Risk Identification and Assessment Director

The Risk Identification and Assessment Director is a key leadership position within Northern Trust’s enterprise risk management function, charged with the responsibility of embedding and refining the risk identification and assessment processes across the lines of defense. As a key figure in the 2nd line of defense, this Director reports to the Head of Enterprise Risk Management and collaborates extensively with both the 1st and 2nd line teams. The core responsibilities encompass the development and maintenance of the risk identification standard, the implementation of an emerging risk and material risk identification process, and the enhancement of risk assessment standards, including maintainingrisk rating and materiality scales. This role involves leading initiatives to ensure comprehensive risk identification, driving the detection of material and emerging risks, maintaining and advancing risk inventory technology capabilities, and conducting impact assessments to apply materiality thresholds. The Risk Identification and Assessment Director oversees the adherence to the aforementioned standards and is instrumental in fostering a culture of risk awareness through training and monitoring adherence across the lines of defense.

The ideal candidate will have a robust background in enterprise risk management, including risk identification and assessment, at a large-scale financial services organization, and a demonstrated ability to oversee such functions and effectively collaborate with senior stakeholders.

Major Duties

• Design, implement, and sustainstandards for risk identification, emerging risks, risk assessment across lines of defense through training and adherence monitoring

• Establish and maintain risk ratings and materiality scales used in identifying top and material risks

• Drive identification of top, material, and emerging risks

• Maintain risk inventory technology capabilities

• Keep abreast of industry trends, regulatory changes, and emerging risks to proactively identify potential threats and opportunities and evolve the risk management framework to align with changing business and regulatory practices

Experience, Knowledge, Abilities

• 12+ years of direct risk management framework experience at a large-scale financial services organization preferred, including enterprise risk management experience

• Demonstrated knowledge and experience in designing, training, and monitoring enterprise risk identification and assessmentpractices, supporting effective implementation and sustainability 

• Proven capability in high-quality execution, including both independent execution, as well as influencing cross-functional stakeholders to drive change

• Familiarity with ServiceNow or similar Governance Risk and Compliance tool, preferred  

• Experience overseeing financial and/or non-financial risks, including interpreting and adhering to associated prudential expectations

• Ability to accurately identify, escalate, and drive actions to mitigate priority risks

Skills

• Successful candidate will possess the following key skills: strategic thinking, conceptual thinking, logical thinking, stakeholder management, project management, change management, digital literacy, and risk identification and assessment

• Strong communication skills, including verbal and written communications to senior leaders and committees

Education

• BS/CA diploma in management or finance; An MBA or similar advanced degree preferred