Senior Manager, Fraud Operations

Navan is at the forefront of revolutionizing travel and expense management. As we scale globally, the integrity and security of our platform are paramount. We are seeking a visionary and operationally-minded leader to join as our Senior Manager of Fraud Operations and Investigations.

This is not just a management role; it is an opportunity to be the architect of a resilient, scalable, and world-class fraud defense ecosystem. You will be the cornerstone of our operational response, responsible for building the processes, developing the people, and implementing the strategies that protect Navan and its customers from sophisticated financial threats. This role will report directly to the Head of Fraud Operations, Investigations, and Threat Intelligence. 

What You’ll Do:

As the Senior Manager, you will govern the end-to-end fraud operations lifecycle. Your responsibilities will be organized around three core pillars: Strategic Leadership, Operational Excellence, and Expert Execution.

1. Strategic Leadership

• Champion a High-Performance Culture: Build, mentor, and lead a world-class team of fraud investigators and analysts. Foster a culture of critical thinking, continuous improvement, and accountability.
• Drive Strategic Initiatives: Lead key projects aimed at enhancing fraud detection, prevention, and response capabilities, including the implementation of new technologies and methodologies.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Serve as the key operational liaison to Product, Engineering, Data Science, Legal, and Finance teams to ensure fraud risk is a shared, managed responsibility across the organization.

1. Operational Excellence & Management

• Architect Scalable Processes: Design, document, and enforce Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all facets of fraud investigation, incident response, and chargeback management to ensure consistency, quality, and compliance.
• Master Workforce Management (WFM): Implement and manage robust WFM practices, including capacity planning, team scheduling, and real-time queue management to meet SLAs across a 24/7 global operation.
• Govern Performance with Data: Establish, monitor, and report on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) such as loss rates, detection accuracy, investigator productivity, and customer impact.
• Build a Quality & Training Engine: Develop and scale a comprehensive training program for new and existing team members, alongside a Quality Assurance (QA) framework to maintain the highest standards of investigation.
• Optimize Chargeback Strategy: Own and refine the chargeback management strategy for both our card issuing and travel businesses, focusing on maximizing recovery rates and minimizing losses.

III. Expert Execution & Incident Command

• Lead Complex Investigations: Act as the ultimate escalation point for the most complex and sensitive fraud investigations, guiding the team in using advanced techniques like linkage analysis to neutralize systemic threats.
• Command Incident Response: Serve as the designated Incident Commander during major fraud events, orchestrating a swift, calm, and effective cross-functional response to contain impact and remediate vulnerabilities.
• Inform Detection & Analytics: Partner with data teams to define requirements for fraud detection models and rule-based systems. Translate investigative findings into actionable intelligence to continuously improve our automated defenses.
• Manage Vendor & Tooling Ecosystem: Evaluate, select, and manage relationships with third-party fraud data and technology vendors to ensure our team is equipped with best-in-class tools.

What We’re Looking For:

• Required Qualifications:

  • A Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., Business, Finance, Criminal Justice, Data Analytics) or equivalent practical experience.
  • 11 - 15 years of progressive experience in fraud risk management, with a clear focus on fraud operations and investigations within a fast-paced environment like fintech, e-commerce, or financial services.
  • A minimum of 5 years of direct people management experience, with a proven track record of hiring, developing, and leading high-performing operational teams.
  • Deep Operational Expertise: Demonstrated experience in creating and implementing SOPs, managing WFM/scheduling for an operations team, and establishing data-driven KPIs and QA programs.
  • Domain Mastery: Comprehensive knowledge of the fraud landscape, including card-not-present (CNP) fraud, account takeover (ATO), issuing/acquiring fraud (BIN attacks, bust-out), identity fraud, and chargeback processes.
  • Data-Driven Decision Making: Strong proficiency in SQL for data analysis and a solid understanding of how data science languages (e.g., Python, R) and BI tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI) are applied to monitor trends and drive strategic decisions.
  • Crisis Leadership: Proven ability to lead calmly and decisively under pressure, acting as an incident commander during high-stakes situations.

  Preferred Qualifications:

  • Master’s degree in a related field.
  • Experience managing a global or distributed team across multiple time zones.
  • Professional certifications such as CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner) or CFCI (Certified Financial Crimes Investigator).
  • Experience with Lean, Six Sigma, or other process optimization methodologies.
  • Experience managing vendor relationships and tooling budgets for a fraud operations team.