Chief Risk Officer (CRO)

Organization: Sezzle Bank ILC

Location: Utah, USA

Employment Type: Full-time | On-site

About Sezzle:

With a mission to financially empower the next generation, Sezzle is revolutionizing the shopping experience beyond payments, blending cutting-edge tech with seamless, interest-free installment plans that make shopping smarter and more accessible. We're not just transforming payments; we're redefining how people discover, interact with, and purchase the things they love while driving real impact on merchant sales through increased conversions and higher order values. As we continue to shape the future of fintech and retail, we're building an innovative, dynamic team passionate about creating more than just a transaction but a truly unique shopping journey. If you're excited about pushing boundaries in tech and delivering a game-changing experience for consumers and merchants alike, come join us at Sezzle and help create the future of shopping!

About Sezzle Bank ILC:

Sezzle Bank ILC is a de novo Industrial Loan Company in formation, chartered in Utah and wholly owned by Sezzle Inc. The Bank will serve as the regulated banking entity supporting Sezzle's consumer financial products, with a strategic focus on responsible lending, financial innovation, and exceptional customer experience. We are building a best-in-class team to stand up a safe, sound, and compliant institution from the ground up.

About the Role:

We are seeking a highly experienced Chief Risk Officer to develop and maintain an effective second-line risk management framework for Sezzle Bank ILC. The CRO will measure and manage credit, market, liquidity, operational, compliance, technology, and model-related risks across the Bank. This role reports to the CEO with a secondary reporting line to the Board Risk and Compliance Committee.

What You'll Do:

• Define enterprise-wide risk management strategies, policies, and risk appetite frameworks.
• Identify, measure, monitor, and report on risk across the Bank and ensure compliance with established risk limits.
• Serve as the primary interface for all risk program communication to the Board Risk and Compliance Committee.
• Identify emerging areas of risk, including potential risks associated with proposed new products and services.
• Oversee the Bank's CISO to ensure information assets, sensitive customer data, and technologies are protected; ensure the CISO reports routinely to the Board or appropriate committee.
• Oversee the Bank's second-line compliance risk management function, including complaints handling and emerging regulatory and consumer compliance requirements.
• Serve as (or oversee) the CRA Officer, ensuring the Bank meets its community reinvestment obligations.
• Oversee the BSA Officer; ensure BSA/AML/OFAC policies, procedures, risk assessments, and controls are properly designed and operationally effective.
• Develop and maintain a model governance framework that includes independent model validation processes.
• Communicate with regulators and address regulatory inquiries and examination activities.
• Provide support and insight to the Bank's audit program, including addressing audit findings and remediation efforts.

What We Look For:

• 15–20+ years of banking or financial services experience, with significant time in risk management, credit, compliance, or audit.
• Minimum 7–10 years in a senior risk leadership role (CRO, SVP Risk, or equivalent) at a regulated financial institution.
• Deep knowledge of enterprise risk management frameworks, banking regulatory requirements, and second-line governance.
• Experience managing compliance, BSA/AML, OFAC, CRA, and cybersecurity risk programs.
• Strong communication skills with Board-level risk reporting experience.
• Located in Utah or willing to relocate to Utah.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Accounting, or Mathematics; Master's degree preferred.
• FRM (GARP), CAMS, CRCM, or CPA certification highly valued.
• Experience with model risk governance and CECL/stress testing frameworks.

About You:

• You have relentlessly high standards — many people may think your standards are unreasonably high. You are continually raising the bar and driving those around you to deliver great results. You make sure that defects do not get sent down the line and that problems are fixed so they stay fixed.
• You're not bound by convention — your success—and much of the fun—lies in developing new ways to do things.
• You need action — speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk-taking.
• You earn trust — you listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully.
• You have backbone; disagree, then commit — you can respectfully challenge decisions when you disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. You have conviction and are tenacious. You do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, you commit wholly.
• You deliver results — you focus on the key inputs and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, you rise to the occasion and never settle.

