Middle office

Senior Operation Risk Manager - Banking Institution Belgium

For one of our clients, a major international financial institution, we are looking for a Senior Operational Risk Manager in the 2nd Line of Defense.

The position will have a particular focus on Payments, Cash Management and Trade Finance, providing independent oversight of operational risks across complex, high-volume transaction banking activities.

This is a senior position combining risk governance, control oversight, remediation management and strategic advisory, with significant exposure to senior stakeholders and European governance bodies.

Your role

As Senior Operational Risk Manager, you will act as an independent second-line risk partner to business and operational teams.

Your objective will be to ensure that material operational risks are correctly identified, assessed and escalated, but also that remediation measures genuinely address their underlying causes.

Rather than operating as a purely theoretical risk function, you will work closely with the business to understand how payment and transaction processes operate in practice and challenge the effectiveness of the associated control environment.

Role

Operational Risk Oversight

Provide independent second-line oversight across Payments, Cash Management, Treasury Services and Trade Finance activities.
Assess operational risks associated with transaction processing, servicing activities and supporting infrastructure.
Review incidents, control weaknesses and identified operational-risk issues.
Evaluate risks associated with manual processes, processing failures, exceptions, reconciliations and operational dependencies.
Assess the potential impact of third parties and service providers on the operational-risk environment.
Contribute to the organisation's broader operational-resilience framework.

Issue Management & Remediation

A significant part of the position will involve ensuring that identified weaknesses result in meaningful and sustainable improvements.

You will:

Review and challenge operational-risk findings and remediation programmes.
Assess whether root-cause analyses sufficiently explain the underlying issue.
Challenge proposed corrective measures, ownership and implementation deadlines.
Monitor remediation progress and escalate delays or insufficient actions.
Review evidence before supporting the closure of material issues.
Ensure remediation measures strengthen the control environment rather than simply resolving individual incidents.

Risk Analysis & Controls

Evaluate the design and effectiveness of operational controls.
Analyse incidents, audit observations, regulatory findings and internally identified weaknesses.
Identify recurring patterns and thematic or systemic risks.
Challenge the first line regarding risk assessments and control effectiveness.
Provide recommendations on process and control improvements.
Support risk assessments relating to new processes, business developments and organisational changes.

Governance & Senior Management Reporting

The position offers significant visibility across the European organisation.

You will:

Prepare clear risk reporting for senior management and relevant Risk Committees.
Present material issues, remediation progress and emerging risks.
Translate complex operational-risk matters into concise management-level conclusions.
Support internal governance reviews and regulatory requests.
Ensure that significant risks receive appropriate escalation and management attention.

Cross-functional Collaboration

You will operate across a broad stakeholder landscape and work closely with:

Transaction Banking and Payments teams
Operations
Technology
Compliance
Legal
Internal Audit
Business Controls
Risk Management
Senior management

You will act as an independent challenger, while maintaining a constructive relationship with the first line and helping the organisation reach pragmatic solutions.

Profile

We are looking for a seasoned Risk professional with substantial experience within a regulated banking or financial-services environment.

You ideally bring:

Significant experience in Operational Risk, Risk Governance, Internal Controls, Audit or Compliance.
Strong exposure to Payments, Cash Management, Treasury Services, Transaction Banking and/or Trade Finance.
Experience with complex transaction-processing environments.
Strong knowledge of issue management and remediation oversight.
Experience assessing control design and effectiveness.
Strong understanding of root-cause analysis.
Knowledge of operational resilience and third-party dependencies.
Experience within a European regulated banking environment.
Ability to independently challenge senior business stakeholders.
Strong analytical capabilities and ability to identify systemic risks beyond individual incidents.
Excellent executive-level communication and reporting skills.
Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.

Experience with European legal-entity governance and regulatory expectations would be particularly valuable.

Certifications such as FRM, CIA or CRMA would constitute an advantage but are not mandatory.

German can be useful within the broader international environment but is not a prerequisite.

The personality we are looking for

This role requires someone who can operate with credibility in front of senior stakeholders.

You should be:

Assertive without being unnecessarily confrontational.
Comfortable challenging established practices.
Highly analytical and capable of seeing the broader risk picture.
Pragmatic and solutions-oriented.
Comfortable navigating a complex international organisation.
Able to distinguish between isolated operational incidents and genuinely systemic weaknesses.
Structured when dealing with multiple remediation programmes simultaneously.
Capable of communicating technical risk matters concisely to senior decision-makers.

Offer

Why consider this opportunity?

The position offers exposure to some of the most strategically important activities within an international banking organisation.

Payments and transaction banking combine high transaction volumes, regulatory scrutiny, technology dependencies and operational-resilience requirements, making the position significantly broader than a conventional operational-risk role.

You will also have the opportunity to influence how risks and controls are managed across a European banking structure while interacting with stakeholders across business, technology, operations and senior management.

Estimated salary & package – Brussels

Salary ranging from 9000€ to 13000€ gross per month depending on your level of experience
Attractive bonus scheme which can amount your total package up to 210.000€ gross yearly
Full package including company car, illimited charging card, insurances for you and your family, net allowance 250€ per month, meal vouchers 10€, ecovouchers

Avantages