Head of Transaction Monitoring & Screening

• We’re looking for a Head of Transaction Monitoring & Screening to lead the team that keeps our customers and our platform safe: transaction monitoring, sanctions and payment screening, client information requests and the preparation of suspicious activity reports, run as one joined-up operation
• This is a first-line leadership role where the control and the customer experience are treated as one job
• Every alert we review, every screening check and every information request is both a risk decision and a moment a customer feels — and we care about getting both right
• You’ll build a team that clears its work inside service levels, keeps quality high, drives down false positives, and uses automation and AI thoughtfully so we can grow without letting standards slip
• If you believe financial crime should be handled as a living, well-run control rather than a backlog, this is your role
• Lead the monitoring and screening operation — transaction monitoring, sanctions and payment screening, information requests and SAR preparation — with clear standards for how work is investigated, disposed and escalated
• Keep the queues current: make case and alert ageing visible, and treat a growing backlog as an early warning to act on, not a number to explain away
• Run screening as a real-time control on payments and customers, with clear first-line procedures and timely senior sign-off on escalations
• Build an information-request (RFI) function that is precise, proportionate and gets it right first time, working closely with our customer-facing teams so requests are clear and never feel like an accusation to a legitimate business
• Own the quality of the evidence and narratives prepared for the MLRO, so suspicious activity reports are complete and stand up first time. (The MLRO makes and files the decision.)
• Continuously tune and improve detection rules and thresholds alongside our data and analytics colleagues, reducing false positives while keeping the control effective — and documenting the rationale
• Introduce automation and AI to handle routine work under strong quality assurance, keeping experienced people on the cases that need judgement
• Provide clear, trustworthy management information on service levels, quality, effectiveness and cost to governance
• Build and lead a high-performing team: hire well, coach continuously, and set a consistently high bar

Benefits

• Contributory pension
• Life assurance
• Health insurance through BUPA
• Our Employee Assistance Programme offers a 24/7 confidential advice line for health, bereavement and other areas of support
• 25 days holiday per year + your birthday off
• We are members of the cycle to work scheme
• We offer Season Ticket Loans
• Free onsite Nuffield Health gym & pool (London) and discounted gym membership elsewhere
• Interbank currency rates on travel money and international transfers
• Opportunities for progression, development and learning new skills

A customer mindset applied to controls — information requests and account restrictions handled clearly, proportionately and with careA solid understanding of the boundary between first-line operations and the MLRO/second-line decision to reportPractical experience introducing automation or AI into operations, with a clear view of where machines help and where human judgement is essentialA proven track record leading transaction monitoring, sanctions/payment screening or financial-crime operations at scale in payments, fintech or financial services, with the numbers to demonstrate itStrong operational discipline: work completed within service levels, thresholds tuned and documented, controls that hold, and a clean audit trailThe drive to keep the operation current and high-quality — owning problems end to end, finding the root cause, and not stopping at the first obstacleA track record of hiring, developing and leading high-performing teams and managing performance fairly and decisivelyEducated to degree level or above, ideally in law, finance, economics or a related disciplineA relevant professional certification in financial crime or compliance, such as ICA or ACAMSHands-on experience with transaction-monitoring and screening systems and, ideally, AI or automation tools used in financial-crime operationsExperience of SAR/DAML preparation and working with an MLRO and the relevant authoritiesExperience designing risk-based or straight-through processing and running a threshold-tuning programmeFamiliarity with UK/FCA financial-crime expectations and sanctions regimesExperience running a dedicated information-request (RFI) function with clear standardsExperience managing or scaling operations across multiple locationsExperience in a high-growth, changing or post-merger environment