Compliance Operations Lead

We’re looking for a Compliance Operations Lead focusing on driving performance of the compliance operations team who are responsible for making decisions on our higher risk customers for selected APAC entities. Based in Hyderabad, you will work with a growing team of multidisciplinary specialists (Product, Banking, Operations based in our offices in APAC, Estonia and HQ in London) to help deliver world class products and services in APAC. You’ll help manage and strengthen our control environment, by having a clear overview of our highest risk customer portfolios and how our control environment is working to effectively mitigate financial crime risk and meet regulatory obligations locally. While being an advocate of the Wise values, you will need to ensure that your team is consistently delivering high-quality customer due diligence reviews as well as meeting the operational metrics according to the organisation’s wider objectives. You will also oversee quality framework and decision quality for enhanced customer due diligence, and provide input into first line operational teams’ training and procedures. 

This role is based in Hyderabad, India 

Wise has already pioneered new ways for people to transfer money across borders and currencies. Our customers can also manage their hard-earned money with the world’s first platform to offer true multi-currency forex. Your mission is to play a key role in supporting a financial crime program that is driven by Wise’s mission for money without borders, transparency, and protecting customers. We are looking for a seasoned professional who can bring both in-depth financial crime compliance expertise and commercial foresight to our team. This role is for a natural investigator and a lead who is passionate about fighting financial crime while delivering world class customer service, and contributing to building an efficient and effective compliance operations team.

Job Responsibilities
 

• Group Leadership
  Lead by example and drive a customer focused mindset across your team as well as the wider organisation. Promote a culture of ownership and accountability. Build high-performing teams that value knowledge sharing and continuous learning.
• People management
  Coach and develop a strong team of Compliance Operations. Come up with initiatives to help your team to grow their skills, behaviours, and competencies. Design and manage development plans on identified opportunities. Conducts career map check-ins and makes recommendations for promotions, salary raises, and other decisions.
• Operational management
  Identify and propose opportunities for process improvements. Collaborate with central functions and other operational teams as needed to increase automation and operational efficiency. Monitor team resource allocation and refine standard operating procedures to improve the ways we work.
• Performance management
  Measure group wide KPIs and ensure that your team meets performance targets and quality standards. Conduct regular one on one coaching sessions, usually on a weekly or biweekly basis. Act as a key escalation point for issues that cannot be resolved by team leads. Generate reports based on teams performance and propose corrective actions on identified opportunities.
• Expertise Sharing
  Be a subject matter expert in your area with the ability to train and coach your team on operational topics. Maintain a great understanding of our regulatory obligations, internal policies, and applying a risk-based approach to deterring and preventing money laundering and financial crime. Able to assist senior leadership with audits and developing our policies and processes. Be 1st point of contact for operational teams into 2LoD when advisory is required on KYC/CDD matters. Liaise with/escalate to regional compliance officers for complex situations as required. This involves working with local Compliance teams to understand upcoming changes, review issues/findings from internal and external reviews, and make necessary adjustments to the escalation criteria. 
• Planning and execution
  Ensure operational team plans are set in place and provide insights to other stakeholders. Take full accountability in delivering your own initiatives and making sure your group is making progress on their goals. Effectively executing and supporting department goals through delegation and empowerment of the team. There are clear initiatives within your group that are used as a basis of larger team plans. 
• Stakeholder management and communication
  Collaborate closely with your 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. The documentation has a clear scope and includes potential impact in different areas. You can communicate confidently with difficult stakeholders. Proactively work on improving cross-team communication, acting as the liaison between different layers of the organization and your own team. 

This role will give you the opportunity to:

• Develop an in-depth knowledge of Wise’s business and get to know teams across Wise as you work with them to understand the product and regulatory framework. 
• Build an efficient and effective Compliance Operations team in our Hyderabad office.
• Help keep compliance right at the heart of our product developments by managing our compliance obligations in APAC, managing regulatory change, driving second line monitoring and oversight, and providing assurance to the Senior Leadership team and local entity Boards. 
• Take on and own initiatives that arise in customer due diligence on a project basis. Take a problem-solving approach, whether designing a new process to be implemented or driving an effort for multiple teams to work together to remediate control gaps or process enhancements. 
• Global cross team collaboration with focus on delivering impact for our fastest growing APAC markets - Singapore, Japan, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, India and more.