Compliance Manager/Money Laundering Reporting Officer (“MLRO”)

Strike is looking for a UK Compliance Manager/Money Laundering Reporting Officer (“MLRO”) based in the United Kingdom to work on all UK compliance matters. This role will have primary responsibility for our UK compliance program, be the primary interface with the UK’s FCA, and act as the MLRO and head of compliance for future UK operating entities. The role will also provide expertise and support across the global compliance function in areas beyond the UK, as and when required. This role is an important part of our Global Compliance team, reporting directly to the Chief Compliance Officer.

It is crucial that you will bring existing compliance experience at a regulated UK financial services entity or registered cryptoasset firm, or similar payments entity, as well as knowledge of UK and other EU compliance frameworks such as the UK’s money-laundering regulations, FSMA, and financial promotions regime. The ideal candidate will have experience in how to establish, maintain and control compliance frameworks in a crypto, fintech or payment firm, as well as experience in interfacing with the FCA and FCA regulatory reporting regimes, as well as prior experience as a control function responsible individual with the FCA such as a nominated money laundering reporting officer, SMF 16 or SMF 17.

What You’ll Do:

• Design and implementation of a robust compliance program to support Strike’s business in the UK, including financial crime/AML, sanctions, financial promotions, reporting, and risk management.
• Maintaining a robust governance and control environment to support Strike’s future business in the UK in line with regulatory requirements, and with group expectations and enterprise standards.
• Interface with the FCA including any regulatory enquiries, examinations, licence maintenance, reporting, and day-to-day communications.
• Serving as the Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) for and UK operating entities in the future as needed, which may include internal committee roles.
• Providing focused day-to-day compliance advice to senior management, business teams, product teams, and other support functions.
• Work closely with business, product, and operations teams when designing new products to ensure that all compliance objectives are met.
• Monitoring regulatory developments, assessing impacts, amending policies and ultimately working with key internal stakeholders on any required changes. Where needed, draft and manage and regulatory applications to the FCA.
• Ultimate oversight responsibility over the day-to-day compliance operations conducted by our AML and KYC teams for any UK matters. This includes but is not limited to the handling of monitoring and sanctions alerts, EDD reviews, and SARs. Furthermore, you will act as the primary escalation point for any issues raised by our internal onboarding and monitoring teams for UK customers.
• Day to day risk-management for the UK business, including drafting and monitoring risk policies, risk assessments, updating risk metrics, and compiling qualitative and quantitative data to measure risks and controls.
• Reporting on compliance risks to one or more boards or committees
• Supporting global initiatives and the global compliance function with the overall goal of building and maintaining a harmonised global compliance program.
• Work on multiple priorities simultaneously, demonstrating strong organizational and time management skills.

Requirements:

• Minimum 5 years of experience within regulated financial services or crypto firms in senior compliance roles with robust knowledge on key topics (KYB / KYC, AML/CFT, Sanctions etc.) and money laundering regulations (e.g., the Money Laundering Regulations, Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, Terrorism Act 2000, UK Sanctions Law).
• Located in the UK, with right-to-work in the UK.
• Experience interfacing directly with UK FCA.
• Practical experience in FCA reporting, and other regulatory reporting or filings such as suspicious activity reports.
• Fluent in English (verbal and written) is required. Other European languages are beneficial but not required.
• Good organisational, partner management skills and willingness to expand technical knowledge in a broad range of projects.
• Excellent analytical, critical thinking, and writing skills, and strong interpersonal and organisational skills.
• Well organised self-starter, able to prioritise quickly, think from first principles, and meet deadlines under pressure, whilst retaining good judgement and risk management.
• Ability to take ownership of work products and consistently deliver results in a high growth and high-quality-bar environment.
• You must be comfortable with a team-first approach in a remote work environment, and excited about Strike’s mission and potential.

Nice-to-haves:

• Knowledge of the Bitcoin industry and willingness to gain expertise of the financial crime typologies in the Bitcoin space.
• Experience building and managing compliance teams.
• Experience in operationalising compliance functions.
• Experience drafting, and managing, regulatory licence applications in the UK or Europe.
• Experience with investment firms, and operating under FSMA or MiFID II.
• Direct compliance or MLRO experience in the bitcoin, crypto, or payments area.
• Experience using blockchain analytics software
• Start-up experience

This role is for UK based candidates only.

If you don't meet all the requirements but think you might still be right for the role, please apply anyway. We're always keen to speak to people who connect with our mission and values.

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