Head of Compliance

Head of Compliance & MLRO (Crypto & Cross-Border Payments)

London, Remote · £110,000 to £130,000+ base, plus bonus and a generous equity package

A fast-growing cross-border payments business moving money across African markets is hiring a Head of Compliance & MLRO. They run local collections, corporate treasury and FX, and automated payouts, with hybrid fiat and stablecoin settlement. They sit inside a payments group that raised a $55m Series B in 2025 and has just won a hard licence in its home market.

Crypto is where the regulatory work is. This role leads it.

What you'll do

• Own the crypto and stablecoin regulatory agenda: permissions, registrations and the regulator relationships behind them
• Build the financial crime controls for crypto and stablecoin flows: wallet screening, travel rule, chain analytics, monitoring
• Run the compliance framework for the core payments business: collections, payouts, domestic acquiring, FX, and cross-border flows
• Lead AML, CFT, sanctions, and transaction monitoring, plus KYC and merchant due diligence
• Act as MLRO for UK operations and primary contact with the FCA
• Oversee Merchant-of-Record tax, VAT, and settlement reporting
• Manage due diligence on local PSPs, acquiring partners, and banks
• Embed AI and RegTech tooling across the function, and build the team

What you need

• Crypto is at the center of your recent experience. You have worked at a firm handling crypto or stablecoin authorization. You do not need to have run the application yourself
• Real cross-border payments and FX experience, with working knowledge of the PSRs, EMRs, and PSD2
• Multi-country compliance experience, ideally including emerging markets
• 8 to 12+ years in compliance, regulatory, or risk roles in payments or fintech
• Commercial judgment. Someone who finds the conditions under which a corridor works, not someone whose instinct is no
• Fluency with AI tooling and a strong grounding in risk
• UK-based, with the right to work in the UK without sponsorship. A UK presence is a regulatory requirement
• You do not need to hold or have held SMF15, SMF16 or SMF17

Stand out :

Emerging-market, mobile money or MoR experience is a plus.