Deputy Head of Financial Crime

Overview

In this role, you safeguard Pleo against financial crime and lead remediation programs as part of the Financial Crime Operations team. You will shape robust compliance controls while guiding a high‑performing team to support sustainable growth. You’ll collaborate with Risk, Legal, Compliance, and Product to embed effective controls across the business. This is a chance to drive regulatory excellence and influence executive governance in a fast‑growing fintech. You’ll be at the core of building future‑proof financial crime processes that scale with the company.

Pay / Benefits

• Your own Pleo card
• Lunch provided or allowance
• Private healthcare options (Vitality/Alan/Médis)
• 25 days holiday + public holidays
• Hybrid or fully remote work options
• Mental health and wellbeing support via MyndUp

Responsibilities

• Oversee daily financial crime reports, risk assessments, disclosures, and regulatory outputs with KPI monitoring to mitigate emerging risks
• Lead multi‑workstream remediation programs, regulatory lookbacks, control improvements, and tech integrations from scoping to execution
• Represent the function at executive and regulatory forums when needed, providing strategic leadership coverage
• Direct and develop the FinCrime Operations team, including resource planning and capability building
• Foster cross‑functional collaboration with Risk, Legal, and Business units, and liaise with external auditors and regulators to embed controls

Key requirements

• Deep Financial Crime expertise in AML, CTF, Sanctions, ABC, and Fraud within a 1LOD environment
• Proven leadership in direct team management, coaching, and governance to senior stakeholders
• Experience leading remediation programs, regulatory reviews, and complex control enhancements
• Strong regulatory acumen and experience engaging with regulators and external auditors
• Data‑driven problem solving with KPI tracking and process optimization
• 8+ years in financial crime/compliance in Financial Services/Fintech with at least 3 years in a leadership role

• Strategic thinking
• Executive stakeholder management
• Collaborative mindset
• AML, CTF, Sanctions, ABC, and Fraud frameworks in a regulated setting
• Remediation program management and root‑cause analysis
• Regulatory engagement with authorities and external auditors

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