Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Fraud Advisor

🎯 Role Definition

This role requires a highly analytical and proactive Fraud Advisor to join our dynamic Risk Management team. In this critical role, you will be on the front lines, safeguarding our organization and our customers from the ever-evolving landscape of financial crime. You will serve as a subject matter expert, leveraging data-driven insights to investigate suspicious activity, develop innovative fraud prevention strategies, and advise business stakeholders on risk mitigation. This is an exceptional opportunity for a professional passionate about problem-solving and making a tangible impact on the security and integrity of our platform.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Fraud Analyst
Risk Analyst
Compliance Associate
Financial Crime Investigator

Advancement To:

Senior Fraud Advisor
Fraud Strategy Manager
Director of Risk Management
Head of Financial Crime

Lateral Moves:

Data Scientist (Risk)
Compliance Officer
Product Manager (Trust & Safety)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Conduct comprehensive, end-to-end investigations into complex and high-impact fraud cases, including account takeovers, payment fraud, and identity theft.
Proactively analyze large-scale transactional and behavioral data to identify emerging fraud patterns, trends, and anomalous activities.
Develop, test, and implement new fraud detection rules, machine learning models, and prevention strategies to mitigate evolving threats.
Perform deep-dive root cause analysis on fraud incidents to understand control weaknesses and recommend robust preventative measures.
Monitor real-time alerts and queues, making critical, time-sensitive decisions to block fraudulent transactions and secure compromised accounts.
Create and maintain detailed case files, documenting investigative steps, evidence, and outcomes in a clear and concise manner for audit and legal purposes.
Collaborate closely with Engineering, Data Science, and Product teams to define requirements for new fraud prevention tools and features.
Serve as a subject matter expert, providing guidance and strategic advice to business leaders on fraud risks associated with new products or market expansions.
Generate and present regular reports, dashboards, and key performance indicators (KPIs) on fraud losses, trends, and operational effectiveness to senior management.
Manage and respond to law enforcement inquiries, subpoenas, and other legal requests for information related to fraudulent activity.
Review and optimize the performance of existing fraud prevention systems, rulesets, and third-party vendor solutions to improve accuracy and reduce false positives.
Handle escalated customer inquiries related to account security and potential fraud, providing clear communication and resolution.
Conduct link analysis and use advanced investigative techniques to uncover organized fraud rings and sophisticated criminal networks.
Stay current with the global fraud landscape, including new attack vectors, technologies, and regulatory changes, and disseminate this knowledge within the team.
Develop and deliver training materials to educate customer support, operations, and other internal teams on fraud awareness and best practices.
Lead and participate in post-mortem reviews of significant fraud events to drive continuous improvement across people, processes, and technology.
Evaluate and recommend third-party data sources and fraud prevention vendors to enhance the organization's defensive capabilities.
Act as a key liaison between the fraud team and other departments such as Legal, Compliance, and Finance to ensure a coordinated response to risk.
Perform user-level and network-level analysis to identify collusive behavior and large-scale, coordinated fraud attacks.
Provide data-driven recommendations to balance fraud risk mitigation with a seamless and positive customer experience.
Support the chargeback and dispute resolution process by providing detailed evidence and analysis to defend against fraudulent claims.
Participate in the design and execution of A/B tests to measure the impact of new fraud rules and policies on both risk and user friction.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis for various business units.
Contribute to the organization's data governance and quality initiatives.
Collaborate with business units to translate risk and fraud needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning, retrospectives, and other agile ceremonies within the risk and data teams.
Mentor junior analysts on investigative techniques and data analysis.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Advanced proficiency in SQL for complex data querying, manipulation, and analysis.
Experience with a scripting language for data analysis, such as Python (with Pandas, NumPy) or R.
Hands-on experience with fraud detection platforms and tools (e.g., Sift, Seon, Kount, Cybersource, or in-house systems).
Proficiency in data visualization tools like Tableau, Power BI, Looker, or Metabase to create insightful reports and dashboards.
Strong understanding of payment ecosystems, including credit/debit cards, ACH, digital wallets, and card-not-present (CNP) transactions.
Knowledge of machine learning concepts as they apply to fraud detection and anomaly detection.
Experience with link analysis tools such as Maltego or Palantir is a plus.

Soft Skills

Exceptional analytical and critical thinking skills with a strong investigative mindset.
Superior problem-solving abilities, capable of dissecting complex issues to identify root causes.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to convey complex findings to both technical and non-technical audiences.
High level of attention to detail and accuracy, especially when handling sensitive data and case documentation.
Strong decision-making skills, with the ability to act decisively and with conviction under pressure.
Ability to work both independently and collaboratively within a fast-paced, team-oriented environment.
Adaptability and a continuous learning mindset to keep pace with evolving fraud tactics.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's Degree

Preferred Education:

Master's Degree or professional certification (e.g., CFE - Certified Fraud Examiner).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration, Finance, or Economics
Criminal Justice or Criminology
Data Science, Statistics, or Computer Science
Information Systems

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3-7 years of direct experience in a fraud prevention, risk management, or trust and safety role.

Preferred:

Experience in a high-growth tech, e-commerce, or fintech environment is highly desirable.