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Principal Lead, Enterprise Compliance

Unlock employer Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Direct to Company 2 hours ago · 26 Oct 2026

Financial

  • Estimate: $120k - $200k/yr*
  • Zero income tax location

Accessibility

  • Office Only
  • Visa Provided

Requirements

  • Experience: Senior
  • English: Professional

Position

About the Role
The Principal Lead – Compliance is responsible for the end-to-end ownership, delivery, and strategic evolution of technology platforms that support the Compliance function. This role encompasses platforms for AML/KYC, sanctions screening, conduct risk, surveillance, and regulatory reporting. It requires leading engineering and delivery teams to ensure platform resilience and scalability while aligning technology strategy with enterprise architecture, regulatory mandates, and compliance leadership. This position is crucial for enabling proactive compliance management, maintaining operational integrity, and ensuring audit readiness across the organization.

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Key Responsibilities

  • Lead the engineering and delivery teams responsible for compliance platforms including Fircosoft suite (sanctions screening), Fenergo (client lifecycle management), and SAS AML (transaction monitoring).
  • Define and execute the compliance technology roadmap, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and regulatory timelines.
  • Own platform architecture decisions, ensuring interoperability with core banking, risk, and finance systems.
  • Drive modernization initiatives including cloud migration, API enablement, and integration with data lakes and case management systems.
  • Collaborate with Compliance stakeholders to translate regulatory requirements into platform capabilities.
  • Ensure platform resilience, performance, and audit readiness.
  • Promote innovation through AI/ML adoption in transaction monitoring, risk scoring, and anomaly detection.
  • Establish governance frameworks, delivery scorecards, and KPIs to monitor platform effectiveness.
  • Provide strategic leadership and operational oversight for all compliance platform initiatives.
  • Maintain delivery roadmaps, capacity plans, and resource forecasts.
  • Ensure compliance with IT governance, cybersecurity, and data protection standards.
  • Track and report KPIs including platform uptime, alert resolution rates, and regulatory submission accuracy.
  • Partner with enterprise architecture, infrastructure, and data teams to ensure platform alignment and resilience.
  • Contribute to budgeting, vendor selection, and contract management for compliance technology initiatives.
  • Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement across the compliance technology landscape.

Requirements / Qualifications

  • Overall Experience: 15+ Years, with at least 10+ Years in Banking
  • Compliance Technology Leadership: Proven experience in delivering platforms across AML, KYC, sanctions, and regulatory reporting.
  • Domain Expertise: Deep understanding of compliance frameworks, conduct risk, and surveillance technologies.
  • Team Leadership & Talent Development: Skilled in leading cross-functional engineering teams and fostering a high-performance culture.
  • Architecture & Engineering Oversight: Expertise in designing secure, scalable, and modular compliance platforms.
  • Regulatory Compliance: Familiarity with FATF, OFAC, GDPR, local central bank regulations, and global compliance standards.
  • Data & Analytics: Experience with compliance data models, case management, and reporting tools.
  • Strategic Alignment: Ability to align platform strategy with Compliance, Risk, and Enterprise Architecture counterparts.
  • Vendor & Partner Management: Skilled in managing compliance solution providers, system integrators, and SaaS platforms.

Contract and Travel Details

  • This position may entail occasional travel, depending on project requirements and stakeholder engagements.
  • Employment type and contract details will be discussed during the interview process, ensuring alignment with individual candidate expectations and requirements.
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