VP Financial Crime Operations

VP, Financial Crime Operations

Challenger Bank (London)

A fast-growing regulated financial services business is looking to hire a Senior Manager into its First Line Financial Crime Operations function.

This is a key leadership role sitting directly beneath the Head of Financial Crime Operations, with responsibility for helping oversee operational financial crime controls across onboarding, transaction monitoring, screening, fraud operations, and ongoing customer risk management.

The business operates in a complex payments and regulated client environment and is continuing to evolve its control framework, systems, and operational model as it scales.

The role

This is a hands-on operational leadership role suited to someone who understands how financial crime frameworks work in practice, not just on paper.

You’ll work closely with Operations, Compliance, Product, Technology and Risk teams to ensure controls remain commercially effective, scalable, and defensible within a fast-paced regulated environment.

The role has broad oversight across areas including:

• Customer onboarding, KYB/KYC, CDD and EDD
• Ongoing monitoring and periodic reviews
• Transaction monitoring and screening operations
• Financial crime tooling enhancements, calibration work, rule tuning or operational optimisation
• Fraud operations and financial crime investigations - APP Fraud highly advantageous
• QA oversight, escalation handling and operational governance
• Management information, thematic analysis and operational reporting
• Control optimisation, tooling enhancement and process automation
• Financial crime change initiatives and operational improvements
• Oversight of operational teams, structures, workflows and SLA delivery
• Supporting scalable controls across complex customer types and payment flows
• Working closely with Product, Technology, Compliance and Risk stakeholders on operational enhancements and control effectiveness

The environment includes exposure to higher-risk and more complex customer types, including regulated financial institutions, payment firms, intermediaries, cross-border businesses, and other non-retail customer segments.

What they’re looking for

• Strong First Line Financial Crime Operations experience within a regulated financial services environment
• Experience across at least two of onboarding/KYC, transaction monitoring, screening, fraud operations, or ongoing due diligence
• Experience managing operational financial crime teams and driving performance, quality, and SLA delivery
• Exposure to higher-risk customer types and complex payment flows
• Strong understanding of UK AML, sanctions and fraud frameworks and how they apply operationally
• Experience improving controls, workflows, operating models, or financial crime systems
• Ability to challenge operational decisions and provide effective oversight across onboarding, monitoring and investigations
• Strong stakeholder management skills across Compliance, MLRO, Risk, Operations and Technology teams
• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving environment with changing priorities and ongoing transformation activity

Helpful background experience

• Payments, fintech, banking, FX, acquiring, embedded finance, e-money or regulated financial institution exposure

• Exposure to onboarding or monitoring higher-risk corporate or institutional customers

Please share your CV with jim.chappell@morson-edge.com to find out more