameworks.

• Map operational risks to controls and identify:

  • Control gaps
  • Elevated vulnerabilities
  • Process weaknesses

• Identify failure modes involving:

  • System failures
  • Stale data
  • Bypassed authorization
  • Missed cut-offs
  • Misconfigured routing
  • Netting failures
  • Funds control failures

• Provide structured written evaluations aligned with:

  • Operational risk standards
  • RCSA methodologies
  • Banking control frameworks

Ideal Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years of experience in:

  • Payments risk assessment
  • Operational risk management
  • RCSA
  • Issue management
  • Banking risk advisory
  • Risk and controls
  • Compliance risk assessment

• Experience in roles such as:

  • VP / AVP Operational Risk Management
  • RCSA Program Manager
  • Business Risk & Control Officer
  • Payments Risk & Controls Manager
  • Treasury Services Risk Manager
  • Compliance Risk Assessment Manager

• Background at major financial institutions preferred, including:

  • JPMorgan Chase
  • Citi
  • Bank of America
  • Wells Fargo
  • BNY
  • Barclays
  • Deutsche Bank
  • Goldman Sachs
  • Morgan Stanley

• Consulting experience at firms such as:

  • KPMG
  • Deloitte
  • PwC
  • EY
  • Accenture

is also considered valuable.

• Strong understanding of payments risk dimensions including:

  • Execution risk
  • Authorization and fraud risk
  • Data integrity
  • Operational timing and cut-offs
  • Client impact
  • Regulatory impact

• Strong command of inherent risk scoring factors including:

  • Transaction volume
  • Transaction value
  • Geographic exposure
  • Client harm
  • Regulatory impact
  • Operational impact
  • Reputational risk
  • Historical operational events

• Experience creating or reviewing:

  • Risk assessments
  • Control assessments
  • RCSA documentation

• Ability to clearly explain:

  • Inherent risk
  • Residual risk
  • Control effectiveness
  • Issue severity
  • Remediation priority

• Strong:

  • Analytical thinking
  • Written communication
  • Independent problem-solving abilities

Compensation

• $80–180/hour
• Weekly payments through Stripe or Wise

Contract & Payment Terms

• Independent contractor engagement
• Fully remote work
• Flexible schedule
• Projects may be extended, shortened, or concluded depending on business needs and performance
• Work does not involve access to confidential employer or client information

Important Note

Mercor currently cannot support:

• H1-B candidates
• STEM OPT candidates

About Mercor

Mercor partners with leading AI labs and enterprises to train and improve frontier AI systems using real-world human expertise.

Contributors collaborate with researchers and financial risk professionals on projects shaping the future of AI-driven operational risk analysis, banking controls evaluation, and payments systems intelligence.