Financial Crime Operations Lead

Rockstar is recruiting for a seed-stage fintech startup that is revolutionizing the cryptocurrency payments space. The client specializes in building a globally scalable, high-performing platform that enables seamless crypto transactions while prioritizing security and compliance. This role offers an opportunity to work in an innovative, dynamic, and rapidly growing environment alongside a team of fintech experts.

Our client is seeking an experienced and driven Financial Crime Operations Lead to run financial crime operations as they embark on a critical phase of growth and expansion. Reporting to the Head of Risk & Compliance, this role is central to ensuring robust compliance with all financial crime regulatory requirements and in surfacing and mitigating fraud, particularly in the rapidly evolving crypto space. The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in financial crime operations, a proven track record of managing teams, a strong ability to optimize workflows and processes, and an appetite for operating in an ambitious, high-growth environment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Leadership & Team Management:
• Manage and lead the Financial Crime Operations team, fostering a culture of collaboration, excellence, and accountability.
• Develop and execute workforce management strategies, including capacity planning and resource allocation across multiple jurisdictions.
• Liaise with financial partners as needed for reporting and other joint risk management efforts.
• Operations Ownership:
• Own transaction monitoring rules and alerting systems, handling testing and tuning to calibrate results appropriately and ensure effective, efficient risk detection.
• Optimize and manage complex alert flows from triage to reporting, working with financial crimes operation staff to ensure thorough and timely investigations and keeping SLAs within targets.
• Lead the development and implementation of Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) and customer risk scoring methodologies and associated processes.
• Ensure workflow efficiency by identifying and driving process optimization and technology enhancements in collaboration with the Product and Engineering teams.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive procedural library, training materials, and other resources as needed to support operational activities.
• Compliance & Governance Support:
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of industry trends, typologies, and regulatory requirements, with a focus on cryptocurrency and consumer payments.
• Assist with compliance governance functions and training initiatives as needed.

Qualifications:

• At least 7 years of experience in financial crime operations, with a strong focus on BSA/AML compliance and risk management.
• At least 4 years of experience managing teams in a financial crime compliance operations setting.
• Expertise in consumer payments and/or cryptocurrency-related compliance challenges and typologies.
• Proven ability to manage workflows efficiently and effectively plan for team capacity and resourcing.
• Strong communication and leadership skills, with experience collaborating across functions and presenting to senior stakeholders.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with on-chain investigative tools and techniques.
• Advanced certifications in financial crimes compliance and fraud, such as CAMS, CFCS, or CFE.
• Familiarity with compliance technology solutions and workforce management tools.

Why Join Us? This is an exciting opportunity to play a pivotal role in shaping and optimizing financial crime operations as the company scales. The role offers the chance to work at the forefront of the crypto payments industry, driving meaningful impact and ensuring operational excellence in a dynamic and innovative environment. The team is composed of highly skilled professionals with deep expertise in payments, crypto, and consumer fintech. If you are passionate about financial crime prevention, operations leadership, and making an impact in the cryptocurrency payments space, this role is for you!