Staff Risk Analyst (Payments) - AppFolio, Inc

Hi, We’re AppFolio 

We’re innovators, changemakers, and collaborators. We’re more than just a software company – we’re pioneers in cloud and AI who deliver magical experiences that make our customers’ lives easier. We’re revolutionizing how people do business in the real estate industry, and we want your ideas, enthusiasm, and passion to help us keep innovating.

Who Are We Looking For?

The Risk & Fraud department oversees, streamlines, optimizes, and delivers the day-to-day activities and payment processes focused on mitigating risk to AppFolio and AppFolio’s customers. The AppFolio Risk Operations Team's goal is to evaluate AppFolio’s risk and develop scalable, effective, and efficient ways to manage and address risks and suspicious activity while maximizing AppFolio’s performance and goals. As a Staff Risk Analyst, you will support AppFolio in making money move in real estate safely while building a trusted customer experience.

What You’ll Do

• Initiate and design solutions to identify and mitigate Payments risk events for existing business lines, such as AppFolio Property Manager (APM) and Investment Management (IM), as well as new verticals and payment methods.
• Build, improve, and automate Risk identification and mitigation processes. This includes data-driven analysis and decision-making, developing policy and procedure, conducting investigations, developing and maintaining reporting, scoping product enhancements, and implementing industry-standard risk practices.
• Effectively communicate regarding investigations, adverse action, operational changes, and product/tooling proposals across internal teams such as Fraud, Underwriting, Compliance, Product, Engineering, Analytics and Partnerships. Take ownership and act as the main point of contact for internal team and external partner escalations daily.
• Utilize advanced technical skills (SQL, Excel, Google Sheets, Tableau) and complex problem-solving to drive risk mitigation practices and reduce fraud losses.
• Exemplify leadership capabilities as a second line to Sr Manager, Risk to include: Coach new hires and junior team members, monitor and enhance team metrics, practice concise communication to senior leadership, and motivate cross-functional teams to align with the Risk team’s vision or goals leveraging data.

What We’re Looking For

• Knowledge: Advanced understanding of Risk, Fraud, and Credit in the Payments or Fintech industries. Display a deep understanding of data-driven risk identification and implementing mitigation practices in an operations environment.
• Problem-Solving: Conduct in-depth evaluation of payment risk throughout the customer journey to execute high-complexity problems that result in a safe and trusted payment experience. Implement or leverage industry-standard tools and consider regulatory guidelines from the card brands and NACHA to conduct adverse action to customer accounts when needed.
• Communication & Frame: Communicate with cross-functional stakeholders regarding Risk analysis and trends. Partner with Sr Manager, Risk to execute proposals for operational changes, product enhancements, and third-party tooling. Simplify data analysis to a digestible format for stakeholders. 
• Autonomy: Exercises independent judgment in determining how to achieve results and leverages team members and leadership to clear roadblocks.

• Efficiency – Able to quickly iterate on data generation and refinement. Look for ways to improve processes to maximize efficiency and remove redundancy.
• Attention to detail – Appropriately checks all risk analyses for anomalies or errors and does not let important details slip regarding risk investigation accuracy.
• Time Management - Highly self-motivated and directed with independent work. Excellent time-management skills to drive long-term risk mitigation projects.

Qualifications

• BS or higher in Business, Computer Science, Mathematics, Criminal Justice, Finance, or a related field or equivalent professional experience.
• 8+ years of related industry experience (Payments, Fraud, Risk, Credit, Banking).
• Experience with industry-standard Payments, Risk, and Fraud tools
• Understanding of Payments industry regulations such as card brand and NACHA payment regulations, Anti-Money Laundering, and BSA/Patriot Act.
• Advanced knowledge of SQL, Google Sheets, and Excel.
• Advanced experience manipulating, interpreting, and analyzing large data sets to drive operational enhancements. Display data-driven decision-making abilities.

Nice to Have

• Data and Automation tool experience with Python, R, Streamlit, and Hex.
• Experience leveraging data to support implementation of variables for robust transaction monitoring rules
• Working knowledge of Salesforce.
• Organization, influence, and public speaking capabilities with cross-functional teams and leadership.
• Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Certified Anti-Money Laundering (CAMS) certification, and/or Certified Payments Professional (CPP) or Certified Payments and Fraud Prevention Professional (CPFPP).

Compensation & Benefits

The base salary that we reasonably expect to pay for this role is $104,000-$130,000.

The actual base salary for this role will be determined by a variety of factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s skills, education, experience, etc.

Please note that base pay is one important aspect of a compelling Total Rewards package. The base pay range indicated here does not include any additional benefits or bonuses that you may be eligible for based on your role and/or employment type.

Regular full-time employees are eligible for benefits - see here.