Business Risk Officer

Our values define us and our culture inspires us to change lives for the better. Our employees are the heart and soul of our company, and every success we experience begins with them. Together we are committed to making a positive impact in our local communities. We champion a culture of continuous learning, work-life integration, and inclusion. We promote a digitally enabled work environment to continuously enhance the experience of our employees and customers.

This full-time position is remote and open to candidates with availability and ease of access to travel to our corporate headquarters in Lancaster, PA on a routine basis (1-2 times per month). 

 

As the head of First Line of Defense (1LOD) Risk for Data, Technology & Operations (DTO), this role is accountable for building and sustaining a consistent, comprehensive, proactive, and business-embedded risk culture in partnership with enterprise stakeholders. Reporting directly to the Chief Operations & Technology Officer (COTO) and serving as a member of the DTO senior leadership team, this role will build and lead the DTO first line risk program and associated risk disciplines and practices, ensuring effective risk management, strong controls, and alignment with the Bank's risk appetite while enabling strategic priorities and operational excellence.

This leader will serve as the primary liaison between DTO business units, Second Line Risk Management, and regulatory agencies, driving a culture of accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement.

• Build, lead, and continuously mature the DTO Business Risk Office, driving a strong First Line of Defense risk management capability that enables effective risk management, transparent risk reporting, sound control environments, and alignment with enterprise risk management frameworks, policies, and standards.
• Serve as primary risk advisor to the COTO and senior leadership team on operational, technology, regulatory, and strategic risks.
• Drive risk identification, assessment, mitigation, and monitoring activities to ensure process owned risks and controls are effectively documented and managed.
• Ensure execution of risk and control management standards within DTO, including risk and control self-assessments, risk and control change management, and ongoing assessment of control design and operating effectiveness in alignment with enterprise risk frameworks.
• Design, implement, and oversee a first line quality control, testing, and monitoring program to assess control execution, identify emerging issues, validate remediation effectiveness, and drive continuous improvement.
• Implement and execute risk management reporting aligned to enterprise frameworks and standards including key risk indicator and control performance metrics to provide visibility into the DTO risk profile, emerging risks and mitigation/remediation progress.
• Establish and drive process excellence standards within DTO, including process documentation, ownership, and a strategic roadmap to improve adoption, consistency, and operational discipline.
• Oversee DTO business continuity program in conjunction with functional business leaders, ensuring critical processes are identified, recovery strategies are documented and tested, and resiliency capabilities align with enterprise requirements and regulatory expectations.
• Lead regulatory, audit, and issue management activities and serve as a key liaison with regulators, internal audit, compliance, and risk partners to drive sustainable corrective actions and maintain a strong control environment.
• Partner closely with Second Line Risk Management, Audit, and Compliance functions to ensure proper engagement, transparency, escalation, and alignment with enterprise risk appetite.
• Oversee risk management associated with third parties, technology initiatives, operational change programs, and strategic transformation efforts.
• Partner with DTO leaders to strengthen risk ownership, accountability, and a proactive culture of sound risk management.

 

Education

Bachelor's Degree or the equivalent experience. Specialty: Business, Finance, Risk Management, Information Systems or related field; or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience. (Required)

Master's Degree or the equivalent experience. Specialty: MBA or other relevant advanced degree. (Preferred)

Experience

15 or more years progressive experience in financial services, with deep expertise in operational risk management, banking operations, technology risk, compliance, audit or regulatory environments. (Required)

10 or more years leadership experience, leading teams and driving strategic initiatives within a complex, highly regulated environment. (Required)

10 or more years experience with banking regulatory expectations and risk management practices, including experience supporting regulatory examinations, remediation programs, and interactions with regulators, second line risk, and internal audit. (Required)

10 or more years deep banking experience across operations, payments, lending, deposits, fraud, or services functions. (Required)

Certifications

Lean six sigma certifications (green belt, black belt, or equivalent). (Preferred)

Professional certifications in operational risk, information systems, audit or project management. (Preferred)

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strategic leadership and executive presence with the ability to influence at senior leadership levels (Required)
• Strong influencing and stakeholder management skills across business, risk, and regulatory audiences (Required)
• Ability to constructively challenge business decisions while maintaining strong partnerships (Required)
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills; able to translate complex risk concepts for non-technical audiences (Required)
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities with a data driven approach to risk metrics and reporting (Required)
• Proven ability to lead through change and drive organizational transformation in a regulated environment (Required)

 

This role may perform other job duties as assigned by the manager. Each employee of the Organization, regardless of position, is accountable for reading, understanding and acting on the contents of all Company-assigned and/or job related Compliance Programs, regulations and policies and procedures, as well as ensure that all Compliance Training assignments are completed by established due dates. This includes but is not limited to, understanding and identifying compliance risks impacting their department(s), ensuring compliance with applicable laws or regulations, and escalating compliance risks to the appropriate level of management.

To provide greater transparency to candidates, we share base salary ranges on all job postings regardless of state. We set standard salary ranges for our roles based on the position, function, and responsibilities, as benchmarked against similarly sized companies in our industry. Specific compensation offered will be determined based on a combination of factors including the candidate’s knowledge, skills, depth of work experience, and relevant licenses/credentials. The salary range may vary based on geographic location.

 

The salary range for this position is $189,300.00 - $315,400.00 annually.

Additional Compensation Components

 

This job is eligible to receive equity in the form of restricted stock units. This job is eligible to participate in a short-term incentive compensation plan subject to individual and company performance.

Additionally, as part of our Total Rewards program, Fulton Bank offers a comprehensive benefits package to those who qualify. This includes medical plans with prescription drug coverage; flexible spending account or health savings account depending on the medical plan chosen; dental and vision insurance; life insurance; 401(k) program with employer match and Employee Stock Purchase Plan; paid time off programs including holiday pay and paid volunteer time; disability insurance coverage and maternity and parental leave; adoption assistance; educational assistance and a robust wellness program with financial incentives. To learn more about your potential eligibility for these programs, please visit Benefits & Wellness | Fulton Bank.

Fulton Bank (“Fulton”) is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all qualified persons. Fulton will recruit, hire, train and promote persons in all job titles, and ensure that all other personnel actions are administered, without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, gender, gender identity, age, genetic information, marital status, disability, covered veteran status, or any other legally protected status.

As a condition of employment, individuals must be authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship for a work visa by Fulton Bank currently or in the future.