Program Director, Fraud Operations, Investigations & Intelligence at Pathward Financial

Job description

We are a hybrid, remote-office company dedicated to growing our talent anywhere! We have onsite locations in: Sioux Falls, SD, Phoenix, AZ, Louisville, KY, Troy, MI, Franklin, TN, Easton, PA. At Pathward, we take tremendous pride in our purpose to create financial inclusion for all™. We are a financial empowerment company that works with innovators to increase financial availability, choice, and opportunity for all. We strive to remove barriers that traditional institutions put in the way of financial access, and promote economic mobility by providing responsible, secure, high quality financial products. We are a team of problem solvers and innovators who celebrate our differences and know that our unique perspectives make us stronger and well-positioned for success. We celebrate, and embrace, our team members through our *HUMBLE*HUNGRY*SMART approach, and we believe that we are strongest when we embrace the voices of our employees, customers, partners, and the communities we serve. About the Role: Provides end-to-end operational fraud leadership below the SVP, owning the fraud lifecycle from Level 1 alert operations through Level 2 investigations and fraud intelligence. Establishes and runs the management rhythm for alert volumes, queue health, escalation routines, service-level performance, and operational risk response, connecting alert operations, investigations, and intelligence into one coherent fraud lifecycle. Leads a management team of managers — the Manager, Fraud Alert Operations and the Manager, Fraud Investigations. Partners with Governance, Risk & QA on quality themes and with Strategy, Analytics & Product Controls on detection and control improvements, and ensures work is executed to a standard sufficient for regulatory, audit, and quality-assurance review. What You Will Do: Provides end-to-end operational leadership for the fraud lifecycle, integrating Level 1 alert operations, Level 2 investigations, and fraud intelligence into a single, coherent operating model. Owns the operational management rhythm — alert volumes, queue health, work allocation, productivity routines, SLA performance, escalation management, and operational risk response — and resolves day-to-day prioritization and queue conflicts. Directs the Manager, Fraud Alert Operations and the Manager, Fraud Investigations as peer managers with distinct missions, ensuring clear ownership of alert operations versus complex investigations and effective handoffs between them. Sets and enforces Level 2 investigative standards, complex case review expectations, documentation and evidence discipline, escalation packages, and management approvals, ensuring investigations are complete, defensible, and examination-ready. Owns fraud intelligence, including typology development, emerging threat monitoring, root-cause analysis, pattern identification, and feedback loops into detection strategy, rules, and thresholds. Ensures timely and accurate referral of SAR- and CTR-eligible activity to BSA/AML Operations, and that escalation of immediate-attention, terrorist-financing, human-trafficking, and imminent-loss indicators occurs same business day per procedure. Establishes, monitors, and reports operational KPIs and KRIs (e.g., alert-to-case conversion, aging, throughput, SLA adherence, loss trends) and provides decision-ready reporting to the SVP and governance forums. Partners with Governance, Risk & QA on QA/QC themes, procedure adequacy, corrective actions, and audit and exam evidence; partners with Strategy, Analytics & Product Controls on detection rules, thresholds, and control improvements. Recommends changes to policies and procedures affecting fraud alerting, investigation, and escalation, and drives continuous improvement in alert-to-case workflows, automation, documentation standards, and escalation protocols. Manages, mentors, and develops management and analyst talent, including hiring, assigning and directing work, establishing goals, evaluating perfo