Siân Woods
Senior Head of eCommerce Risk & Fraud Operations
How life’s unexpected turns and travels helped FARFETCH’s Siân Woods find calm in the chaos
Siân Woods lives in a state of perpetual motion. On any given day, you could find her spearheading fraud strategy with her FARFETCH team in the vibrant city of Porto, recharging with family in the heart of London, or rising with the sun, laptop in hand, to connect remotely with her team from her Washington, D.C. home. A constant juggling act, managing her life across time zones and cultures is both exhilarating and exhausting.
Despite her constant movement, Siân has learned to excel in cultivating calm. When the bustle of the day comes to a close, she craves the simple things. Sometimes, that’s reading a good book with a glass of wine. Or, when there’s more to shake out, a hike with her husband and their dog serves to clear her mind.
This ability to find peace shines through in her bold leadership style and clear decision-making – proving that even in life’s most bustling moments, tranquility is but a mindset away.
Siân’s journey to becoming a Decision Maker is anything but conventional. While putting herself through design school, she was saving for a new iMac computer and needed a job. So, she took what she thought would be a quick detour through the world of fraud prevention – in the form of a six-week temp job screening questionable transactions for ASOS.
In that six-week stint, Siân began to find her rhythm, meticulously analyzing transactions and learning how to best optimize her processes. In what she called a defining moment in her temporary role, she unearthed a fraud ring that had gone undetected for months. Fueled by a tenacious resolve to “stop bad people from doing bad things,” Siân put the pieces together and was able to map linked accounts, putting a stop to the fraud ring – and in the process, impressing her manager and finding her true professional calling.
Rather than overthink this apparent career pivot, Siân simply leaned in when opportunity knocked again, and decided to take a permanent position at the company.
I love the challenge of constantly striving to make things better than they were the day before. When I realized I was actually quite good at risk management, it was a simple decision, and it felt like the right path.
As a global leader in luxury fashion, FARFETCH delivers to 190 countries, helping bring a wide array of partner brands and boutiques to life in an innovative digital space through cutting-edge technology. But in a digital world where transactions are increasingly complex, risk management has become a pivotal growth factor.
In Siân’s role, managing risk isn’t just a part of her job; it’s every moment. When asked how much time she spends thinking about fraud, it’s an easy “100%,” she laughs. “You have to be in it constantly to do well.”
And dealing with fraud daily isn’t something Siân takes for granted — the opportunity to work cross-collaboratively with teams is a vital part of her approach. “I am constantly thinking about fraud and risk management as it relates to the customer experience,” she adds. “Being open about the challenges of each and having real conversations with other teams on optimizing both is really important.”
With more than 1,400+ brands partnering with FARFETCH, establishing trust both internally and externally is crucial for collaboration and success. So when finding a partner to streamline fraud fighting, Siân says she feels lucky that Forter was already integrated ahead of her joining FARFETCH. Instead of navigating the research and deployment of new technology, she could focus on making a decision without adding any new infrastructure.
Understanding the importance of simplicity, Siân worked to consolidate her anti-fraud efforts and create a more streamlined process.
Balancing fraud prevention and customer experience is an art that Siân has learned to master over the years. She notes that the key to this balance lies in maintaining an open dialogue with other areas of the organization, understanding their perspective on the customer experience, and merging that to create a more nuanced understanding.
For Siân, this means making the simplicity of the customer experience the bedrock for every decision across all operational aspects. By placing the customer at the heart of their fraud prevention strategies, Siân and her team ensure that their efforts to mitigate risk never come at the expense of the customer’s experience.
Within their organizations, decision makers are the audacious ones. Unconcerned with the status quo, they make moves designed to free themselves — and their teams — from the stress of fraud prevention.
With Forter, decision makers get guaranteed results so they can focus their time and energy on strategic opportunities that have a bigger impact on their organizations.
