AVP, Operational Risk Management (ORM) Programs and RCSA

Job Description:

Role Title: AVP, Operational Risk Management (ORM)Programs and RCSA (L11)

Company Overview: Synchrony (NYSE: SYF) is a premier consumer financial services company delivering one of the industry’s most complete digitally enabled product suites. Our experience, expertise and scale encompass a broad spectrum of industries including digital, health and wellness, retail, telecommunications, home, auto, outdoors, pet and more.

• We have recently been ranked #2 among India’s Best Companies to Work for by Great Place to Work. We were among the Top 50 India’s Best Workplaces in Building a Culture of Innovation by All by GPTW and Top 25 among Best Workplaces in BFSI by GPTW. We have also been recognized by AmbitionBox Employee Choice Awards among the Top 20 Mid-Sized Companies, ranked #3 among Top Rated Companies for Women, and Top-Rated Financial Services Companies.
• We offer flexibility and choice for all employees and provide best-in-class employee benefits and programs that cater to work-life integration and overall well-being.
• We provide career advancement and upskilling opportunities, focusing on advancing diverse talent to take up leadership roles.

Organizational Overview: Synchrony's Risk Team provides independent oversight of Synchrony’s risk-taking activities to ensure safety and soundness, meet regulatory and legal requirements, and manage risks to the risk-appetite of the Board. Risk is responsible for independently assessing, quantifying, and overseeing risks and providing effective challenge. Risk serves as Synchrony’s Second Line of Defense.   

Overall, the Risk Team oversees and manages Risk Programs to support the business in anticipating and addressing risks, issues and challenges. Results are consistent with the respective strategic uses and comply with related overall risk, risk testing policies, standards, procedures, as regulations. Our Risk organization consists of 4 pillars: Compliance, Credit & Financial Risk, Enterprise Risk and Operational Risk. Each of the pillars plays a vital role in managing risk and supporting the business in anticipating and addressing risks, issues, and challenges.
 

Role Summary/Purpose: Reporting to the VP, Operational Risk Programs & Assessment, this position will play a key role in managing certain Synchrony enterprise-wide operational risk assessment programs performed by both the first and second lines of defense. These programs are maintained to ensure the identification and assessment of the operational risks inherent in all material products, activities, processes, and systems across the organization.

Primary scope for this role includes oversight of the Risk Control Self-Assessment (RCSA) Program and Proactive Risk Acceptance Process. This includes working closely with all Risk pillars, as well as first line partners including the Enterprise Process Governance Team and first line functional governance teams. The AVP of ORM Programs and RCSA will also be responsible for growing and executing the adoption of new monitoring, reporting, and oversight of Operational Risk Management programs. This individual will work directly with stakeholders from ORM to design and build enhanced RCSA standards, supporting maintenance of the company policies and procedures.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the RCSA Program across Synchrony, in line with the RCSA Policy, including management and monitoring of the RCSA Standard implementation, to drive accurate, actionable, and efficient assessment of operational risk levels across Synchrony.
• Partner across all Risk pillars to support automation of RCSA 2nd line oversight and challenge with a goal of driving accurate risk and control inventories and assessments across Synchrony.
• Conduct analysis, and report on key trends from 2nd line oversight teams and support effective challenge of process owner self-assessment results, including escalation where necessary.
• Support RCSA reporting and monitoring processes to enhance transparency and visibility of RCSA results to various stakeholders, including senior leadership. This includes periodically designing needed reporting to ensure adherence to the RCSA Policy and Standard and to support ongoing monitoring.
• Assist with managing and enhancing the Risk Assessment process, including the Proactive Risk Acceptance process, at Synchrony to enable transparent decision-making for assessment and documentation of material risk outside normal business-as-usual exposure for processes, functions, products, or platforms.
• Partner with stakeholders to establish the roadmap for process and system enhancements to support efficient and effective operational risk programs (e.g., RCSA and Risk Acceptance)
• Coordinate with 1LOD and 2LOD teams on the governance of the Synchrony Process Universe requirements and implementation, including monitoring and change management.
• Perform other duties and/or special projects as assigned.

Required Skills/Knowledge:

• 6+ years of relevant experience in analytics with bachelors' degree. Or else 8+ years of analytics experience in lieu of a degree
• Strong understanding of OCC’s Heightened Standards
• Broad-based risk knowledge, ability to identify risks and controls
• 3+ years of experience with exposure to risk management within the consumer financial services industry
• 3+ years of experience collaborating with cross-functional teams
• 3+ years of successful work in a matrixed environment, leading projects and presenting results to senior leaders
• Knowledge or willingness to learn data visualization options and utilize for reporting and monitoring of risk aggregation across pillars

Desired Skills/Knowledge:

• Proven analytical skills with strong attention to detail.
• Ability to decipher complex data, identify patterns, and effectively present/communicate in a clear and concise manner.
• Proven ability to make decisions based on quantitative analysis and creative thinking.
• Use of personal influence and credibility to achieve organizational results by collaborating with cross-functional/cross-platform teams
• Ability to objectively identify risks, effectively challenge and communicate risks across pillars and across the organization
• Tableau experience in pulling reports and building dashboards
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to build strong relationships with business partners
• Proven ability to influence senior management and initiate change
• Prior regulatory experience and/or experience in internal audit, testing, risk or in a governance function
• Proficiency in MS Office applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint

Eligibility Criteria:  6+ years of relevant experience in analytics with bachelors' degree. Or else 8+ years of analytics experience in lieu of a degree

Work Timings: This role qualifies for Enhanced Flexibility and Choice offered in Synchrony India and will require the incumbent to be available between 06:00 AM Eastern Time – 11:30 AM Eastern Time (timings are anchored to US Eastern hours and will adjust twice a year locally). This window is for meetings with India and US teams. The remaining hours will be flexible for the employee to choose from. Exceptions may apply periodically due to business needs. Please discuss this with the hiring manager for more details. 

For Internal Applicants:

• Understand the criteria or mandatory skills required for the role, before applying
• Inform your manager and HRM before applying for any role on Workday
• Ensure that your professional profile is updated (fields such as education, prior experience, other skills) and it is mandatory to upload your updated resume (Word or PDF format)
• Must not be any corrective action plan (Formal/Final Formal)
• L9+ Employees who have completed 18 months in the organization and 12 months in their current role and level are only eligible.
• Employees at L9+ can only apply for this opportunity.

Job Family Group:

Risk Management