Sr Governance Manager, Amazon Payments

Description

Amazon's Risk and Compliance Solutions (RCS) organization is seeking an experienced governance/company secretariat professional to support regulated financial services entities in North America & Europe. The successful candidate will join the RCS team, working with NA & UK Boards of Directors comprised of internal senior leaders and Senior Management to ensure regulatory compliance.
This role serves as the single-threaded governance owner for several regulated legal entities across NA and EU, owning end-to-end governance processes including operational and strategic workstreams. As a subject matter expert, this person uses expertise and judgment to influence senior stakeholders, drive strategic outcomes, and implement long-term solutions ensuring compliance, mitigating risks, and driving informed decision-making. The role provides governance oversight of regional expansions, navigating complex governance-related laws and regulations across jurisdictions for scalable business growth, delivering independently while seeking direction as needed on ambiguous initiatives where problems or strategies may be undefined.

Key job responsibilities
• Act as dedicated governance advisor, advising on complex matters and providing expert guidance on governance obligations, compliance, board composition, and roles to support Boards and Senior Management in discharging their responsibilities and compliance objectives—using expertise and judgment to enhance governance processes, determine goals, and inform decisions
• Lead development, review, and enhancement of governance frameworks through independent deep dives and industry benchmarking—designing tailored policies aligned with regulatory requirements, business needs, and diverse legal environments while drafting, implementing, and delivering charters, accountability matrices, terms of reference, policies, and procedures in partnership with Risk, Compliance, and Legal
• Manage the full lifecycle of Board and Management meetings—including scheduling, crafting agendas, guiding paper content preparation, conducting quality assurance reviews to ensure comprehensive and accurate materials for efficient oversight and decision-making, and managing minute-taking and action items
• Navigate complex governance challenges, influence key decisions, and earn leadership trust
• In collaboration with senior leaders, EU CCO & MLRO, Head of NA Risk & Compliance, Legal, and Tax partners, lead the appointment and onboarding of new Board members and provide oversight of board changes, nominations, and appointments
• Ensure the delivery of comprehensive training and induction programs for newly appointed Board and Committee members—ensuring they receive tailored onboarding materials, understand their fiduciary duties and regulatory obligations, and are equipped to effectively discharge their governance responsibilities
• Partner with Compliance and Legal on the appointment of internal control functions (CCO, CISO), ensuring regulatory compliance and alignment with organizational governance standards
• Own oversight of Governance-related KPIs and projects, presenting metrics to Senior Leadership during Board and Committee meetings, developing structured approaches to Board decisions and documentation, and ensuring senior managers across three lines of defense fulfill governance responsibilities
• Maintain comprehensive understanding of each entity's structure, operations, compliance, and risk posture, anticipating challenges and opportunities while ensuring effective communication and escalation of key issues and mitigating long-term risks
• Drive initiatives to streamline and enhance governance processes, fostering transparency and accountability within the organization
• Oversee all governance workstreams and expansions in the EU & NA regions, scaling frameworks across jurisdictions while managing several entities—applying strategic thinking to collaborate cross-functionally with Heads of Risk and Compliance, Chief Compliance Officers, and Legal partners to onboard new entities through in-depth analysis, leading discussions to develop optimal governance while handling complexity of comprehending constitutional laws and cross-checking governance regulations across jurisdictions

A day in the life
The Senior Governance Manager is responsible for supporting licensed legal entities across the NA and EU regions, with focus of ensuring, inter-alia, the following:
• Entities are operating according to high corporate governance standards, and in line with the governance regulatory requirements imposed by their respective jurisdictions
• The Boards of Directors as governing bodies of these Entities, have well-defined and documented roles and responsibilities, and are providing effective oversight and direction for these entities
• Adequate governance and secretarial support are provided to Boards and Committees and is standardized across all Entities.

Basic Qualifications

- Bachelor's degree or equivalent
- Speak, write, and read fluently in English at C1 level or above
- Governance, Company Secretariat, compliance program management, legal, or equivalent relevant experience with deep understanding of corporate governance frameworks and regulatory environments (ideally with NA and EU experience)
- Experience handling confidential information and advising senior leaders and stakeholders across regions in rapidly changing, growth-oriented environments
- Demonstrated ability to independently manage complex governance portfolios, handle complex problems, decisions, and escalations, and deliver in ambiguous or evolving regulatory environments
- Strong multi-tasking, problem-solving, and ability to make trade-offs between short and long-term needs with experience designing long-term solutions and leading end-to-end delivery
- Strong written and verbal communication skills with exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail
- Ability to work within matrix environments, cross-functionally, across time zones, independently and as a team with high energy, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit

Preferred Qualifications

- Knowledge of Microsoft Office products and applications at an advanced level
- Governance or Company Secretariat experience in financial services
- Professionally qualified Chartered Secretary, Governance Professional, or equivalent qualification
- Experience working across multiple jurisdictions with diverse regulatory environments

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