Senior Analyst, Compliance Advisory

Checkout Ltd; Dubai; Hybrid; AED 400,000 - 650,000; Full time

Job summary

Checkout.com is hiring a Senior Analyst, Financial Crime Compliance in Dubai to strengthen the UAE Financial Crime Compliance function in the second line of defence. You will provide expert advisory on high-risk clients, support onboarding and escalations, and collaborate with Sales, Onboarding, and Legal to ensure UAE AML/CFT and sanctions compliance.

You will develop local policies, assist in regulatory reports, investigations and QA, and contribute to training and risk assessment across

Qualifications

• Minimum 5+ years of experience in a Compliance function in the banking or payments space.
• Prior experience in Compliance Advisory is ideal; otherwise, 2LoD operations with investigations/audit exposure.
• Robust knowledge of KYC, AML/CFT, sanctions and UAE regulatory requirements.
• Working knowledge of the UAE regulatory environment and CB UAE rules.
• Strong sense of accountability and solution-oriented mindset.
• Ability to identify inefficiencies and design scalable processes.
• Well-organised, able to prioritise and meet deadlines under pressure.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Willingness to continuously learn about payments regulations locally and globally.
• Fluent spoken and written English.
• ACAMS, ICA Diploma or Law degree are desirable but not essential.

Responsibilities

• Provide operational advisory on high-risk clients at onboarding, reviews or triggers with justified opinions and documented EDD work.
• Present risk recommendations to MLROs with clear rationale.
• Investigate alerts with FCInvestigations Unit and Transaction Monitoring; draft STR/SARs for MLRO decisions.
• Lead or contribute to development and updates of local compliance policies and memos.
• Provide quick advisory on internal enquiries on procedures.
• Contribute to AML/CFT risk classification and product risk assessment, including stored value and card issuing.
• Assist external regulator reporting and internal risk reporting to senior management and Board.
• Support audits and regulatory engagements and track action plans.
• Conduct second-line QA on CDD/EDD and screening decisions; feed improvements.
• Perform regulatory watch and gap analyses; propose enhancements.
• Prepare training materials and run scenario-based training.

Skills

Compliance experience

Stakeholder management

English proficiency

Regulatory knowledge UAE

Analytical thinking

Education

ACAMS

ICA Diploma or equivalent

Law degree or related field

Job description

Company Description

We’re Checkout.com. You might not know our name, but companies like eBay, Spotify, Klarna, Uber, and Sony do, because we’re behind many of the digital experiences you use every day.

We are where the world checks out, enabling over 10 billion transactions yearly for more than one billion global shoppers.
Whether you want to book a holiday, order food, renew a subscription, or check out online, there’s a good chance our tech powers the payments behind the scenes. Our platform helps the most ambitious businesses deliver effortless digital experiences, at scale.
If you want to do career-defining work, you’ve come to the right place. We move fast, think globally, and believe great teams are built by hiring exceptional people with conviction, curiosity, and the desire to make an impact.
With 20 offices across six continents and London as our HQ, we’re shaping the future of fintech – and we’re just getting started.

The Role

The Senior Analyst, Financial Crime Compliance is a subject matter expert in the second line of defence, supporting the MLRO in managing and strengthening the Financial Crime Compliance function in the UAE. The role provides expert advisory and judgement on high-risk clients and complex escalations, acts as a strategic partner to Sales, Onboarding, Transaction Monitoring, Legal and Product, and helps ensure adherence to UAE AML/CFT/CPF, sanctions and payments regulations.

What you will be doing

• Provide operational advisory on high risk clients, whether at onboarding, periodic review or trigger event, and deliver justified opinions and recommendations. This includes EDD cases, merchant change requests and screening alerts, with CDD/EDD rigorously performed and documented.

• Present well justified risk recommendations to the MLRO, DMLRO.

• Investigate alerts reported to Compliance, partner with the Financial Crime Investigations Unit (FCIU) and Transaction Monitoring on escalations, and review internal unusual activity reports. Draft Suspicious Transaction/Activity Reports (STR/SARs) for MLRO decisions ensure the riskiest clients are monitored accordingly.

• Proactively lead or contribute to the development and update of the local compliance framework (policies, procedures and operating memos) with the support of the DMLRO.

• Provide quick and precise advisory on internal team enquiries on the application of procedures.

• Contribute to updating the AML/CFT risk classification and to the assessment of new products, features and activities, including stored value and card issuing propositions.

• Contribute to external reports due to regulators, and to internal reports to senior management and the Board, including business-wide and entity-level risk assessments.

• Support responses to internal and external audits and regulatory engagement, and track the timely completion of resulting action plans.

• Perform second line quality assurance testing of CDD/EDD and screening decisions, and feed findings into process and training improvements.

• Perform regulatory watch and gap analysis between applicable regulations and sanctions and the current framework, monitor emerging typologies, and propose enhancements.

• Draft training material and presentations, and run scenario-based training sessions for business units.

• Act as Subject Matter Expert (SME) in various ad hoc Group and regional Compliance projects.

About you

• Minimum 5+ years of experience in a Compliance function in the banking or payments space.

• Prior experience in Compliance Advisory is ideal. Otherwise, a combination of 2LoD operations experience with exposure to investigations and audit handling is preferred.

• Robust knowledge of financial security topics (KYC, AML/CFT, sanctions) and other compliance topics, including UAE regulatory requirements (CBUAE regulations on retail payment services, card schemes and stored value facilities) and scheme rules (added advantage).

• Working knowledge of the UAE regulatory environment. Experience in a CBUAE regulated or other UAE regulated business is strongly preferred.

• Clear sense of accountability and a positive, solution-oriented, can-do approach.

• Ability to identify inefficiencies, see the bigger picture, challenge the status quo and define scalable and sustainable processes.

• Well-organised self-starter, able to prioritise quickly and meet deadlines under pressure.

• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, and a collaborative team player.

• Willingness to learn continuously and keep up to date with the payments industry and regulations, local and international.

• Strong spoken and written English.

• ACAMS, ICA Diploma or an equivalent certification, and/or a degree in Law or a related field, is desirable but not essential.

Additional Information

Bring all of you to work

We create the conditions for high performers to thrive, through real ownership, fewer blockers, and work that makes a difference from day one.

Here, you’ll move fast, take on meaningful challenges, and be recognized for the impact you deliver. It’s a place where ambition gets met with opportunity, and where your growth is in your hands.

We work as one team, and we back each other to succeed. So whatever your background or identity, if you’re ready to grow and make a difference, you’ll be right at home here.

It’s important we set you up for success and make our process as accessible as possible. So let us know in your application, or tell your recruiter directly, if you need anything to make your experience or working environment more comfortable.

Life at Checkout.com

We understand that work is just one part of your life. Our hybrid working model offers flexibility, with three days per week in the office to support collaboration and connection.

Curious about what it’s like to be part of our team? Visit our Careers Page to learn more about our culture, open roles, and what drives us.

For a closer look at daily life at Checkout.com, follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram