Risk Operations Specialist Jobs in Virginia

The Executive Vice President of Risk and Intelligence is a senior executive accountable for the full lifecycle of regulatory risk intelligence at FINRA. Reporting directly to the Chief Regulatory Operations Officer and serving as a principal member of the Senior Leadership Team, this leader directs a 300+ person division across four departments — shaping how FINRA identifies, monitors, and responds to emerging threats across the U.S. securities markets. This is a rare opportunity to lead a high-impact function at the center of U.S. market oversight, with enterprise-wide influence and visibility at the most senior levels of the organization.

Division Structure:

The EVP will lead four dedicated departments:

• Risk Monitoring, Statutory Disqualification & Membership Application Team – Risk Monitoring proactively monitors, analyzes, and assesses risk which enables FINRA to implement a risk-based regulatory program. The Membership Application Program reviews and approves of new and continuing membership applications. These teams work continuously to engage and assess member firm and market risk.
• Intelligence – Collection, analysis, and synthesis of regulatory intelligence from internal and external sources
• Risk Identification Operations Center – Translation of insights into actionable intelligence products and enablement of cross-organizational decision-making
• Frontier Risk – Identification and analysis of emerging threats, including technology-driven risks, novel market structures, GenAI, tokenization, digital assets, and evolving regulatory challenges

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership

• Establish and execute the strategic vision for Risk and Intelligence as FINRA's central hub for integrated risk assessment and intelligence operations
• Serve as a key advisor to executive leadership and the Board on systemic risks, emerging threats, and regulatory priorities
• Drive collaboration across Regulatory Operations departments to ensure risk intelligence informs (and is informed by) examination priorities, investigations, surveillance, and enforcement actions
• Build and maintain relationships across FINRA

Broker/Dealer Expertise

• Engage with member firms across several fronts to include membership applications, risk monitoring meetings, and intelligence sharing
• Participate in member firm committee meetings, roundtables, webinars related to the intersection of risk, effective practices, escalations, and engagement with membership
• Build and maintain relationships with industry participants, other regulators, law enforcement, and intelligence partners

Operational Excellence

• Oversee the development of sophisticated risk monitoring frameworks that synthesize data from surveillance, examinations, enforcement, and other internal and external sources
• Direct intelligence operations that identify patterns, connections, and trends across member firm activities, market events, and external threat vectors
• Establish governance frameworks for risk assessment methodologies, intelligence standards, and information sharing protocols
• Ensure timely dissemination of actionable intelligence to appropriate stakeholders across the organization

Innovation and Modernization

• Champion the adoption of advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other emerging technologies to enhance risk detection and intelligence capabilities
• Build a forward-looking capability to identify and assess frontier risks including those related to crypto assets, novel algorithmic trading, cyber threats, and novel fraud schemes
• Foster a culture of innovation, continuous learning, and analytical rigor within the division

Team Development

• Recruit, develop, and retain top-tier talent across risk management, intelligence analysis, data science, and regulatory domains
• Create a collaborative, high-performance culture that values diverse perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches
• Establish career development pathways and training programs to build organizational capability

Qualifications:

Required

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in financial services regulation, risk management, intelligence operations, or related fields
• Deep understanding of securities markets, broker-dealer operations, and regulatory frameworks
• Proven track record of building and leading complex, multi-disciplinary organizations
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex data and intelligence into strategic insights and actionable recommendations
• Strong executive presence with exceptional communication skills and ability to influence senior stakeholders
• Experience establishing governance frameworks and operational processes for risk and intelligence functions
• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree (MBA, JD, or relevant Master's) strongly preferred
• FINRA Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) certification or acceptable industry equivalent certification is required upon hire or within 16 months of the start date of the assigned SIE training cohort.

Preferred

• Direct experience in SRO, SEC, or other financial regulatory environment
• Background in intelligence operations
• Experience managing cross-functional initiatives across large, complex organizations
• Knowledge of emerging technologies and their implications for market structure and regulatory oversight

Core Competencies

• Strategic Vision – Ability to anticipate future risks and position the organization to address them proactively
• Analytical Rigor – Comfort with data-driven decision making and sophisticated analytical methodologies
• Collaborative Leadership – Skilled at building consensus and driving outcomes across organizational boundaries
• Communication Excellence – Ability to distill complex risk and intelligence assessments for diverse audiences
• Change Management – Experience leading organizational transformation and cultural change
• Judgment and Integrity – Impeccable ethical standards and sound judgment in handling sensitive information

Location:

This position is based at FINRA headquarters in Washington, DC, or New York, NY.

