Director, Enterprise Risk Management

Powering the next generation of global finance

About us

Founded in 2018, Bakkt , Inc. is a regulated financial technology company building infrastructure for the future of finance. Bakkt 's platform serves financial institutions, fintechs, and consumer finance products — providing the compliance, security, and scale required to deliver trusted financial services at a global level. Through its core business pillars, Bakkt powers institutional-grade trading capabilities, AI-enabled programmable finance, and cross-border payment infrastructure.

Role Summary

We are looking for an absolute doer, not a delegator. Reporting to the Head of Risk, this is an individual contributor role where you will operate essentially as a one-person ERM team . If you are looking to sit in a Second Line ivory tower, review other people’s work, and write high-level policy memos, this is not the role for you.

In our lean, fast-scaling environment, you must have the willingness and capability to completely roll up your sleeves and own the entire risk lifecycle from A to Z. You are the Stage 1 triager who drops everything to dive into messy data, investigate real-time incidents, and cut through noise to diagnose what is broken. Simultaneously, you are the Stage 2 builder who executes the actual grunt work required to fix it—writing the risk registers, configuring the tracking tools, co-designing automated controls with engineers, and building your own executive slide decks.

We want a gritty, highly technical creator who treats risk as an operational engineering problem and leverages AI and automation to scale themselves, ensuring that a lean infrastructure can punch way above its weight.

Key Responsibilities

ERM Framework & Governance

- Design, implement, and continuously improve the Enterprise Risk Management framework, risk taxonomy, risk registers, and risk appetite statements specific to digital assets and regulated financial services.

- Provide strategic direction for risk mitigation and operational improvement initiatives, guiding them from conception through completion in partnership with First Line business owners.

- Validate the design and implementation of sustainable controls established by the First Line to address identified risks, audit findings, and compliance gaps.

- Maintain and evolve risk policies, standards, and procedures aligned with regulatory expectations (including NYDFS) and industry best practices.

Business Risk Support (Counterparty, Market & Operational)

- Oversee and drive risk mitigation efforts related to counterparty exposure, including the assessment and ongoing monitoring of institutional partners, custodians, market makers, and liquidity providers.

- Support business-centric risk initiatives across market risk, liquidity risk, and operational risk — providing Second Line challenge and guidance to First Line owners.

- Partner with business and product teams on the risk-clearing process for new product launches, token listings, and partner integrations, providing independent Second Line review.

Risk Assessment & Monitoring

- Conduct enterprise-wide risk assessments across financial, operational, strategic, and technological domains — including crypto-specific risks such as custody, stablecoin peg stability, and on-chain exposure — to evaluate enterprise risk levels.

- Monitor emerging risks (regulatory, market, technology, and cyber) and provide early warning and recommended actions to the Head of Risk and executive team.

Remediation Oversight

- Oversee and drive risk mitigation tied to audit findings, regulatory exam observations, and self-identified issues, holding First Line owners accountable for execution and sustainability.

- Validate the design and implementation of remediation actions, track progress to closure, and report status to leadership and the Risk Committee of the Board.

Change Management & Cross-Functional Influence

- Lead change management associated with ERM tr