Director, Business Risk – Global Payments & Trade (First Line of Defence)

BNY is seeking a high-calibre Director, Business Risk to join the First Line of Defence team within Global Payments & Trade in London.

Reporting to the Global Payments & Trade Head of 1LOD Risk and Controls Management, this is a visible role with international scope, supporting the execution of the platform’s risk agenda across a complex, fast-evolving business. The successful candidate will help strengthen the business risk framework across Global Payments & Trade by enhancing risk transparency, governance effectiveness, and first line execution.

This role is suited to a senior risk professional with strong judgment, intellectual curiosity, and the credibility to operate effectively across senior stakeholders in a global, highly regulated environment. It offers the opportunity to influence how risk is managed across a strategically important platform at the heart of BNY’s client franchise.

The role The Director will support delivery of the Global Payments & Trade risk strategy by bringing rigor, clarity, and discipline to the first line risk environment. The role spans executive reporting, governance, escalation oversight, and process and control enhancement, ensuring that business leadership has clear visibility of risk, strong management information, and effective support in addressing issues and priorities.

Working closely with senior stakeholders across product, operations, technology, compliance, legal, audit, and controls, the role will help translate strategic risk priorities into practical execution and stronger business accountability.

Key responsibilities

• Partner with the Global Payments & Trade Head of 1LOD Risk and Controls Management and senior leaders to support execution of the platform’s risk strategy.

• Lead the development of executive reporting, dashboards, and governance materials that provide clear insight into business risks, key issues, and strategic priorities.

• Drive effective first line governance across leadership forums, risk reviews, and control committees, with a focus on transparency, ownership, and follow-through.

• Oversee issue and escalation management, coordinating cross-functional responses and delivering clear, decision-oriented updates to senior stakeholders.

• Identify emerging risks, recurring themes, and opportunities to strengthen the control environment, governance model, and management information framework.

• Support process and control enhancement across payments and trade workflows, including remediation oversight, evidence management, and audit or regulatory readiness.

• Build strong partnerships across the first, second, and third lines of defense to reinforce consistency, accountability, and a strong culture of risk ownership.

• Contribute to team leadership through mentoring, high standards, and active support of a strong-performing environment.

Candidate profile This role will suit candidates with a strong track record in business risk, controls, governance, or related disciplines within leading financial institutions.

The successful candidate is likely to bring:

• Strong domain knowledge in payments, transaction banking, cash management, trade finance, or a related wholesale banking environment.

• Proven experience and strong understanding of risk governance, operational risk, issue management, control frameworks, and audit/regulatory engagement within a complex, global, and regulated organization

• Demonstrated ability to translate complex operating and risk information into clear, executive-level reporting and actionable insight.

• Strong stakeholder management and influencing capability, with the credibility to engage effectively across senior business and control stakeholders.

• Strong analytical capability, including experience with Excel, Power BI, or Tableau; familiarity with SQL, Alteryx, or Python would be advantageous.

• Excellent communication skills, sound judgment, and the ability to operate with pace and discipline in a matrixed environment.

Why this role This is an opportunity to join a globally significant business in a role with real visibility, breadth, and influence. The successful candidate will work closely with senior leadership, contribute to the execution of a platform-wide risk agenda, and help shape how risk is governed across an important and evolving franchise.

For individuals seeking a role that combines strategic exposure, cross-functional influence, and meaningful impact, this represents a compelling opportunity.

Personal style The ideal candidate will be strategic, credible, and execution-focused. They will be comfortable navigating complexity, challenging constructively, and bringing clarity to ambiguous issues. They will combine intellectual curiosity with strong delivery discipline and a clear commitment to strengthening risk management in support of business progress.