First Line Risk & Control Manager

About Swift

Swift is the world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services, headquartered in Belgium.

About the role

The First Line Risk & Control Manager will lead a team of professionals focused on strengthening risk and control practices throughout the organization, overseeing first-line control testing, supporting audits, and ensuring adherence to internal control frameworks and regulatory requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Recruit, coach, and develop a high-performing team of risk and control professionals.
• Set clear goals, provide feedback, and foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Translate organizational strategy into actionable plans for the team.
• Build strong relationships with senior leaders and cross‑functional teams across Swift.
• Drive adoption of new processes, tools, and frameworks.
• Monitor team performance against KPIs and deliverables.
• Provide transparency and ensure accurate reporting of control testing and audit activities and results to executive and senior leadership.
• Build and foster meaningful and professional relationships with internal stakeholders across all three lines.
• Collaborate with the 2nd line Risk Department and 3rd line Internal Audit to stay aligned on first-line testing, risk and audit activities and outcomes.
• Perform first-line control testing and assurance reviews to evaluate the design and operating effectiveness of the controls.
• Identify and report control gaps, risks and compliance issues.
• Ensure issues detected by first line are documented as Issues Known to Management.
• Support remediation plans and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Maintain documentation for audits and regulatory reporting.
• Collaborate with business units to ensure adherence to internal control standards.
• Drive improvements to increase control and control testing maturity.
• Provide internal and external audit oversight, including coordination, monitoring, and guidance in preparing timely and quality responses to third-line audit findings.
• Provide training and guidance on control and auditing requirements.
• Serve as primary liaison for internal and external audits.
• Monitor and report on risk management activities and outcomes.
• Assist 1st line in identifying, analyzing, evaluating and mitigating risks in alignment with Swift’s Enterprise Risk Management Framework.
• Leverage a technology-driven risk lens to assist with the preparation and review of executive and board material.
• Manage and maintain the organization’s central technology policies and process repository to ensure they remain accurate and relevant.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree.
• 10+ years of experience in control compliance, risk management, audit or similar roles, and at least 3 years in a people leadership capacity.
• Strong technical understanding of compliance frameworks, risks, policies and controls.
• Proficiency in using governance, risk management and compliance tools and methodologies.
• Self-starter with a structured, process-oriented mindset and the ability to work independently in a dynamic, international environment.
• Excellent communication (written and oral), interpersonal and presentation skills.
• Strategic thinker and problem-solver, able to analyze complex technical data and provide actionable insights and recommendations.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and influencing skills, with experience interacting at senior, executive and board levels.
• Collaborative mindset with a proactive and solution-oriented approach.
• Proven ability to influence, drive change and deliver with an operational excellence mindset.
• Resilience and adaptability in managing multiple priorities and delivering results in a fast-paced and evolving environment.
• Relevant professional certifications (e.g., CISA, CRISC, CGRC, GRCP, ISO 31000).
• Strong knowledge of industry standards and frameworks (e.g., ISO 27001, ITIL, NIST, CIS, COBIT) and technology risk principles.
• Professional English language skills (written and verbal).

Benefits

• Diverse and inclusive environment where everyone’s voice counts.
• Unparalleled exposure to knowledge, expertise and technologies across multiple countries.
• Opportunity to influence and drive change at a global scale.

Accessibility and Accommodation

We are committed to an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation related to accessibility during your application or interview, please contact accessibility-Sysgroup@swift.com.

All requests are confidential and will not affect your candidacy.

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