Chief Risk Officer

Job description

We are seeking a brilliant, forward-thinking InsurTech or FinTech Risk Strategist to serve as our founding Chief Risk Officer (CRO). In a lean, digital-first startup environment where traditional risk frameworks do not capture the dynamics of high-volume, micro-tier digital transaction flows.

As the CRO, you will be responsible for designing and scaling our enterprise risk management (ERM) framework from scratch. You will balance entrepreneurial speed with absolute regulatory and operational safety, managing risks related to automated underwriting, technology networks, digital asset protection and complex data privacy regulations.

You will ensure our digital microinsurance platform operates with rock solid resilience across the modern Zambian regulatory landscape.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design, implement, and maintain a robust enterprise risk management framework tailored specifically for a high-volume, low-margin digital transaction environment.
• Guarantee complete operational and risk compliance with corporate guidelines and statutory requirements set by regulators.
• Partner closely with actuarial and product engineering teams to model, monitor, and stress-test product portfolio performance and automated underwriting frameworks.
• Monitor and proactively mitigate transactional, financial and operational risks originating across mobile billing paths, alternative payment gateways and integrated partner networks.
• Oversee corporate data governance frameworks to ensure absolute compliance with the Data Protection Act, safeguarding consumer fiscal records, identity registries and cloud-hosted architectures.
• Develop and monitor comprehensive corporate reinsurance policies, alternative risk transfer mechanisms and asset retention strategies to protect institutional capital adequacy metrics.
• Advise the Board of Directors and Risk Committee directly on portfolio vulnerabilities, liquidity thresholds, operational stress testing and proactive mitigation pathways.

Mandatory Academic & Professional Qualifications:

• Grade 12 Certification: Full Form V or Grade 12 Certificate with a minimum of five credits, including English and Mathematics.
• Primary Degree: A Bachelor’s Degree from a recognised university in Actuarial Science, Risk Management, Financial Mathematics, Finance, Economics, or a heavily quantitative discipline.
• Academic Validation: Degrees obtained outside Zambia must be accompanied by an evaluation certificate from the Zambia Qualifications Authority (ZAQA).

Professional Credentials:

• Post-graduate professional certifications in risk management or financial services (e.g., PRM, FRM, IRM, or specialised Actuarial professional credits) are highly preferred.
• Professional Body Membership: Active, paid-up membership with a relevant professional body (such as the Insurance Institute of Zambia – IIZ, ZICA, or an accredited Actuarial/Risk Management society) is mandatory.

Required Profile & Competencies:

• InsurTech/FinTech Risk Expertise: A proven track record of 5+ years of senior management experience in risk management, compliance, or actuarial roles within an InsurTech, FinTech, digital payments, or high-growth financial services operation.
• Regulatory Vetting Readiness: Must flawlessly pass the statutory Fit and Proper Person assessment administered by the PIA, covering complete financial integrity, professional standing, and clean security clearances. Data-Driven Mindset:
• Deep comfort analysing transaction records, automated processing scripts, loss ratios, and technical fraud vectors.
• Startup Resilience: The agility and grit required to build a risk department from the ground up inside a lean startup, turning complex, ambiguous regulatory parameters into clear, automated controls. Grassroots Empathy: Ability to contextualise institutional risk metrics with the real-world operational environments of underserved consumer groups, smallholder sectors, and MSMEs.