What Makes Working at Sezzle Awesome:

At Sezzle, we are more than just brilliant engineers, passionate data enthusiasts, out-of-the-box thinkers, and determined innovators. We believe in surrounding ourselves with only the best and the brightest individuals. Our culture is not defined by a certain set of perks designed to give the illusion of the traditional startup culture, but rather, it is the visible example living in every employee that we hire.

Compensation:

Compensation is market-competitive and commensurate with experience. Specific compensation offered to a candidate will be dependent on factors such as education, experience, qualifications, and alignment with market data.

Perks & Benefits:

• Unlimited PTO, volunteer hours and sabbatical
• Life, STD/LTD, medical, dental and vision insurance
• Highly discounted LifeTime gym membership
• 401k with match
• Collaborative fun co-workers
• The opportunity to join the fastest growing FinTech alongside a team of motivated and driven individuals

CCPA Disclosure:

Sezzle Inc. is committed to protecting the privacy of our job applicants. In compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), we inform California residents about the personal information we may collect, the purposes for its collection, and your rights under the CCPA. For details about the categories of personal information we collect and your rights under the CCPA, please visit the California Office of the Attorney General's CCPA page. By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this CCPA disclosure.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

Sezzle Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other legally protected status. Sezzle recognizes and values the importance of diversity and inclusion in enriching the employment experience of its employees and in supporting our mission.

Our Company

Established in 2016 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Sezzle Inc. is a publicly traded financial technology company (Nasdaq: SEZL) operating in the United States and Canada. With a mission to financially empower the next generation, Sezzle is revolutionizing the shopping experience beyond payments, blending cutting-edge tech with seamless, interest-free installment plans that make shopping smarter and more accessible. We’re not just transforming payments; we’re redefining how people discover, interact with, and purchase the things they love while driving real impact on merchant sales through increased conversions and higher order values. Sezzle currently employs approximately 400 employees and contractors, with gross annual revenue exceeding $450 million and net income of more than $133 million (based on our 2025 Annual Report).

The Position

We are seeking a best in class tech-driven General Counsel. This role presents an exciting opportunity to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment within a rapidly growing team.

The General Counsel serves as Sezzle’s most senior legal and compliance executive, providing strategic legal leadership across all business lines while directly overseeing the Compliance department. This is not a traditional legal role. We are a technology company first, and our GC must lead with that same orientation, embracing AI-powered legal operations, accelerating the team’s use of emerging tools, and acting as a force multiplier for Sezzle’s speed of innovation. The GC will own the full legal and compliance mandate including consumer lending regulation, state and federal licensing, ILC bank charter regulatory strategy, corporate governance, product counsel, and enterprise risk.

This role is critical to Sezzle’s next chapter. As we pursue a Utah Industrial Loan Company (ILC) bank charter and build out a full-service consumer financial platform, the GC will be at the center of some of the most consequential legal and regulatory decisions in the company’s history.

What You’ll Do

Legal Leadership

• Lead Sezzle’s legal function as a technology-first operator, not a traditional counsel. You will be expected to actively implement and champion AI tools across the legal and compliance team, from contract review and regulatory research to compliance monitoring and risk analysis, setting the standard for how a modern in-house legal department operates. This is not aspirational; it is a baseline expectation from day one.
• Serve as the company’s primary legal advisor to the CEO, executive team, and Board on all legal, regulatory, and strategic matters.
• Lead, manage, and build Sezzle’s in-house legal team, setting a high-performance culture consistent with Sezzle’s Merit, Excellence, and Intelligence values.
• Oversee all corporate governance matters including Board minutes, charter documents, equity management, securities compliance, and public company obligations.
• Manage litigation, outside counsel relationships, and legal spend with a results-driven, efficiency-first orientation.
• Provide real-time legal guidance on product development, marketing, technology partnerships, and business strategy.
• Lead or support M&A, debt facility, and strategic transaction work as Sezzle’s business evolves.

