Senior Director, Risk & Resilience at Mastercard Foundation

Mastercard Foundation is a global foundation based across four hubs in Kigali, Rwanda, Nairobi, Kenya, Accra, Ghana and Toronto, Canada. Our programs promote financial inclusion and advance education and learning in Africa, primarily for young people, and in Canada for Indigenous youth. The Foundation was established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company. From inception, the Foundation was designed to be a separate entity and independent from Mastercard. Our policies, operations, and funding decisions are made by our President and Board of Directors.

The Foundation believes that youth employment is key to unlocking prosperity, both for youth and their societies. Enabling young women and men from disadvantaged communities to secure dignified and fulfilling work will ensure inclusive development and economic growth in Africa.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Senior Director, Risk & Resilience

Job Requisition ID: JR-0000000604
Location: Nigeria
Job type: Full-time

The Opportunity

• The Senior Director, Risk & Resilience will be a key member of the Senior leadership team at the Mastercard Foundation, responsible for overseeing the Foundation’s enterprise-wide risk management strategy across its operations in Africa and Canada.
• Reporting directly to the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) and with a dotted line to the Board, Audit and Risk Committee, this role is responsible for shaping, leading, and embedding a proactive, enterprise-wide risk management approach that safeguards the Foundation’s mission, reputation, and resources.
• The individual will work with senior stakeholders across the enterprise to identify, assess, and mitigate risks related to program delivery, financial sustainability, compliance, and operational effectiveness, ensuring the Foundation’s mission-driven initiatives are sustainable and compliant with local and international regulations.
• The ideal candidate will bring a nuanced understanding of the diverse geopolitical, cultural, and regulatory environments in Africa and Canada, fostering a proactive risk culture aligned with the Foundation’s values.

Ways You Can Contribute

• Lead the Foundation’s risk management transformation agenda, ensuring continuous engagement, capacity building, and improvement across the enterprise to build a mature ERM capability that serves the Foundation’s unique requirements.
• Provide overall leadership and strategic direction for the Foundation’s ERM function, ensuring alignment with the Foundation’s goals, risk appetite and values.
• Coordinate risk management activities across the Foundation to support the implementation of a robust risk management framework.
• Ensure that adequate ERM policies, frameworks, and tools are in place and updated regularly.
• Oversee and integrate the ERM framework across functions, fostering risk-aware behaviours.
• Collaborate with risk champions to communicate the Foundation’s risk appetite and partner with colleagues on risk management.
• Champion a culture of risk awareness, ethical conduct, and accountability, ensuring risk management is embedded in the Foundation’s culture, ways of working, and people leadership through training, communication, and leadership.
• Share risk information and lessons learned across Functions to ensure enterprise-wide risk awareness.
• Collaborate across the enterprise and provide inputs into function risk registers and share actionable insights and support on risks and mitigation strategies to the functions.
• Oversee the integration of risk appetite into the strategic planning process, ensuring all major initiatives and new projects are assessed for alignment with risk tolerance levels.
• Collaborate with program, finance, and legal teams, and external partners to embed risk awareness into project planning and execution.
• Lead crisis management, including response planning, disaster risk reduction, and business continuity initiatives.
• Lead the identification, assessment, and mitigation of emerging strategic, financial, operational, compliance, and reputational risks across all functions and geographies and facilitate informed discussions to strengthen decision-making.
• Assess how external events and strategic decisions impact the Foundation’s risk profile and determine appropriate responses.
• Aggregate and synthesize risk information from all functions, providing enterprise-level risk reporting and insights to the Board Audit and Risk Committee and EXCO.
• Serve as a senior advisor to executive leadership and the Board on significant risk issues, providing insights and driving risk management conversations from a strategic perspective.
• Collaborate with other Executive Committee (EXCO) members to ensure that financial, operational, and programmatic decisions align with the Foundation's risk appetite parameters.
• Represent the Foundation in global and pan-African risk forums, building relationships with key external stakeholders, partners, and regulators.
• Lead, inspire, and develop a high-performing risk team, fostering an inclusive and accountable work environment that values diversity and continuous improvement.
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Who You Are

• Bachelor’s Degree in risk management, Business Administration, International Development, Public Administration, Economics, Finance or related disciplines.
• Master’s degree in business administration, Risk Management, International Development, Public Policy or related fields.
• Over 15 years of experience, with at least 10 years in senior leadership roles overseeing enterprise risk management.
• Advanced professional certifications in risk management such as RIMS-CRMP, FRM, ISO 31000 Risk Management.
• Proven track record of implementing and leading risk management initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience working across diverse geographic and cultural contexts.
• Experience collaborating with Board members and executive leaders on strategic risk management.
• Proven strategic leadership and enterprise-wide influence, with the ability to shape culture and drive accountability at all levels.
• Proven experience in establishing or enhancing ERM capabilities.
• Ability to blend technical ERM expertise with appropriate and pragmatic application to the varied context of the Foundation.
• Deep cultural awareness and sensitivity, with experience engaging diverse global and Pan-African stakeholder groups. 
• Strategic and forward-thinking mindset. 
• Collaborative and agile.
• Strong integrity, courage, and confidence to uphold convictions even in challenging situations.
• Demonstrated ability to lead the organization's risk management transformation, from initial changes to continuous engagement and improvement.
• Ability to collaborate across the organization as well as drive capacity at the Partner level.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to engage with empathy and purpose at the Board and Executive levels.
• Commitment to the Foundation’s values.   

Application Closing Date
12th February, 2026.

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