© Forter 2023, All Rights Reserved
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Background
Career Path
Fighting Fraud
Customer Experience
What's Next
This story is part of a Decision Makers series featuring industry leaders within our customer base.
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CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Fighting Fraud with Forter
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the heart of what you do, everything else falls into place.
WHAT'S NEXT
For Siân Woods, winding down her days with a good book or a peaceful hike is only fitting. From her beginnings as a screening agent scrutinizing chargebacks to her leadership role at FARFETCH, she’s constantly moving — but ever attuned to the tranquility and lessons in her surroundings. This ability to learn, grow, and find calm in an increasingly noisy landscape of fraud and risk has molded her into the leader she is today.
Siân possesses an impressive knack for sifting through complex situations to find simplicity. However, she emphasizes that being a Decision Maker transcends just making decisions — it encompasses making them quickly and embracing an open-minded approach to their effectiveness.
“I used to think I needed all the information to make the ‘right’ decisions — when the reality is, you will never have all the information you need,” she adds. “There is no right and wrong, only effective and ineffective.”
And the key to making quick, effective decisions? Understanding that there’s always something to learn.
“Every person and decision in life has something to teach you, even if it’s learning what not to do,” she says.
If you’re transparent about why you make decisions, you will find the honesty and openness to learn from the results together.
At ASOS, Siân would swiftly climb the ranks, holding eight positions over the course of a decade. But in 2022, she knew it was time to leap — joining FARFETCH, where she currently serves as the Senior Head of eCommerce Risk & Fraud Operations.
But it isn’t just her customers that benefit from this mindset — Siân also credits this balancing act as a primary driver in her career development.
“By taking a holistic view of risk mitigation and its impact on customer experience, I’ve fostered many fruitful conversations across organizations,” she adds. “Cultivating those conversations has been one of the things that have been most beneficial in my career and have helped me develop as a Decision Maker.”
I love the simple things in life. Whether reading at the end of my day or going out for a hike, I enjoy finding ways to wind down and keep it simple.
Siân Woods
Senior Head of eCommerce Risk & Fraud Operations
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How life’s unexpected turns and travels helped FARFETCH’s Siân Woods find calm in the chaos
Siân Woods lives in a state of perpetual motion. On any given day, you could find her spearheading fraud strategy with her FARFETCH team in the vibrant city of Porto, recharging with family in the heart of London, or rising with the sun, laptop in hand, to connect remotely with her team from her Washington, D.C. home. A constant juggling act, managing her life across time zones and cultures is both exhilarating and exhausting.
Despite her constant movement, Siân has learned to excel in cultivating calm. When the bustle of the day comes to a close, she craves the simple things. Sometimes, that’s reading a good book with a glass of wine. Or, when there’s more to shake out, a hike with her husband and their dog serves to clear her mind.
This ability to find peace shines through in her bold leadership style and clear decision-making – proving that even in life’s most bustling moments, tranquility is but a mindset away.
This story is part of a Decision Makers series featuring industry leaders within our customer base.
Within their organizations, decision makers are the audacious ones. Unconcerned with the status quo, they make moves designed to free themselves — and their teams — from the stress of fraud prevention.
With Forter, decision makers get guaranteed results so they can focus their time and energy on strategic opportunities that have a bigger impact on their organizations.
© Forter 2022, All Rights Reserved
LEARN MORE
Back to top
Siân’s journey to becoming a Decision Maker is anything but conventional. While putting herself through design school, she was saving for a new iMac computer and needed a job. So, she took what she thought would be a quick detour through the world of fraud prevention – in the form of a six-week temp job screening questionable transactions for ASOS.
In that six-week stint, Siân began to find her rhythm, meticulously analyzing transactions and learning how to best optimize her processes. In what she called a defining moment in her temporary role, she unearthed a fraud ring that had gone undetected for months. Fueled by a tenacious resolve to “stop bad people from doing bad things,” Siân put the pieces together and was able to map linked accounts, putting a stop to the fraud ring – and in the process, impressing her manager and finding her true professional calling.
