Executive Director, Risk & Critical Functions at VFD Group

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

• Bachelors 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