Senior Director, First Line of Defense Controls Lead

At BNY, our culture allows us to run our company better and enables employees' growth and success. As a leading global financial services company at the heart of the global financial system, we influence nearly 20% of the world's investible assets. Every day, our teams harness cutting-edge AI and breakthrough technologies to collaborate with clients, driving transformative solutions that redefine industries and uplift communities worldwide.

Recognized as a top destination for innovators, BNY is where bold ideas meet advanced technology and exceptional talent. Together, we power the future of finance - and this is what #LifeAtBNY is all about. Join us and be part of something extraordinary.

We're seeking a future team member for the role of Senior Director, First Line of Defense Controls Lead to join our Payments Enablement Platform team. This role is located in New York, NY

In this role, you'll make an impact in the following ways:

Risk Reporting & Analytics:

• Leverage data-driven insights and anomaly detection to identify control weaknesses and forecast potential risks before they materialize
• Drive automation, AI-assisted analytics to improve efficiency and generation of insights
• Promote consistent measurement and reporting using a unified data model

Control Governance & Frameworks:

• Contribute to the management and governance and oversight of firm-wide to plan, coordinate, and track the implementation of the policy standards and suggest enhancement of the control environment.
• Embed strong control routines that reinforce good risk hygiene, ensuring compliance with policies, regulations, and best practices
• Lead adoption of the Enterprise-Wide Risk Framework (e.g. RCSA, HLA, KRI) across the Platform
• Monitor metrics
• Risk review / risk & control committee

Process & Control Design:

• Analyze existing and proposed legislation, regulatory announcements and industry practices in order to execute a robust and effective process
• Implementing and executing procedures to meet existing and upcoming regulatory requirements, expectations and industry standards.
• Champion technology-enabled controls and digital capabilities that simplify execution and improve resilience
• Integrate control outcomes into business planning, ensuring commercial alignment

Risk Culture & Communication:

• Establish partnerships with Risk & Compliance to anticipate emerging risks and drive timely escalation of material issuer risk fluency and accountability across all Platform members
• Influence Platform strategy by translating emerging risk themes and external developments into forward-looking actions
• Align priorities with risk appetite, ensuring risk is managed to enable business outcomes

Incident Triage, Control Assessments, Issue Management:

• Lead and embed a culture of proactive issue remediation and root-cause analysis

Control Assurance & Monitoring:

• Verify compliance with complex regulatory and policy requirements; make recommendations on compliance evolving industry standards.
• Drives standardization and simplification across control processes
• Partner with Controls Hub to modernize assurance activities and enhance transparency through real-time control monitoring
• Streamline assurance and review cycles through process automation and scalable practices

To be successful in this role, we're seeking the following:

• 15+ years of total work experience, with 7+ years of management experience, preferred.
• Financial Services, Audit or Compliance background and/or experience Deep understanding of predictive Risk & Control frameworks, regulatory expectations, and control design preferred
• Ability to understand multiple risk types and their impact; business, operational and legal
• Proven ability to translate regulatory and business complexity into pragmatic, risk-based solutions
• Skilled at interpreting control data, identifying anomalies, and leveraging reporting for insights
• Builds trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across the business and lines of defense
• Skilled at framing risk insights to inform business decisions and promote accountability

Mindset & Behaviors:

• Models a continuous improvement mindset, ensuring consistency, transparency, and measurable performance
• Anticipates emerging risks and industry shifts; does not wait for issues to surface before acting
• Seeks to identify control trends and insights early through data, analytics, and pattern recognition
• Views risk as a strategic input, enabling the business to make informed, growth-oriented decisions
• Understands business drivers and aligns Risk & Control priorities with Platform and commercial objectives
• Communicates the Risk & Controls Practice vision clearly and frequently to stakeholders across Platform Operating Model Leadership and the lines of defense
• Challenges constructively, framing control discussions in terms of impact and opportunity
• Builds bridges between business, operations, risk, and technology, ensuring integrated, end-to-end control design
• Demonstrates resilience, adaptability, and leadership under pressure

At BNY, our culture speaks for itself, check out the latest BNY news at:

BNY Newsroom

BNY LinkedIn

Here's a few of our recent awards:

• America's Most Innovative Companies, Fortune, 2025
• World's Most Admired Companies, Fortune 2025
• "Most Just Companies", Just Capital and CNBC, 2025

Our Benefits and Rewards:

BNY offers highly competitive compensation, benefits, and wellbeing programs rooted in a strong culture of excellence and our pay-for-performance philosophy. We provide access to flexible global resources and tools for your life's journey. Focus on your health, foster your personal resilience, and reach your financial goals as a valued member of our team, along with generous paid leaves, including paid volunteer time, that can support you and your family through moments that matter.

BNY is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer - Underrepresented racial and ethnic groups/Females/Individuals with Disabilities/Protected Veterans.

BNY assesses market data to ensure a competitive compensation package for our employees. The base salary for this position is expected to be between $136,500 and $300,000 per year at the commencement of employment. However, base salary if hired will be determined on an individualized basis, including as to experience and market location, and is only part of the BNY total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include commission earnings, discretionary bonuses, short and long-term incentive packages, and Company-sponsored benefit programs.

This position is at-will and the Company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, change in geographic location, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.