Head of Financial Crime Operations

About the Role

As a Head of FinCrime Operations, you will own operational performance and quality, implement policy into working procedures, and drive the AI and automation roadmap. You will work collaboratively with Compliance and Financial Crime Product teams to ensure that our people, processes, and tools evolve in line with the business's growth. This new position is based in Dubai or London, reporting directly to the VP of Financial Crime.

Responsibilities

• Operational performance. Manage operational performance across the customer lifecycle. Balance timely decisions with investigation quality, effective controls, and fair customer treatment, using evidence from case reviews as well as service measures.
• KPIs. Own Financial Crime Operational KPIs, including AI automation and quality.
• Procedures. Translate financial crime policies and agreed control requirements into practical procedures with Compliance and relevant process owners. Keep guidance current and clarify escalation routes when specialist judgment or approval is required.
• Capacity and skills. Plan staffing, skills, and training with managers and workforce planning specialists. Anticipate changes in demand and case complexity, addressing capacity gaps before they lead to persistent backlogs or control weaknesses.
• Quality. Establish an effective quality process. Utilize findings to identify inconsistent decisions, improve procedures, and verify that training or corrective actions enhance work quality.
• Tools and automation. Collaborate with Financial Crime Product to identify weaknesses in tools and workflows. Define operational needs, contribute to testing, and prepare teams to leverage new capabilities, including approved automation and AI.
• New products and markets. Prepare operations for new products and markets in coordination with Compliance, Product, and local leadership. Assess procedures, training, and capacity needs, and escalate unresolved readiness gaps through the agreed launch process.
• Incidents and control failures. Lead the operational response to incidents and material control failures. Preserve useful evidence, involve appropriate decision-makers, and ensure remediation is completed, supporting audits and regulatory reviews as required.

Requirements

• Significant experience leading financial crime operations in financial services, fintech, payments, or another regulated environment, including managing managers across multiple teams.
• Proven experience managing teams across several countries, maintaining consistent standards and decisions between locations.
• Deep practical knowledge of financial crime controls: customer due diligence and enhanced due diligence, KYC, sanctions and PEP screening, transaction monitoring, fraud, and investigations, including suspicious activity reporting.
• Understanding of AML and counter-terrorist financing requirements across jurisdictions, including the UK Money Laundering Regulations, EU AML Directives, as well as their equivalents in Australia, the UAE, and the Bahamas, and how they apply in day-to-day operations.
• A track record of establishing and managing operational KPIs that focus on timeliness, quality, and automation, using them to drive improvement outcomes.
• Experience collaborating with product and engineering teams on new tools, automation, or AI, which includes defining requirements, testing, and preparing teams for adoption.
• Experience leading incident response and remediation activities, and supporting internal audit and regulatory reviews.

Nice to Have

• Experience in online brokerage, trading platforms, or digital banking.
• Familiarity with financial crime tools for screening, identity verification, transaction monitoring, or case management.

What You Will Get in Return

• Competitive Salary: Your skills and talents will be rewarded with a salary that reflects your value and motivation.
• Work-Life Harmony: We prioritize your work-life balance, because your life outside of work is important to us. #LI-Hybrid
• Generous Time Off: Enjoy our annual leave policy designed to help you recharge and enjoy life outside of work.
• Employee Referral Program: Share your positive experience with friends and get rewarded for bringing talented individuals to our team.
• Comprehensive Health & Pension Benefits: We provide medical insurance and pension plans, along with location-specific benefits and perks.
• Workation Wonderland: Experience the freedom of remote work with 30 extra days to work from anywhere in the world (some restrictions apply).
• Volunteer Days: Support causes you’re passionate about with two additional paid days each year to give back to the community.

Be a key player at the forefront of the digital assets movement, propelling your career to new heights in a dynamic and rapidly expanding company that values talent, initiative, and creativity. Join our team of industry-leading professionals!