Job Description/Specification:
VoPay International Inc is seeking an experienced Head of Risk & Portfolio Governance to provide independent oversight of investment and portfolio risk within an institutional investment environment. Working closely with the CEO, CIO, CFO/COO, Compliance Officer, Investment Committee, and Board, the successful candidate will establish and maintain the frameworks through which investment risks are identified, measured, monitored, challenged, and reported.
As a founding leadership appointment, the role will also contribute to designing the governance architecture for Fund I and future investment vehicles, supporting disciplined portfolio construction, robust risk management, and institutional-quality investment decision-making.
About This Role
The Head of Risk & Portfolio Governance will provide independent challenge to the investment function while maintaining appropriate collaboration with investment professionals. The role covers investment risk, portfolio governance, investment committee support, external manager assessment, valuation governance, operational risk, fund risk, and board-level risk reporting.
The successful candidate will bring significant experience in private markets, alternative investments, institutional portfolio management, and investment risk frameworks, with the ability to work confidently with senior executives, investment committees, boards, and external managers.
Key Responsibilities
Investment Risk Management
- Establish and maintain the firm's investment risk management framework.
- Independently assess portfolio concentration, diversification, and exposure across sectors, geographies, strategies, and counterparties.
- Monitor individual investments and overall portfolio risk against approved parameters, limits, and risk tolerances.
- Develop investment limits, concentration thresholds, and risk appetite measures.
- Assess liquidity, duration, leverage, counterparty, and market risks where applicable.
- Conduct downside analysis and stress testing of portfolio assumptions.
- Identify emerging portfolio risks and escalate material issues to senior management and governance committees.
Portfolio Governance
- Establish institutional portfolio governance standards for Fund I and future investment vehicles.
- Review portfolio construction and diversification in collaboration with the CIO while maintaining appropriate independence.
- Develop portfolio monitoring dashboards and risk reporting for the CEO, Investment Committee, and Board.
- Monitor investment performance against underwriting assumptions and approved investment cases.
- Establish early-warning indicators for material changes in portfolio-company or external-manager performance.
- Support periodic portfolio reviews and asset-level risk assessments.
- Review proposed changes to investment strategy, asset allocation, and risk appetite.
Investment Committee Support
- Independently review investment proposals before Investment Committee consideration.
- Challenge investment assumptions, valuation methodologies, downside scenarios, and return expectations.
- Assess concentration and portfolio-level implications of proposed investments.
- Provide an independent risk perspective to the Investment Committee.
- Track investment conditions, covenants, and material risk items identified during approval.
- Monitor adherence to approved investment mandates, parameters, and limits.
External Manager & Fund Assessment
- Develop risk and governance criteria for external manager selection.
- Assess institutional quality, governance, strategy, concentration, liquidity, and performance risks of external managers.
- Participate in manager due diligence and ongoing investment and operational reviews.
- Monitor manager performance and mandate compliance.
- Assess portfolio overlap and aggregate exposure across underlying funds and direct investments.
Valuation Governance
- Support the development and implementation of the firm's valuation policy and governance framework.
- Provide independent challenge to private-market valuations, methodologies, assumptions, and supporting evidence.
- Coordinate with the CFO/COO, Fund Administrator, independent valuation specialists, and auditors.
- Support valuation committee processes where applicable.
- Monitor potential conflicts relating to internally valued assets.
Operational & Fund Risk
- Identify operational risks within fund management and investment processes in coordination with the CFO/COO and Compliance Officer.
- Review material outsourcing arrangements from a risk perspective.
- Assess counterparty, custody, banking, and service-provider risks.
- Support business continuity and operational resilience planning.
- Review risks associated with new funds, SPVs, co-investment vehicles, and investment structures.
- Participate in new-product and new-market risk assessments.
Risk Reporting & Governance
- Develop regular investment and portfolio risk reporting for the CEO, Board, and relevant committees.
- Establish and maintain a formal risk register and risk monitoring framework.
- Define risk appetite, limits, escalation procedures, and governance processes.
- Provide independent reporting on material portfolio and organizational risks.
- Support the establishment of a Board or Management Risk Committee where appropriate.
- Maintain appropriate documentation of risk decisions, exceptions, and remediation actions.
- Work closely with Compliance to support the firm's broader regulatory governance framework.
Minimum Requirements
- 12+ years of relevant experience in investment risk, portfolio risk, portfolio governance, or investment management.
- Significant experience within an institutional investment environment.
- Strong understanding of private markets and alternative investments.
- Proven experience assessing portfolio construction, diversification, concentration, and investment risk.
- Strong understanding of investment underwriting, valuation, and downside analysis.
- Experience working with Investment Committees, Boards, senior investment professionals, and executive leadership.
- Experience reviewing direct investments, funds, co-investments, or external investment managers.
- Strong knowledge of private equity, venture capital, fund structures, and alternative investment vehicles.
- Proven ability to independently and constructively challenge investment assumptions.
- Experience developing institutional risk frameworks, governance processes, risk reporting, and monitoring systems.
- Strong analytical and quantitative capabilities.
- Experience working with institutional investors and senior executives.
- Experience in a regulated asset-management environment is highly desirable.
- GCC and international investment experience is advantageous.
Preferred Institutional Experience
Candidates with experience in the following environments are particularly relevant:
- Sovereign Wealth Funds
- Pension Funds
- Private Equity
- Alternative Asset Management
- Fund-of-Funds
- Institutional Asset Allocation
- Endowments
- Family Offices with institutional investment governance
- Large Private-Market Investment Managers
Professional Qualifications
Professional qualifications such as the following are desirable:
- CFA – Chartered Financial Analyst
- CAIA – Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst
- FRM – Financial Risk Manager
- PRM – Professional Risk Manager
- MBA
- CA or comparable professional qualifications
Relevant institutional investment experience, sound judgment, and demonstrated risk leadership will be highly valued.
Technical & Professional Skills
- Investment Risk Management
- Portfolio Risk Management
- Portfolio Governance
- Private Markets
- Alternative Investments
- Private Equity & Venture Capital
- Fund-of-Funds
- Investment Underwriting
- Portfolio Construction
- Asset Allocation
- Concentration & Diversification Risk
- Investment Valuation
- Stress Testing & Scenario Analysis
- Liquidity & Counterparty Risk
- External Manager Due Diligence
- Fund Governance
- Risk Appetite & Investment Limits
- Investment Committee Reporting
- Board-Level Risk Reporting
- Operational & Fund Risk
- Regulatory Risk & Compliance
- Risk Dashboards & Reporting
- Governance Framework Development
Desired Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate is an independent and analytically strong investment risk professional capable of challenging investment decisions constructively while maintaining effective relationships with senior investment and executive stakeholders.
You should have strong judgment, excellent communication skills, and the ability to translate complex portfolio risks into clear recommendations and governance actions for Investment Committees, Boards, and senior management.
Experience establishing risk and governance frameworks for new funds or investment platforms will be particularly relevant to this founding leadership position.
Employment Details
- Job Title: Head of Risk & Portfolio Governance
- Employment Type: Full-Time
- Work Location: In Person
- Experience: 12+ Years Relevant Experience
- Level: Senior Leadership / Head of Function
- Industry: Investment Management / Private Markets / Alternative Investments
- Focus: Investment Risk, Portfolio Governance & Fund Governance
How to Apply
Interested candidates should submit an updated CV highlighting experience in investment risk, portfolio governance, private markets, alternative investments, investment committees, portfolio construction, valuation, external manager due diligence, and institutional risk frameworks.
Candidates should clearly demonstrate their experience working with Boards, Investment Committees, senior executives, institutional investors, and regulated investment environments.