Compliance & Regulatory Leadership

• Directly lead and own Sezzle’s Compliance department, overseeing the team, program structure, and regulatory posture across the U.S. and Canada.
• Own all consumer lending regulatory compliance including TILA/Reg Z, ECOA, FCRA, UDAAP, GLBA, CCPA/GDPR, and state-level consumer protection laws.
• Lead state licensing strategy including money transmission, consumer finance, and lending licenses across all active jurisdictions.
• Act as primary point of contact for CFPB, FTC, state banking regulators, and other relevant regulatory bodies.
• Own Sezzle’s ILC bank charter regulatory strategy in partnership with the CEO and executive team, guiding application, charter management, ongoing regulatory relationships, and bank-level compliance build-out.
• Develop and maintain enterprise-wide compliance programs, policies, and training frameworks.
• Lead regulatory examination and audit preparation, response, and resolution.

AI & Technology Transformation

• Champion the adoption and implementation of AI tools within the Legal and Compliance departments, drafting, research, contract review, regulatory monitoring, and compliance automation.
• Actively partner with Engineering and Product on AI-powered product initiatives, ensuring legal and compliance are accelerators rather than gatekeepers.
• Set and model a culture where legal team members are expected to leverage AI in their daily practice.
• Advise on legal risk associated with Sezzle’s proprietary AI development, including the AI shopping assistant, algorithmic credit decisioning, and data strategy.

What We Look For

• Demonstrated track record of leading AI implementation within a legal or compliance function, not as an observer but as an owner and driver of adoption.
• Experience building or leading compliance operations at a high-growth fintech, digital lender, or regulated technology company.
• Regulatory experience navigating CFPB, FTC, state banking regulators, and/or FDIC examinations.
• Exceptional ability to translate complex regulatory requirements into clear, actionable business guidance without slowing execution.
• Strong team-building instincts, this person leads a department and sets the culture for how legal and compliance operates at Sezzle.
• Strategic thinker with operational discipline, can set direction and execute.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; comfortable presenting to the Board and external regulators.
• Deep expertise in U.S. consumer lending regulation with direct BNPL, pay-in-four, short-term lending, earned wage access, or adjacent consumer finance experience is preferred. 

Preferred Qualifications

• J.D. from a top-ranked U.S. law school; law review or equivalent academic distinction preferred.
• 8–15 years of relevant legal experience; a mix of elite law firm and in-house is the ideal trajectory.
• Direct experience with ILC charter applications or de novo bank formation is a significant differentiator.
• Prior experience in BNPL, payday lending, consumer installment lending, personal loans, or near-Sezzle consumer finance verticals strongly preferred.
• Background or active interest in financial technology product development, candidates who have coded, prototyped, or built internal legal-tech tools are of particular interest.
• Public company experience (SEC reporting, Regulation FD, proxy statements) is a plus; Sezzle is publicly traded on Nasdaq.
• Familiarity with Canadian consumer protection law is an asset.

About You

• You have relentlessly high standards; many people may think your standards are unreasonably high. You are continually raising the bar and driving those around you to deliver great results. You make sure that defects do not get sent down the line and that problems are fixed so they stay fixed.
• You’re not bound by convention; your success and much of the fun, lies in developing new ways to do things.
• You need action; speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk-taking.
• You earn trust; you listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully.
• You have backbone; disagree, then commit. You can respectfully challenge decisions when you disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. You have conviction and are tenacious. You do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, you commit wholly.
• You deliver results; you focus on the key inputs and deliver them with the right quality and in a timely fashion. Despite setbacks, you rise to the occasion and never settle.

What Makes Working at Sezzle Awesome

At Sezzle, we are more than just brilliant engineers, passionate data enthusiasts, out-of-the-box thinkers, and determined innovators. We believe in surrounding ourselves with only the best and the brightest individuals. Our culture is not defined by a certain set of perks designed to give the illusion of the traditional startup culture, but rather, it is the visible example living in every employee that we hire.

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