Senior Anti-Fraud Investigator

Office based role, working out of either London or Milton Keynes office

You know how to follow the evidence. Where will your fraud investigation experience take you next? If you have experience investigating fraud, assessing suspicious activity and turning complex findings into clear conclusions, bring that expertise to Viva.com. Put the investigative judgement you have developed within payments / merchant acquiring to work helping protect businesses from fraud. Ready for your next case—and your next career move? Apply today. 

About viva.com

Viva.com is the first Tech Bank in Europe for businesses, serving 29 countries through its pan-European critical infrastructure for payments & banking services. 

Viva.com’s offering spans across omnichannel payment acceptance, deposit accounts, card issuing, and a broad suite of financing solutions - including working capital and advance booking financing - alongside fiscalisation services, giving businesses across all verticals access to the tools they need to run their operations efficiently, on a single integrated platform. 

Viva.com pioneered and leads in Tap on Any Device technology, enabling acceptance on any Android device or iPhone, while connecting directly to all major international and local card schemes, local payment systems, and alternative payment methods across Europe. Viva Wallet.com Limited -Viva.com's UK subsidiary- is an Electronic-money institution licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA FRN 989273) for the provision of E-money and related services within the United Kingdom? 

Learn more at viva.com 

About the role:

The Senior Anti-Fraud Investigator will lead fraud investigations, identify emerging fraud patterns and vulnerabilities, and drive continuous improvements across the organisation's anti-fraud control environment.

Operating within a UK electronic money institution (EMI) and merchant-acquiring environment, the role combines advanced investigative capabilities, payments expertise, analytical skills and AI-driven process automation.

The successful candidate will take ownership of investigations involving merchant activity, transaction patterns, fraud typologies, operational incidents and disputes. They will use data analysis, management information (MI), dashboards and investigative tools to identify suspicious activity, establish root causes and recommend proportionate risk mitigation measures.

A key component of the role will be identifying opportunities to improve investigation efficiency through automation, developing AI-powered investigation tools and bots, and collaborating with Technology, Product and Operations teams to integrate these capabilities into existing processes.

The role will contribute to maintaining an effective anti-fraud monitoring environment, ensuring compliance with card scheme requirements and relevant regulatory obligations, while balancing effective fraud prevention with the commercial needs of a merchant-acquiring business.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Fraud Investigation & Intelligence

• Lead and undertake fraud investigations across merchant acquiring, card payments and associated operational activities.
• Investigate suspicious merchant and transaction activity, identifying potential fraud, emerging threats, unusual behaviours and financial crime indicators.
• Apply knowledge of fraud typologies, card payment flows, merchant acquiring and industry trends to identify and investigate potential vulnerabilities.
• Conduct investigations involving merchant disputes, transaction anomalies, operational incidents and suspected fraudulent activity.
• Undertake CIFAS-related investigations and contribute to appropriate risk assessments and recommendations.
• Perform detailed root cause analysis, using transaction data, system logs, dashboards and other investigative information.
• Identify recurring fraud patterns, systemic weaknesses and control deficiencies, recommending appropriate corrective action.
• Make evidence-based, rules-driven recommendations regarding merchant risk, fraud mitigation, escalation and appropriate interventions.
• Exercise sound commercial judgement when assessing fraud exposure, ensuring decisions are proportionate to the risk presented.

2. Anti-Fraud Monitoring & Risk Management

• Maintain, monitor and continuously enhance the anti-fraud transaction monitoring environment.
• Identify opportunities to improve fraud detection rules, monitoring thresholds, alerts and investigative processes.
• Analyse transaction activity and merchant behaviour to identify unusual patterns, emerging threats and potential fraud exposure.
• Develop and maintain fraud MI, dashboards, risk indicators and investigation KPIs.
• Monitor fraud trends and the effectiveness of existing controls, identifying opportunities to improve detection and prevention.
• Support the development and maintenance of an effective anti-fraud control framework.
• Recommend improvements to operational processes, fraud detection capabilities and risk mitigation strategies.

3. AI Automation & Investigation Bot Development

• Identify opportunities to automate repetitive and resource-intensive investigative activities using AI and automation technologies.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of automated investigation processes, ensuring appropriate accuracy, reliability, oversight and escalation arrangements.
• Ensure AI-supported investigations remain subject to appropriate human review, data governance and information security controls.
• Identify opportunities to reduce manual investigation effort, improve operational efficiency and accelerate investigation turnaround times.

4. Investigation Reporting & Operational Excellence

• Produce accurate, structured and evidence-based investigation reports, clearly documenting findings, conclusions and recommendations.
• Analyse investigation outcomes to identify trends, control weaknesses and opportunities for operational improvement.
• Ensure investigations are completed within appropriate timescales and that critical incidents are escalated promptly.
• Maintain clear and structured communication with internal stakeholders regarding investigation findings and recommended actions.
• Support internal and external audits, regulatory reviews and card scheme compliance assessments.
• Maintain appropriate investigation records and supporting evidence to demonstrate the rationale behind decisions and recommendations.

5. Regulatory & Card Scheme Compliance

• Maintain current knowledge of relevant card scheme rules, operating regulations, fraud requirements and industry best practices.
• Support compliance with applicable Visa and Mastercard scheme requirements and other relevant payment industry obligations.
• Maintain and contribute to a structured compliance matrix covering relevant fraud and risk-related scheme requirements.
• Identify changes to scheme requirements and assess their potential impact on fraud controls, monitoring processes and operational procedures.
• Support the development and enhancement of fraud and risk processes to maintain appropriate regulatory and scheme compliance.
• Use investigative insights and data analysis to identify opportunities to strengthen the organisation's risk and compliance environment.

6. Stakeholder Management & Collaboration

• Provide specialist fraud and payments expertise to support business decisions and risk mitigation strategies.
• Advise Product and commercial teams on emerging fraud risks, merchant vulnerabilities and appropriate preventative measures.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to implement improvements to fraud monitoring, investigative processes and automation capabilities.
• Support the adoption of AI investigation tools by providing guidance and training to relevant internal teams.
• Communicate complex investigative and technical findings clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.