Rather than overthink this apparent career pivot, Siân simply leaned in when opportunity knocked again, and decided to take a permanent position at the company.
"When you talk about being fearless, you’re talking about taking risks and trusting yourself. Trusting your teammates and building partnerships is rooted, for me, in being an athlete."
As a global leader in luxury fashion, FARFETCH delivers to 190 countries, helping bring a wide array of partner brands and boutiques to life in an innovative digital space through cutting-edge technology. But in a digital world where transactions are increasingly complex, risk management has become a pivotal growth factor.
In Siân’s role, managing risk isn’t just a part of her job; it’s every moment. When asked how much time she spends thinking about fraud, it’s an easy “100%,” she laughs. “You have to be in it constantly to do well.”
And dealing with fraud daily isn’t something Siân takes for granted — the opportunity to work cross-collaboratively with teams is a vital part of her approach. “I am constantly thinking about fraud and risk management as it relates to the customer experience,” she adds. “Being open about the challenges of each and having real conversations with other teams on optimizing both is really important.”
With more than 1,400+ brands partnering with FARFETCH, establishing trust both internally and externally is crucial for collaboration and success. So when finding a partner to streamline fraud fighting, Siân says she feels lucky that Forter was already integrated ahead of her joining FARFETCH. Instead of navigating the research and deployment of new technology, she could focus on making a decision without adding any new infrastructure.
Understanding the importance of simplicity, Siân worked to consolidate her anti-fraud efforts and create a more streamlined process.
"Calculating these risks are skills that rugby and real estate helped hone, and they led me to embrace other risks in life, like in my career. They gave me the opportunity not just to take risks, but to have confidence that I can win."
Balancing fraud prevention and customer experience is an art that Siân has learned to master over the years. She notes that the key to this balance lies in maintaining an open dialogue with other areas of the organization, understanding their perspective on the customer experience, and merging that to create a more nuanced understanding.
For Siân, this means making the simplicity of the customer experience the bedrock for every decision across all operational aspects. By placing the customer at the heart of their fraud prevention strategies, Siân and her team ensure that their efforts to mitigate risk never come at the expense of the customer’s experience.
"It helped me build trust with my peers and team, and fulfilled my desire to align with tech providers who are willing to take risks to build better futures."
For Siân Woods, winding down her days with a good book or a peaceful hike is only fitting. From her beginnings as a screening agent scrutinizing chargebacks to her leadership role at FARFETCH, she’s constantly moving — but ever attuned to the tranquility and lessons in her surroundings. This ability to learn, grow, and find calm in an increasingly noisy landscape of fraud and risk has molded her into the leader she is today.
Siân possesses an impressive knack for sifting through complex situations to find simplicity. However, she emphasizes that being a Decision Maker transcends just making decisions — it encompasses making them quickly and embracing an open-minded approach to their effectiveness.
“I used to think I needed all the information to make the ‘right’ decisions — when the reality is, you will never have all the information you need,” she adds. “There is no right and wrong, only effective and ineffective.”
And the key to making quick, effective decisions? Understanding that there’s always something to learn.
“Every person and decision in life has something to teach you, even if it’s learning what not to do,” she says.
"When the team wins, we all win. And when they fail, we all come together and figure out how we can do it differently next time. So I guess, for me, being a Decision Maker is about being a leader – there is never just one Decision Maker."
© Forter 2023, All Rights Reserved
Background
Career Path
Fighting Fraud
Customer Experience
Being a Decision Maker
"When you talk about being fearless, you’re talking about taking risks and trusting yourself. Trusting your teammates and building partnerships is rooted, for me, in being an athlete."
At ASOS, Siân would swiftly climb the ranks, holding eight positions over the course of a decade. But in 2022, she knew it was time to leap — joining FARFETCH, where she currently serves as the Senior Head of eCommerce Risk & Fraud Operations.
