Executive Director, Risk & Critical Functions at VFD Group

VFD Group is an alternative financial service holding company that creates value by working within Nigeria's informal financial sector to create innovative products and solutions that are accessible to the everyday Nigerian.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Executive Director, Risk & Critical Functions

Location: Lagos

Job Summary

• The Executive Director, Risk & Critical Functions, is a key member of the Group Executive Committee responsible for safeguarding the long-term sustainability, operational resilience, and regulatory integrity of VFD Group and its subsidiaries. 
• This role will lead the design and execution of the enterprise-wide risk management strategy and oversee critical control functions including compliance, internal control, operational risk, and regulatory affairs. 
• The ideal candidate will bring a proactive, data-informed, and strategic perspective to risk leadership, enabling agile decision-making and institutional resilience in a dynamic economic environment.

Key Responsibilities
Strategic Risk Leadership:

• Define and drive the Group’s enterprise risk strategy in alignment with its corporate objectives and evolving regulatory landscape.
• Champion a strong, forward-looking risk culture across all business units, ensuring that risk awareness, ownership, and accountability are embedded at all levels.
• Lead the evolution and continuous enhancement of the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework, ensuring practical implementation across subsidiaries and emerging risk areas.

Risk Governance & Oversight:

• Provide strategic oversight for all risk categories: credit, operational, market, liquidity, legal, investment, strategic, ESG, and reputational risk.
• Lead the periodic development and refresh of Group-wide risk policies that are responsive to internal dynamics and external macroeconomic trends.
• Actively participate in or chair governance committees such as ALCO, Board Risk & Management Committee (BRMC), Executive Risk Management Committee (ERMC), and Management Committee (MANCO).
• Oversee the development and execution of comprehensive risk frameworks for identification, assessment, mitigation, escalation, and reporting.

Risk Monitoring, Reporting & Analytics:

• Ensure risk intelligence infrastructure (tools, dashboards, reports) delivers timely and actionable insights across the Group’s operating and investment activities.
• Approve and review risk submissions to the Executive Committee, Board Risk Committees, regulators, and other stakeholders.
• Define, review, and maintain Group-wide Key Risk Indicators (KRIs), ensuring dynamic alignment with risk appetite and capital adequacy levels.

Regulatory Compliance & Control Assurance:

• Lead the Group’s regulatory compliance framework across all subsidiaries and ensure strict adherence to CBN, SEC, NDIC, PENCOM, FRCN, and other applicable bodies.
• Maintain a zero-tolerance policy for regulatory breaches by building robust compliance systems and early-warning mechanisms.
• Oversee timely closure of audit findings and ensure seamless coordination between risk, audit, and compliance functions.
• Maintain a real-time regulatory compliance dashboard to track obligations, licenses, filings, and remediations across the Group.

Enterprise Resilience & Risk Culture:

• Drive organization-wide awareness and capacity-building initiatives to embed risk thinking, ethical conduct, and proactive risk mitigation practices.
• Lead the design, testing, and governance of business continuity, disaster recovery, and crisis response strategies.
• Strengthen the effectiveness and clarity of roles within the three lines of defense model, ensuring integrated risk ownership and reporting.

Leadership & People Development:

• Lead, mentor, and empower a multi-disciplinary team comprising Heads of Risk, Compliance, Internal Control, and other critical assurance functions.
• Foster a high-performance culture grounded in integrity, innovation, and strategic thinking.
• Develop succession plans, invest in team capacity-building, and build a pipeline of future leaders in enterprise risk and compliance.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's Degree in Risk Management, Finance, Economics, Law, or a related field; a Masters degree or MBA is preferred.
• Professional certifications such as FRM, CRM, CFA, ICA, CISA, or related governance/risk certifications are highly desirable.
• Minimum of 15 years experience in enterprise risk, compliance, or audit leadership roles, with at least 5 years in a C-suite, board-facing, or executive committee-level position.
• Demonstrated experience leading risk functions in a regulated financial services or investment holding environment.
• Proven experience interacting with financial regulators and boards, with a strong grasp of Nigerian and cross-border regulatory requirements.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online