Senior Merchant Underwriter

Analyze merchant applications, licenses, legal opinions, transaction activity, and credit risk; underwrite new and existing merchants; investigate chargeback and ACH return alerts; determine risk mitigations; improve underwriting processes; adapt policies to regulatory and card scheme changes; and advise leadership on complex approvals or declines.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate merchant applications for legal, card scheme, and operational risk compliance
• Perform credit reviews to assess financial stability and chargeback liability coverage
• Review existing merchant portfolios, licenses, legal opinions, and financial statements
• Investigate chargeback spikes, ACH returns, and other risk profile indicators
• Drive process improvement and tooling projects for the underwriting program
• Update internal processes and policies for card scheme requirements, laws, and regional expansions
• Determine approval conditions such as reserves, transaction limits, and enhanced monitoring
• Collaborate with Compliance, Product, Engineering, and Operations on scalable underwriting solutions
• Advise risk and executive leadership on approval, mitigation, or decline recommendations

Requirements

• 4+ years of experience in fintech, payments, banking, or financial services underwriting
• Understanding of payment processing, merchant acquiring, and transaction risk
• Familiarity with high regulatory risk business models including crypto, remittance, real money gaming, and prediction markets
• Track record meeting SLAs and performance expectations
• Strong analytical skills for data-driven decision-making
• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to work in ambiguous and fast-paced environments
• Proficiency with Excel or Google Sheets for data modeling and trend analysis
• Experience with transaction monitoring systems and case management platforms
• SQL and business intelligence tools such as Tableau or Looker
• Interest in cryptocurrency or blockchain analytics tools such as Chainalysis, Merkle, Elliptic, or TRM Labs
• Bachelor's degree

Benefits

• Salary and equity
• Health and wellness benefits
• 401(k) savings plan
• Flexible time off
• Professional development support