Senior Program Manager, Fraud Prevention & Payment Risk

Company Overview

Mesa is on a mission to make homeownership more affordable and rewarding. Led by a world-class team of repeat founders and fintech operators from Uber, Amex, Robinhood, Capital One, Bilt Rewards, Cash App, Square, Zillow, and LendingTree, they are creating the homeowner membership category. Their platform gives real value back to consumers for the $8T in annual homeownership spend.

Homeowner membership offers exclusive benefits and rewards across mortgage originations, mortgage payments, warranty, insurance, HELOC, and more. Mesa is bringing credit card style membership to every financial product for your home.

The Role

Mesa is looking for a Senior Program Manager, Fraud Prevention & Payment Risk to own and scale fraud and risk operations for our consumer credit card program. You’ll be responsible for defining and evolving our fraud policies, overseeing real-time risk strategy, and driving cross-functional execution across product, engineering, operations, and compliance. This is a foundational role with direct impact on portfolio health, customer trust, and regulatory readiness. This position will require a strategic leader with experience contributing at a hyper growth startup.

How you’ll make an impact

Financial Operations

• Manage, design and implement fraud detection and prevention strategies across the customer lifecycle: onboarding, authorization, clearing, chargebacks, and collections
• Own the roadmap for fraud tooling and partner integrations, collaborating with product, engineering, and third-party vendors
• Monitor key risk metrics (fraud loss rates, false positive rates, velocity triggers) and optimize for both protection and customer experience
• Report on risk trends and performance to internal leadership and external stakeholders (banks, auditors)

Card Operations

• Lead incident response and remediation planning for fraud events, including communication with banking partners and processors
• Partner with compliance to ensure adherence to regulatory standards (e.g., Reg Z, UDAAP) and internal controls
• Work directly with operations to implement new strategies and ensure cross-training of all support staff members
• Drive continuous improvement across rules, models, and operational workflows

Requirements

• 6+ years in fraud strategy, payment risk, or credit operations within a consumer financial product
• Deep familiarity with credit card transaction flows, authorization/settlement systems, and dispute processes
• Hands-on experience with fraud platforms and orchestration tooling (e.g., Kount, Sardine, Sift, Alloy, or similar)
• Analytical rigor: you’re comfortable with SQL and love turning data into insights and action
• Strong program management skills: you keep work on track across multiple teams and know how to prioritize for impact
• A builder’s mindset: you thrive in ambiguity, seek out ownership, and move fast
• Experience launching or operating a credit card program at a fintech or issuer
• Knowledge of credit bureau data, identity verification frameworks, and behavioral risk signals
• Exposure to AML/BSA or compliance-driven fraud controls

Benefits

• Competitive compensation, including meaningful equity
• Best in class health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) plan
• Unlimited vacation policy

Location: US only. Preferably Austin or NYC based.

To Apply: Principals only. But seriously, no recruiters.