Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Fraud Prevention Manager

🎯 Role Definition

As our Fraud Prevention Manager, you will be the cornerstone of our company's trust and safety initiatives. This is a critical leadership role where you will be empowered to design, implement, and oversee the entire fraud mitigation ecosystem. You'll lead a talented team, leveraging cutting-edge technology and deep data analysis to stay ahead of emerging threats. Your mission is to strike the perfect balance between robust security and a frictionless customer journey, directly impacting our bottom line and brand reputation. You are not just managing risk; you are enabling secure growth and building customer confidence.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Fraud Analyst / Lead Fraud Analyst
Risk Operations Team Lead
Senior Payments or Risk Strategist
Compliance Analyst

Advancement To:

Director of Fraud Strategy & Operations
Head of Risk Management
Director of Trust & Safety
VP, Global Risk & Compliance

Lateral Moves:

Information Security Manager
Senior Product Manager, Risk/Trust
Head of Payments Strategy
Compliance Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop, implement, and continuously refine the company’s comprehensive, end-to-end fraud prevention strategy across all products, payment channels, and customer touchpoints.
Lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing team of fraud analysts and specialists, fostering a culture of continuous learning, collaboration, and proactive threat mitigation.
Own the performance and optimization of our fraud detection systems, rule engines, and machine learning models, conducting rigorous tuning and testing to minimize fraud losses while maintaining low customer friction.
Establish, monitor, and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) for fraud, including loss rates, false positive rates, chargeback ratios, manual review SLAs, and approval rates, presenting findings and strategic recommendations to senior leadership.
Act as the primary subject matter expert on all fraud-related matters, including account takeover, payment fraud, identity theft, friendly fraud, and new account fraud.
Direct complex and high-impact fraud investigations, analyzing patterns and root causes to implement effective, long-term preventative measures.
Manage relationships and performance of third-party fraud prevention vendors, data providers, and industry partners, leading the evaluation and integration of new technologies and data sources.
Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Data Science, and Customer Support teams to embed fraud prevention controls into new product development and feature enhancements.
Stay at the forefront of the global fraud landscape, researching and anticipating new fraud trends, typologies, and technologies to ensure our defenses remain state-of-the-art.
Oversee the chargeback and dispute resolution process, developing strategies to effectively represent and defend disputes to minimize financial losses.
Develop and maintain a detailed policy and procedure framework for fraud operations, ensuring consistency, accuracy, and compliance in all team activities.
Create and manage the budget for the fraud prevention department, including tooling, data, and headcount, ensuring optimal resource allocation.
Design and execute A/B tests and experiments on fraud rules and models to validate hypotheses and drive continuous improvement in detection accuracy.
Build and maintain strong relationships with law enforcement, financial institutions, and industry consortiums to facilitate information sharing and collaborative investigations.
Define and manage the customer escalation path for users impacted by fraud-related decisions, ensuring a clear and empathetic resolution process.
Lead post-mortem analyses of significant fraud incidents, documenting lessons learned and driving accountability for corrective actions across the organization.
Develop and deliver regular fraud awareness training programs for the wider organization to foster a security-conscious culture.
Ensure all fraud prevention activities are compliant with relevant regulations and payment network rules (e.g., GDPR, PSD2, card scheme rules).
Drive the roadmap for internal fraud tools and dashboards, working with engineering teams to build solutions that enhance operational efficiency and analytical capabilities.
Champion a data-first approach within the team, using advanced analytics to uncover hidden patterns and inform strategic decision-making.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis to uncover new risk vectors.
Contribute to the organization's broader data governance and trust & safety strategy.
Collaborate with business units to translate complex risk and fraud needs into clear engineering and product requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies with data and engineering teams to champion risk-related initiatives.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Deep expertise in managing and optimizing third-party fraud detection platforms and rule engines (e.g., Sift, Seon, Kount, Cybersource, Forter).
Advanced proficiency in data analysis and querying languages, particularly SQL, to conduct complex fraud investigations and performance analysis.
Strong quantitative and analytical skills, with a proven ability to interpret large datasets and build robust KPI dashboards.
In-depth knowledge of the entire payment ecosystem, including credit/debit cards, ACH, digital wallets, and alternative payment methods, along with their specific fraud vectors.
Experience with data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Looker, Power BI) for creating compelling reports and communicating trends to stakeholders.
Solid understanding of machine learning concepts as they apply to fraud detection (e.g., model training, feature engineering, performance evaluation).
Experience managing the chargeback lifecycle and a strong understanding of Visa/Mastercard dispute resolution rules and procedures.
Familiarity with identity verification (IDV) solutions and an understanding of global identity standards.

Soft Skills

Exceptional leadership, coaching, and team management skills with a proven ability to develop talent and build a positive, high-accountability culture.
Superior analytical and critical thinking skills, with a talent for solving complex, ambiguous problems with a data-driven approach.
Outstanding communication and presentation abilities, capable of articulating complex fraud issues and strategies to both technical and executive audiences.
High degree of personal integrity, ethics, and sound judgment in high-pressure situations.
Strategic mindset with the ability to balance aggressive fraud mitigation with business growth and customer experience objectives.
Strong cross-functional collaboration and influencing skills, with an aptitude for building consensus and driving projects forward with multiple stakeholders.
Adaptability and resilience in a fast-paced, constantly evolving threat environment.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s Degree in a quantitative or relevant field.

Preferred Education:

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

Relevant Fields of Study:

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

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

7+ years of progressive experience in e-commerce fraud prevention, risk management, or trust and safety, including at least 3 years in a direct people management role.

Preferred:

Experience in a high-growth FinTech, e-commerce, or marketplace environment is strongly preferred.
Proven track record of managing a fraud P&L and demonstrable success in reducing fraud losses while optimizing revenue.
Experience building a fraud team or strategy from the ground up.