Ascensus is the leading independent technology and service platform powering savings plans across America, providing products and expertise that help nearly 16 million people save for a better today and tomorrow.
Section 1: Position Summary
Ascensus is seeking an experienced Director, Fraud Operations to lead the Fraud Investigations function and provide strategic direction for the organization's efforts to detect, investigate, mitigate, and prevent fraud and financial crime. This role is responsible for overseeing investigative operations, developing high-performing leaders and teams, driving fraud risk strategies, and ensuring effective controls across the fraud lifecycle.
The Director will be accountable for operational performance, fraud loss mitigation, workforce planning, regulatory and governance adherence, and continuous improvement initiatives. This leader will serve as a key partner to executive leadership, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Operations, and Technology teams to strengthen fraud prevention capabilities, address emerging threats, and support the organization's long-term fraud risk management strategy.
The ideal candidate is a proven fraud leader with deep investigative expertise, strong people leadership experience, and a demonstrated ability to build scalable programs that balance risk mitigation, operational efficiency, and client experience.
Section 2: Job Functions, Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Establish the strategic vision, objectives, and performance standards for the Fraud Investigations function.
- Own departmental performance, including fraud losses, service levels, productivity, quality, employee engagement, and operational effectiveness.
- Provide executive oversight and direction for significant, complex, or high-profile fraud investigations and emerging fraud threats.
- Develop workforce plans, organizational structures, and talent strategies to support business growth and evolving fraud risk.
- Identify fraud trends, systemic risks, and control gaps, and drive enterprise-wide mitigation strategies.
- Partner with executive leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to enhance fraud controls, detection capabilities, reporting, analytics, and investigative effectiveness.
- Lead the development and execution of fraud risk management strategies, operational improvements, and transformational initiatives.
- Establish and monitor key performance indicators, risk metrics, and reporting to evaluate program effectiveness and support executive decision-making.
- Serve as a senior escalation point for significant fraud events, regulatory matters, and business-critical risk issues.
- Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, internal policies, governance standards, and investigative procedures.
- Build and maintain relationships with industry partners, vendors, law enforcement, and external stakeholders to strengthen fraud prevention and response efforts.
- Responsible for protecting, securing, and proper handling of all confidential data held by Ascensus to ensure against unauthorized access, improper transmission, and/or unapproved disclosure of information that could result in harm to Ascensus or our clients.
- At Ascensus we are guided by our Core Values of People Matter, Quality First and Integrity Always®. They inspire us every day to prioritize an environment of respect for those we serve and one another and should be visible in your actions on a day-to-day.
Supervision
- Lead and develop managers, team leads, and Fraud Investigators, creating a culture of accountability, engagement, and operational excellence.
Section 3: Experience, Skills, Knowledge Requirements
- Minimum 7 years of direct people leadership experience leading fraud investigations, fraud operations, financial crimes, or risk management teams, including experience managing leaders.
- 10+ years of progressive experience in fraud investigations, financial crimes, fraud operations, risk management, or financial services.
- Proven experience leading large-scale fraud investigation or fraud operations functions with responsibility for strategy, performance, and results.
- Demonstrated success developing leaders, building high-performing teams, and driving organizational effectiveness.
- Experience owning operational performance, service delivery, workforce planning, financial results, and risk outcomes.
- Strong knowledge of fraud typologies, fraud risk management frameworks, and financial crime trends.
- Proven ability to influence executive stakeholders and drive enterprise-wide initiatives.
- Exceptional leadership, communication, strategic planning, and change management skills.
For all virtual remote positions, in order to ensure associates can effectively perform their job duties with no distractions, we require an uninterrupted virtual workspace and there is also an expectation of family care being in place during business hours. Additionally, there is an internet work speed requirement of 25 Mbps or better for individual use. If more than one person is utilizing the same internet connection in the same household or building, then a stronger connection is required. If you are unsure of your internet speed, please check with your service provider. Note: For call center roles specifically, it is a requirement to either hardwire your equipment directly to the internet router or ensure your workstation is in close proximity to the router. Please ensure that you are able to meet these expectations before applying.
We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer
Be aware of employment fraud. All email communications from Ascensus or its hiring managers originate from @ascensus.com or @futureplan.com email addresses. We will never ask you for payment or require you to purchase any equipment. If you are suspicious or unsure about validity of a job posting, we strongly encourage you to apply directly through our website.
