Head of Compliance

Remote (United States)

Job Details

Location: United States only

Workplace: Remote

Employment Type: Full time

Experience: 8+ years of compliance experience, including at least 3 years in a leadership role

Core Areas: BSA/AML, KYC/KYB, payments compliance, sponsor-bank compliance, financial crimes risk management, GRC, SOC 2 and PCI DSS, privacy compliance

Compensation: $210,000–$260,000 annually plus equity

Travel: Up to approximately 15% annually

About the Role

The Head of Compliance will lead and scale an enterprise compliance program spanning financial crimes, payments compliance, privacy, security assurance, governance, and regulatory risk. This hands-on leadership position owns compliance strategy, operating models, controls, testing, audits, risk assessments, training, and reporting while serving as the designated BSA Compliance Officer and senior compliance advisor to executive leadership and the Board.

The role oversees BSA/AML, KYC/KYB, sanctions, transaction monitoring, sponsor-bank compliance, payment-network requirements, SOC 2, PCI DSS, privacy, fraud controls, and broader compliance-risk programs. It works closely with Product, Engineering, Security, Legal, Operations, Sales, Integrations, bank partners, outside counsel, auditors, and compliance vendors across banking, BaaS, payroll, lending, crypto, and other financial-services use cases. The position reports to the COO.

What You'll Do

Lead the Enterprise Compliance Program

• Set the strategy for the enterprise compliance program and continuously improve policies, procedures, risk assessments, controls, testing, training, and reporting.
• Serve as the designated BSA/AML Compliance Officer, overseeing KYC/KYB, customer due diligence, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, alert and case management, and financial-crimes risk.
• Provide clear reporting to executive leadership and the Board on material compliance risks, program performance, audits, findings, and remediation.
• Lead, develop, and appropriately scale the existing Compliance and GRC team while remaining directly involved in complex reviews, escalations, and strategic initiatives.

Oversee Payments and Bank Partner Compliance

• Serve as the senior compliance point of contact for sponsor-bank partners, supporting ongoing oversight, due diligence, audits, inquiries, and program governance.
• Oversee compliance with applicable ACH/NACHA, card-network, RTP, FedNow, and other payment-rail requirements.
• Evaluate new products, payment flows, customers, partnerships, and markets to identify compliance requirements and establish appropriate controls before launch.
• Work with outside counsel to assess regulatory developments and potential licensing or registration requirements resulting from changes in products or operating models.
• Partner cross-functionally to build and strengthen fraud controls across payment flows, including monitoring rules, transaction limits, and escalation processes.

Lead GRC, Audit, and Privacy Programs

• Own the governance and continued maturity of SOC 2 and PCI DSS programs, including scoping, control ownership, audit readiness, auditor coordination, findings management, and annual assessments.
• Oversee readiness for BSA, NACHA, sponsor-bank, customer, SOC 2, PCI DSS, and other applicable audits and assessments.
• Maintain an enterprise risk and controls framework that connects compliance obligations, risks, controls, testing, evidence, and remediation.
• Lead the privacy compliance program, including applicable GDPR and U.S. privacy requirements, data-subject requests, retention, privacy notices, and reviews of new products, data uses, and vendors.
• Oversee third-party compliance risk, customer assurance activities, and compliance-related due-diligence responses.

Partner Across the Business

• Advise Product, Engineering, Sales, and Integrations on compliance requirements for new products, payment flows, and customer use cases, and support implementation of effective, scalable controls.
• Manage third-party compliance vendors, including KYC/KYB and sanctions-screening providers.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of compliance experience in fintech, payments, banking, or financial services, including at least 3 years in a leadership role.
• Previous experience leading a BSA/AML compliance program at a financial institution, payments company, or fintech; experience within a sponsor-bank or bank-fintech partnership model is strongly relevant.
• Experience overseeing multiple compliance and assurance programs, including BSA/AML, fraud, privacy, SOC 2, PCI DSS, or payment-network compliance.
• Deep practical expertise in BSA/AML, OFAC, KYC/KYB, customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, suspicious-activity escalation, and financial-crimes risk management.
• Familiarity with ACH, RTP, and debit-network requirements and operating models.
• Hands-on experience building or scaling compliance programs at a startup or high-growth organization and right-sizing controls as business needs evolve.
• Experience managing sponsor-bank relationships and navigating bank program compliance requirements.
• Demonstrated experience leading and developing a compliance team while remaining closely involved in program execution.
• Bachelor's degree required.
• Familiarity with modern compliance and financial-crimes platforms such as Alloy, Sardine, Unit21, Socure, or ComplyAdvantage, including evaluating and implementing new tools as needs evolve.
• Ability to analyze transaction patterns, interpret monitoring outputs, and work credibly with Engineering on the design and tuning of technical controls.
• Working knowledge of API-driven payment architecture and how compliance requirements translate into product and engineering decisions.
• Understanding of instant payment rails, including Visa Direct, card-to-card transfers, ACH/NACHA, RTP, and FedNow.
• Ability and willingness to travel up to approximately 15% annually.

Preferred Qualifications

• JD, MBA, or another advanced degree in a relevant field strongly preferred. Candidates without an advanced degree may still be considered based on an exceptional track record and relevant certifications.
• CAMS, CRCM, CFE, or an equivalent professional certification preferred.
• Experience at a BaaS company or payments platform managing sponsor-bank program obligations and audit readiness.
• Experience supporting complex or emerging payment use cases such as cross-border payments, crypto, payroll, lending, or other embedded-finance products.
• Previous experience presenting compliance strategy to a founding team, Board, or investors.

Benefits

• 100% employer-paid health insurance for employees.
• 401(k) with company matching.
• Flexible remote working arrangements.
• Professional growth opportunities.