Ariel Zazzali

Senior Risk Operations Specialist specializing in Merchant Risk and Platform Integrity, with 3+ years adjudicating high-complexity merchant cases at platform scale. Final escalation point for ambiguous underwriting decisions where automated detection and prior reviews were inconclusive. Maintained QA score above 98% throughout tenure while resolving 28+ daily escalation cases.

Detected and documented adversarial "Semantic Evasion" patterns; identified systemic false-positive trends affecting 300+ merchants and escalated to leadership, contributing to policy adjustments. Cross-functional collaborator with Product and Engineering on internal tooling refinement and decision workflow design.

Risk Operations Specialist (Trust & Safety) at Stripe (2022-08 – 2026-01)

Adjudicated high-complexity merchant underwriting cases as final escalation point in regulated payment environments, with expertise in merchant verification, risk analysis, and systemic risk identification.

• Adjudicated 28+ high-complexity merchant underwriting cases daily as final escalation point in regulated payment environments, resolving ambiguity where automated detection and prior reviews were inconclusive. Maintained QA score above 98% throughout tenure.
• Verified corporate registrations, licensing, tax records, invoices, and partner agreements against operational claims and jurisdictional requirements during merchant onboarding and ongoing monitoring.
• Detected and documented "Semantic Evasion" patterns — adversarial behavioral signals where malicious actors circumvented platform boundaries through wording manipulation while preserving underlying intent. Escalated findings to inform detection logic refinement and prevention strategy.
• Identified systemic false-positive trend affecting 300+ U.S. pharmacy merchants; conducted root-cause analysis and escalated to leadership, contributing to policy adjustments that reduced wrongful account restrictions.
• Designed decision templates and review communication frameworks adopted across vendor and internal teams globally, reducing Average Handle Time (AHT) by 25% while maintaining adjudication fidelity.
• Served as Subject Matter Expert (SME) for 30+ Tier 1 onboarding agents; delivered policy interpretation training and standardized judgment criteria to reduce variance in case handling across global teams.
• Led 4 cross-functional sessions with Product and Engineering teams in San Francisco headquarters (via video conference) to refine internal tooling based on operational feedback; translated frontline adjudication friction into actionable UX and workflow improvements.

Operations at Banco Nacion Argentina (2017-10 – 2022-01)

Designed conversational decision workflows for human agent chat in commercial lending, embedding misclassification prevention and product-mismatch controls.

• Designed conversational decision workflows for human agent chat in commercial lending, embedding misclassification prevention and product-mismatch controls to reduce operational error during customer interactions.
• Mapped customer intents to compliant product recommendations through structured conversation routing, preventing mis-selling in regulated financial environment.
• Authored and maintained internal knowledge base standardizing complex financial terminology into actionable operational language for distributed agent teams.

Co-founder at AdVerita (2016-06 – 2018-08)

Co-designed early-stage platform digitizing commercial operations in traditionally offline sector.

• Co-designed early-stage platform digitizing commercial operations; identified structural ecosystem constraints and scalability risks in traditionally offline sector.

CRM Operations Support at Computershare (2013-03 – 2016-06)

Coordinated operational clarification and exception handling within regulated employee equity compensation programs.

• Coordinated operational clarification and exception handling within regulated employee equity compensation programs; maintained workflow continuity and compliance posture.

Marketing Campaign Auditor at I.Visual (2008-08 – 2012-11)

Reduced enterprise marketing audit cycle by optimizing field logistics for multinational clients.

• Reduced enterprise marketing audit cycle from 9 hours to 6 hours by optimizing field logistics for multinational clients (Coca-Cola, Philips, Mercedes-Benz); identified operational and reputational risk during campaign execution.

CRM Operations at Iberdrola (2004-04 – 2007-05)

Executed service activation and termination contracts under standardized procedures in regulated energy environment.

• Executed service activation and termination contracts under standardized procedures, maintaining full traceability and regulatory compliance in regulated energy environment.

Professional Photography Production Assistant at Nahmad Studio (1997-01 – 2001-12)

Supported professional photography production operations.

• Supported professional photography production operations in Buenos Aires.

Technical Degree in Audiovisual Production — Cinematographic Production – Panamericana School of Design & Communication (1996-01 – 1999-12)