Senior Compliance & Controls Lead (1B-Ops)

First West Credit Union; Township of Langley; On-site; CAD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

First West Credit Union in British Columbia is seeking a Senior Compliance & Controls Lead to strengthen the first line of defense across operations, regulatory compliance, and risk management. The role supports leadership in implementing and maintaining risk programs and ensuring adherence to policies and procedures.

The position involves leading compliance activities, evaluating third party risk, and guiding change initiatives while collaborating with Risk, Legal, and IT to monitor controls

Qualifications

• College, Trade or Tech School Diploma (2 years) in a related discipline required.
• Risk Management Certificate/Designation preferred.
• 5 years related experience in Operations and/or Risk Management required.
• Strong knowledge of project management required.
• Demonstrated ability to provide leadership to others preferred.
• Sound understanding of Operational Risk Management measurement and reporting preferred.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with ability to break down complex problems.
• Business acumen with impact on operations and member experience preferred.
• Experience in the financial services industry preferred.
• Ability to work independently and in a team.
• Proven ability to translate strategy into tactical plans.
• Effective interpersonal and communication skills.
• Proven organizational skills and ability to meet deadlines.
• Risk management knowledge and processes.
• Understanding of internet and web-based applications.
• Operational expertise in financial services systems.
• Knowledge of FI policies, procedures, products/services.

Responsibilities

• Leadership: Builds relationships with stakeholders and promotes a culture of risk identification and management.
• Compliance Leadership: Advise on controls, map processes, test regulatory adherence, and KRIs.
• Third Party Risk Management: Evaluate vendors and ensure due diligence documentation.
• Change Facilitation: Oversee change management and ensure risk is integrated early.
• Project/Initiatives: Lead policy/process initiatives affecting member experience and risk.
• Operational Support & Risk Management: Monitor performance, track remediation, coordinate with Risk.

Skills

Leadership

Risk Management

Compliance

Project Management

Communication

Change Management

Education

College diploma

Risk Management Certificate

Job description

We are currently seeking aSenior Compliance & Controls Lead (1B-Ops)to join our team.

The Senior Compliance & Controls Lead (1B-Ops) supports Operations/Leadership in the effective implementation, maintenance, and administration of first line of defense (1st LOD) programs (e.g., operational risk, compliance, regulatory, etc.), including overseeing business operations within the jurisdiction to ensure adherence and efficiency. Contributes to a strong risk management culture through collaboration with other first line employees, as well as second & third-line functions to ensure Compliance, regulatory or operational risks identified, mitigated, monitored, and reported on an ongoing basis.

Here’s what would be included as a part of your typical day

1. Leadership:Builds effective relationships with internal/external stakeholders. Tracks exception/exemption requests and corresponding approvals. Facilitates training to ensure business unit employees fully understand requirements. Builds awareness, knowledge, and skills and, as necessary, provides communication, practical tools and ongoing support including making presentations, to promote a culture of risk identification and management. Applies expertise and thinks creatively to address unique or ambiguous situations and to find solutions to problems that can be complex and non-routine.
2. Compliance Leadership: Provide professional daily supervision and compliance advice to member facing teams.Verify that controls identified in RCSAs are implemented. Establish and maintain process map and controls library.Understand the applicable regulatory requirements and establish adequate testing is designed to identify control gaps and non-compliance with regulatory requirements, best practices, and internal policies and procedures. Analyse and address the identified risk exposures and support the development of action plans required to mitigate identified risks. Develop, implement, and monitor KRIs for each process. Escalate potential issues and exception items noted during the review process to senior management. May network with industry contacts to gain competitive insights and best practices.
3. Third Party Risk Management (TPRM):Conduct the materiality assessment on each potential vendor and non-vendor. Perform due diligence based on the outcome of the materiality assessment. Conduct risk assessment. Must ensure that the due diligence documents are maintained, and key controls are effectively communicated to all relevant personnel and departments including Procurement, Legal, Risk Management and IT Department.
4. Change Facilitation:Ensures that all changes follow the requirements of the change management policy. Oversees the change management framework, tools, and templates are used in accordance with the framework. Liaises to ensure Risk is involved where appropriate in the change as early as possible, preferably in the preparing for the change stage. Ensures all aspects of the change management plan are developed, in accordance with the change management framework. Identifies, assesses, and mitigates risks in a timely manner. Directs all the requirements identified by Risk are documented and escalated to the appropriate line of business to be completed in a timely manner. Provides updates and documentation as requested by Risk. Ensures affected key processes are mapped and guidelines and procedures are created and/or updated and available for end users
5. Project/Initiatives: Leads or acts as a key stakeholder on project execution, harmonization and continuous improvements on branch operational policy and process initiatives that impact the member experience, branch performance or alignments to risk tolerance. Provides expertise and support in development of a content management framework that supports Tru Cooperative Bank’s (Tru) strategic initiatives and risk management activities. Provides support as an Operational subject matter expert when required to Agile squads for Compliance and PGPP. Works closely with process/project/initiative owners (RACIs) during Agile sprints. Ensure appropriate risk assessments (regulatory, AML, Privacy, Cyber, financial, credit, operational) are completed in a timely manner and shared with Risk team for review and feedback.
6. Operational Support & Risk Management: Monitors and tracks performance and addresses any issues. Tracks costs associated with incidents, clean-up and restoration needed to be reported. Acts as a subject matter expert on relevant regulations and policies. Oversees and manages the evaluation, development, and implementation of an internal control system. Participates and facilitates on-going remediation of numerous cleanup projects to ensure operational compliance for parties such as FINTRAC, BCFSA, OSFI, FCAC, CRA and potential risk to Tru is mitigated. Ensure Risk team is integrated into risk mitigation initiatives performed by the Business Unit.Ensure Risk team’s recommendations are reviewed, implemented, and tracked by 1st line. Broader work or accountabilities may be assigned as needed.

Required Skills, Experience & Qualifications

• College, Trade or Tech School Diploma (2 years) in a related discipline required
• Risk Management Certificate/Designation preferred
• 5 years related experience in Operations and/or Risk Management required
• Strong knowledge of project management required
• Demonstrated ability to provide leadership to others preferred
• Sound understanding of Operational Risk Management measurement and reporting preferred
• Strong critical thinking, analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to break down complex situations into manageable parts in a systematic manner preferred
• Business acumen with the ability to understand the impacts of operational risk management activities on business performance and member experience preferred
• Experience working in the financial services industry with exposure to business functions and integrated credit union/business systems preferred
• Ability to work independently, as well as collaboratively in a team environment
• Proven ability to develop strategies and translate strategies into tactical plans
• Effective interpersonal and communication skills, both verbally and in writing with a wide variety of stakeholders
• Proven organizational skills, including balancing multiple responsibilities, and effectively meeting deadlines
• Risk management and processes
• Strong understanding of internet and web-based applications
• Demonstrated operational expertise in various financial services systems
• Knowledge of FI policies, procedures, products/services
• Displays an understanding of risk and risk ownership by being able to demonstrate adherence to policies and procedures.