Description
Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move and manage the world's money. Min fees. Max ease. Full speed. Whether people and businesses are sending money to another country, spending abroad, or making and receiving international payments, Wise is on a mission to make their lives easier and save them money.
As a FinCrime Operations Team Lead - Sanctions you will develop and oversee the daily operations of a team of FinCrime Operations Analysts or Specialists. Your primary purpose is to ensure the effective mitigation of financial crime risks associated with Wise's customers, while maintaining a strong focus on operational efficiency, regulatory compliance and a customer-centric approach.
You will foster a high-performing team, drive operational excellence, and act as a subject matter expert in KYC/AML/Fraud/Screening and financial crime prevention. You will be responsible for ensuring your team meets performance targets, maintains or elevates quality standards, and contributes to a culture of continuous improvement within the FinCrime Operations organization.
The FinCrime Operations Team Lead is a dual-focused leader, combining strong people leadership with domain and operational expertise. You will be instrumental in building and refining processes that prioritise customer impact while maintaining focus on the evolving risks within the financial services industry, specific product vulnerabilities, and the requirements set by regulations and partners.
Job Responsibilities
Team Leadership You will lead by example, driving a customer-focused mindset across your team and the wider fincrime organization. You are instrumental in fostering a high-performance, results-driven culture defined by strong ownership and accountability.
- Coach and develop a strong team of FinCrime Operations Analysts or Specialists with varying levels of experience, providing tailored guidance, and taking swift, decisive action to manage performance issues effectively, ensuring sustained excellence and growth.
- Provide regular, constructive, and actionable feedback to your direct reports.
- Design and manage performance or development plans in identified areas.
Operational management You will oversee the daily operations of the team, ensuring adherence to relevant regulations and internal policies and processes.
- Identify and propose opportunities for process and tooling improvements.
- Collaborate with central functions and other operational teams as needed to increase operational efficiency or to ensure effective cross-team collaboration on joint initiatives.
- Provide guidance and support on complex, high-risk cases and escalations.
Performance management Measure team and individual KPIs and ensure performance targets and quality standards are consistently met while maintaining focus on customer experience and adherence to internal guidelines.
- Drive high-quality results for both the team and individuals, continuously enhancing overall quality outcomes.
- Conduct timely quality reviews, ensuring high decision accuracy and effectively communicate the importance of quality assurance.
Expertise sharing Be a subject matter expert in financial crime areas with the ability to obtain and maintain sufficient subject matter expertise required to train, develop and coach your team.
- Maintain a comprehensive understanding of our regulatory obligations, internal policies, domain-specific processes and best practices.
- Apply a risk-based approach to deterring and preventing money laundering and financial crime.
Issue Management and Escalation Escalate tooling or processing incidents, high-risk customer issues, control weaknesses, or other material problems to direct leadership in a timely and informative manner, following established protocols.
Planning and execution Be accountable for driving your direct team's performance outcomes, ensuring key performance indicators (KPIs) are consistently met and enhanced.
- Possess strong knowledge of team processes and tooling, leveraging data to support initiative execution.
Stakeholder management and communication Collaborate closely with stakeholders ensuring clear communication and coordination of actions.
- Your initiatives and reports are well documented and you choose the right platforms to communicate to a wider audience in a timely manner.
Qualifications
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English, with the ability to produce clear, concise, accurate, and professional reports, summaries, and customer communications.
- At least 1-2 years of leading small to medium sized teams, preferably in operations.
- Good understanding of the regulatory framework surrounding KYC/AML/Fraud/Risk and financial crime prevention.
- You are familiar with money laundering methods and other financial crime trends.
What we offer
- Flexible working - whether it's working from home, school plays or life admin we get that flexibility is essential and you're trusted to do the right thing and be responsible.
- Paid annual holiday, sick days, parental leave and other leave opportunities.
- 6 weeks of paid sabbatical after 4 years at Wise on top of annual leave.