Role Overview
The role is responsible for leading and overseeing the firm's AML/CFT and sanctions framework, ensuring compliance with applicable UAE financial crime regulations.
This is a hands-on senior leadership role for an experienced financial crime professional with deep expertise in AML/CFT, sanctions, virtual asset risks, blockchain analytics, and the evolving regulatory landscape across digital assets.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and oversee the implementation and ongoing effectiveness of the firm's AML/CFT and sanctions programme in accordance with applicable UAE regulatory requirements.
- Review, investigate, and determine appropriate action on internal suspicious activity reports, ensuring timely escalation and reporting to the relevant authorities where required.
- Develop and maintain AML policies, risk assessment frameworks, customer due diligence (CDD), enhanced due diligence (EDD), transaction monitoring, and sanctions screening programmes.
- Oversee controls relating to virtual asset financial crime risks, including blockchain analytics, wallet screening, sanctions exposure, and high-risk jurisdictions.
- Ensure compliance with applicable Travel Rule requirements and associated monitoring and reporting obligations.
- Maintain and periodically review the firm's Business Risk Assessment (BRA) and Customer Risk Assessment (CRA) frameworks.
- Oversee AML investigations, transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, and customer risk management activities.
- Ensure AML/CFT and sanctions training programmes remain current, effective, and appropriately documented across the organisation.
- Act as the primary point of contact with regulators and relevant authorities on financial crime matters and provide regular AML reporting to senior management and governance committees.
Requirements
- 10+ years of significant experience in financial crime, AML/CFT, or sanctions within regulated financial services environments.
- Strong working knowledge of UAE AML legislation, sanctions requirements, and financial crime regulatory expectations.
- Experience within virtual assets, digital assets, banking, payments, brokerage, capital markets, fintech, or other regulated financial services businesses.
- Strong understanding of virtual asset products, blockchain-related financial crime risks, blockchain analytics, sanctions compliance, and Travel Rule requirements.
- Experience engaging with regulators, law enforcement agencies, or financial intelligence units on AML/CFT matters.
- Ability to operate strategically while remaining hands-on in execution.
- Strong judgement, stakeholder management, and decision-making capability.
- Demonstrated interest in, and practical application of AI technologies to enhance AML, transaction monitoring, investigations, or operational effectiveness will be viewed favourably.
- Candidate must be based in, or willing to relocate to, Abu Dhabi.
Profile
- Prior experience leading a financial crime compliance function or holding an equivalent senior financial crime leadership role within a regulated financial services firm.
- Strong UAE financial crime regulatory credibility, ideally gained within virtual assets, banking, payments, brokerage, capital markets, fintech, or other regulated financial services environments.
- Strong understanding of the virtual asset ecosystem and its evolving financial crime risks.
- Practical, commercially minded leader with the ability to build, enhance, and execute financial crime compliance frameworks in a hands-on environment.
- Eligible to satisfy applicable UAE regulatory fit and proper requirements for a senior financial crime leadership role.