#LI-Hybrid

To be considered for this position, please submit an application. Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.

The information provided above has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work of the position. It is not a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required.

Please note: If the “Apply Now” button on a job board posting does not take you directly to the FINRA Careers site, enter www.finra.org/careers into your browser to reach our site directly.

Employees may be eligible for a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay. Non-exempt employees are also eligible for overtime pay in accordance with federal, state, or local law. As part of its dedication to employee wellness, FINRA provides comprehensive health, dental and vision insurance. Additional insurance includes basic life, accidental death and dismemberment, supplemental life, spouse/domestic partner and dependent life, and spouse/domestic partner and dependent accidental death and dismemberment, short- and long-term disability, long-term care, business travel accident, disability and legal. FINRA offers immediate participation and vesting in a 401(k) plan with company match and eligibility for participation in an additional FINRA-funded retirement contribution, tuition reimbursement, commuter benefits, and other benefits that support employee wellness, such as adoption assistance, backup family care, surrogacy benefits, employee assistance, and wellness programs.

Time Off and Paid Leave*

FINRA encourages its employees to focus on their health and wellness in many ways, including through a generous time-off program starting at 15 days of paid time off (increasing with years of service, up to 25 days), 5 personal days, and 9 sick days, unless otherwise required by law (all pro-rated in the first year). Additionally, we are proud to support our communities by providing two volunteer service days (based on full-time schedule). Other paid leave includes military leave, jury duty leave, bereavement leave, voting and election official leave for federal, state or local primary and general elections, care of a family member leave (available after 90 days of employment); and childbirth and parental leave (available after 90 days of employment). Full-time employees receive nine paid holidays.

• 
  Based on full-time schedule

Important Information

FINRA’s Code of Conduct imposes restrictions on employees’ investments and requires financial disclosures that are uniquely related to our role as a securities regulator. FINRA employees are required to disclose to FINRA all brokerage accounts that they maintain, and those in which they control trading or have a financial interest (including any trust account of which they are a trustee or beneficiary and all accounts of a spouse, domestic partner or minor child who lives with the employee) and to authorize their broker-dealers to provide FINRA with duplicate statements for all of those accounts. All of those accounts are subject to the Code’s investment and securities account restrictions, and new employees must comply with those investment restrictions—including disposing of any security issued by a company on FINRA’s Prohibited Company List or obtaining a written waiver from their Executive Vice President—by the date they begin employment with FINRA. Employees may only maintain securities accounts that must be disclosed to FINRA at one or more securities firms that provide an electronic feed (e-feed) of data to FINRA, and must move securities accounts from other securities firms to a firm that provides an e-feed within three months of beginning employment.

You can read more about these restrictions here.

As standard practice, employees must also execute FINRA’s Employee Confidentiality and Invention Assignment Agreement without qualification or modification and comply with the company’s policy on nepotism.

Washington state applicants: click here for required notice(s).

Search Firm Representatives

Please be advised that FINRA is not seeking assistance or accepting unsolicited resumes from search firms for this employment opportunity. Regardless of past practice, a valid written agreement and task order must be in place before any resumes are submitted to FINRA. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at FINRA without a valid written agreement and task order in place will be deemed the sole property of FINRA and no fee will be paid in the event that person is hired by FINRA.

FINRA is an Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to any legally protected category, including race, color, age, national origin, ethnicity, religion, disability, genetic information, military or veteran status, sex, or any other status or classification protected by state or local law.

FINRA strives to make our career site accessible to all users. If you need a disability-related accommodation for completing the application process, please contact FINRA’s Employee Relations team at 240-386-4865 or by email at EmployeeRelations@FINRA.org. Please note that this process is exclusively for inquiries regarding accommodations in the application process.

FINRA abides by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-741.5(a). This regulation prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals on the basis of disability and requires affirmative action by covered prime contractors and subcontractors to employ and advance in employment qualified individuals with disabilities.

FINRA abides by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-300.5(a). This regulation prohibits discrimination against qualified protected veterans and requires affirmative action by covered prime contractors and subcontractors to employ and advance in employment qualified protected veterans.

©2026 FINRA. All rights reserved. FINRA is a registered trademark of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc.