Compliance Officer / MLRO, UK

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the compliance and financial crime workstreams required to support UK regulatory authorisation / licensing.
• Advise the business on UK regulatory requirements, operating model expectations, governance, and control framework design.
• Build and implement the UK compliance framework, including AML, sanctions, and financial crime framework from the ground up.
• Act as the subject matter lead on regulatory readiness, including policies, procedures, governance, risk assessments, monitoring, and reporting frameworks.
• Engage with regulators and external advisors on licensing, supervisory expectations, and regulatory submissions.
• Provide practical regulatory advice on products, customer journeys, partnerships, and business initiatives intended for the UK market.
• Partner with Legal, Product, Risk, Operations, and AFC teams to ensure regulatory requirements are appropriately embedded.
• Serve as the proposed MLRO / Compliance Officer for the UK entity, subject to regulatory approval.

Requirements

• Significant senior compliance and financial crime experience within UK regulated financial services.
• Strong working knowledge of FCA expectations, UK AML / sanctions obligations, and regulatory governance frameworks.
• Prior experience holding SMF16 (Compliance Oversight), SMF17 (MLRO), or equivalent senior regulatory responsibilities is required.
• Bachelor's degree required. LLB (Bachelor of Laws) strongly preferred.
• Experience leading regulatory authorisations, licensing applications, or regulated entity setup.
• Ability to operate strategically while remaining hands-on in execution.
• Strong judgement, stakeholder management, and decision-making capability.
• Demonstrated interest in, and practical adoption of, AI technologies to enhance compliance, regulatory, or operational effectiveness will be viewed very favourably.