Head of Financial Crime Operations

As a Head of FinCrime Operations you will own operational performance and quality, turn policy into working procedures, AI and automation roadmap and work with Compliance and Financial Crime Product so that our people, processes and tools keep pace with the business.

 

This is a new position based in Dubai or London, reporting directly to the VP, Financial Crime.

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 make escalation routes clear when a case requires specialist judgement or approval.

Capacity and skills. Plan staffing, skills and training with managers and workforce planning specialists. Anticipate changes in demand and case complexity, and address capacity gaps before they become persistent backlogs or control weaknesses.

Quality. Establish an effective quality process. Use findings to identify inconsistent decisions, improve procedures and check that training or corrective actions have changed the quality of the work.

Tools and automation. Work with Financial Crime Product to identify weaknesses in tools and workflows. Define operational needs, contribute to testing and prepare teams to use new capabilities, including approved automation and AI.

New products and markets. Prepare the operation for new products and markets 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 the appropriate decision-makers and follow remediation through to completion, supporting audits and regulatory reviews when required.

Significant experience leading financial crime operations in financial services, fintech, payments or another regulated environment, including managing managers across several teams.

Significant experience leading financial crime operations in financial services, fintech, payments or another regulated environment, including managing managers across several teams.

Experience leading teams spread across several countries, keeping standards and decisions consistent 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 several jurisdictions, such as the UK Money Laundering Regulations, the EU AML Directives and their equivalents in Australia, the UAE and the Bahamas, and how they apply in day-to-day casework.

A track record of setting and running operational KPIs that cover timeliness, quality and automation, and using them to improve results.

Experience working with product and engineering teams on new tools, automation or AI, including defining requirements, testing and preparing teams for adoption.

Experience leading incident response and remediation, and supporting internal audit and regulatory reviews.