Head of Financial Crime Operations

2w2 weeks ago

Kroo

London, GB · Full-time · £120,000 – £160,000

About this role

At Kroo Bank, we're building a better bank from the ground up — one that puts customers first, treats money responsibly, and uses technology to make everyday banking simpler, fairer and more transparent. As the Head of Financial Crime Operations, you will lead, inspire and oversee all Financial Crime operational functions across the bank, including KYC, AML, Transaction Monitoring, Fraud, Quality, Strategy and Controls.

Your core purpose is the outstanding management of a complex, high volume operation, ensuring the department consistently meets its Service Level Agreements while robustly managing regulatory and operational risks. You will lead daily operations to ensure all tasks are executed within agreed SLAs and quality standards, maintaining maximum efficiency without compromising compliance, and serve as the senior escalation point for complex financial crime cases.

You will be a brilliant people leader, motivating, mentoring and developing a diverse team of financial crime professionals and fostering a supportive, high performing culture. You will build and maintain highly collaborative partnerships across the bank, particularly with Customer Service Operations to ensure seamless customer journeys, and the Second Line of Defence to ensure absolute alignment with risk appetite and policy.

While your primary focus is operational excellence and leadership, you will also support our technology journey, drawing on knowledge of financial crime technology and experience managing third party platform providers to collaborate effectively with product and engineering teams. This role offers the opportunity to support financial crime change and transformation initiatives, helping to shape system enhancements and automated workflows in a fully regulated UK bank with a growing customer base and big ambitions.

Requirements

Proven experience in leading and managing operational financial crime functions within a regulated financial services environment.
Deep knowledge of KYC, AML, Transaction Monitoring, and Fraud operational frameworks and regulatory requirements.
Strong people leadership skills with experience motivating, mentoring and developing diverse teams of financial crime professionals.
Experience managing third party financial crime technology and service providers to ensure service delivery aligns with organisational standards.
Ability to translate risk policies into clear, actionable operational processes and ensure robust, audit ready controls.
Excellent stakeholder management skills, with experience partnering across Customer Service Operations and Second Line of Defence functions.
Sound judgement and risk based decision making for resolving complex and escalated financial crime cases.

Responsibilities

Lead and inspire the KYC, AML, Transaction Monitoring, Fraud, Quality, Strategy and Controls teams, ensuring clear direction and professional development across all levels.
Manage daily operations to ensure all tasks are executed within agreed SLAs and quality standards, maintaining maximum efficiency without compromising compliance.
Build and maintain highly collaborative partnerships across the bank, particularly with Customer Service Operations and the Second Line of Defence.
Act as a key bridge between first line operations and the Second Line of Defence, translating risk policies into clear, actionable operational processes.
Serve as the senior escalation point for complex financial crime cases, applying sound, risk based judgement to resolve difficult scenarios.
Monitor and report on key operational metrics, SLAs, and risk indicators, providing clear and actionable management information to senior leadership.
Support financial crime change and transformation initiatives, collaborating with product and technology teams to help shape system enhancements and automated workflows.

Benefits

Opportunity to lead and shape the financial crime operations function at a fully regulated UK bank with big ambitions.
Work in a high-growth environment that moves fast and thinks carefully, with a focus on putting customers first.
Collaborate with product and engineering teams to shape system enhancements and automated workflows.
Be part of a supportive, high performing culture that fosters continuous learning, motivation, and career progression.