Lead KYB

Pennylane SAS; Paris; Hybride; EUR 90 000 - 120 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

Pennylane is hiring a Lead KYB to build and run the first line of defense for KYB/KYC on business customers. You will protect compliance while enabling onboarding at scale, working closely with Compliance, Product and Risk teams, in a fast-growing fintech environment.

Based in France, with a strong preference for Paris, regular on-site presence is expected; a degree of remote/hybrid work is possible as we scale our licensed operations by 2027.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of KYB/KYC or compliance ops experience.
• Experience in regulated fintech or financial services.
• Proven leadership of operational teams in high-volume settings.
• Strong AML/CTF exposure and business onboarding.
• Translate policies into SOPs and analyst guidance.
• Hands-on with KYB tooling and back-office workflows.
• Collaborate with Product/Tech on tooling improvements.
• Nice to have: ACPR/licence, audits, BaaS migrations.

Responsabilités

• Own end‑to‑end KYB/KYC workflows for business customers.
• Apply AML/CTF policies across onboarding and risk reviews.
• Review and approve complex or high‑risk KYB cases.
• Scale KYB operations to high onboarding volumes at go‑live.
• Build and manage the KYB analyst team and roles.
• Design scalable KYB processes, SOPs and playbooks.
• Collaborate with Product/Tech on tooling and automation.
• Monitor QA, risk indicators and dashboards.

Connaissances

KYB/KYC operations

Regulatory compliance

AML/CTF

Team leadership

Policy translation

Tooling & automation

Cross-functional collaboration

Process design

Data-driven decisions

Outils

KYB tooling

Back-office tools

Workflow automation

Description du poste

Are you looking to have an impact on the daily life of millions of entrepreneurs in France (and tomorrow in Europe)?

Are you looking for a work environment that values trust, proactivity, and autonomy?

Then Pennylane is the right place for you !

Our vision

We aim to become the most beloved financial Operating System of French SMEs and Accounting Firms (and soon, European ones).

We help entrepreneurs rid themselves of time-consuming tasks related to accounting and finance while providing them with access to key financial information to assist in making the best decisions for their business.

About us

Pennylane is one of the fastest growing Fintechs in France (and soon to be in Europe!)

In 5 years of existence, we’ve managed to :

• Make ourselves known as a groundbreaking accounting and financial software for small businesses and their accountants

• Raise a total of €400 millions, including from Sequoia, the famous fund from the Silicon Valley who invested early in companies like Google, Facebook, Airbnb, Stripe, Paypal and much more...

• Grow from 7 cofounders to 1000 happy Pennylaners : we’re now recognized as one of the greatest places to work in France (and also remotely), with a 4.6/5 rating on Glassdoor.

• Build an international environment with more than 25 nationalities, with a strong remote-friendly culture, where 30% of the employees are already working from all parts of Europe

• Earn the trust of thousands of customers and accounting firms and obtain outstanding ratings

• Already more than 1 300,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and over 6000 accounting firms use Pennylane in France!

Role context

Pennylane operates today around 40k business accounts through a BaaS model. As Financial Services becomes a larger part of Pennylane’s strategy, we are building Pennylane Financial Services and applying for Établissement de paiement and Société de financement licenses.

Our ambition is to start onboarding new customers under our own licensed entity by early 2027, before progressively migrating existing customers. To make this possible, we are building the first line of defense from the ground up across onboarding, transaction monitoring, fraud and risk operations.

As Lead KYB, you will be one of the first operational leaders joining this greenfield setup. Reporting to the Head of FinCrime Operations, you will own the operational execution of KYB/KYC processes for business customers across the payment scope first, and progressively across credit-related activities as the Société de financement scope ramps up.

Your mission will be to build, structure and scale the KYB team, processes and tooling needed to absorb a target volume of ~10,000 onboardings per month at go-live, while ensuring robust AML/CTF compliance, operational efficiency, and a high-quality customer experience.

This is a high-autonomy role with direct exposure to a strategic regulatory project, close collaboration with Product, Compliance and Risk teams, and the opportunity to shape the operating model of a fast-growing fintech serving hundreds of thousands of French SMEs.

Responsibilities

KYB operations & regulatory execution

• Own the end-to-end operational execution of KYB/KYC workflows for business customers.

• Ensure proper application of AML/CTF policies defined by Compliance / LoD2, including:

  • customer risk classification,

  • beneficial ownership checks,

  • PEP and sanctions screening,

  • high-risk customer reviews,

  • escalation of sensitive cases within SLA.

• Review and approve complex or high‑risk KYB cases.

• Ensure continuity of compliance during the transition from the current BaaS model to Pennylane Financial Services’ own operating model.

• Maintain strong auditability of KYB decisions, including rejection rationales, escalation trails and supporting documentation.

Team build-up & performance management

• Recruit, onboard, train and manage the KYB analyst team.

• Define the target team structure, roles, responsibilities and escalation paths.

• Build the performance framework for the KYB team:

  • SLAs,

  • productivity metrics,

  • quality metrics,

  • backlog monitoring,

  • capacity planning.

• Prepare the team to scale toward high-volume onboarding at go-live and beyond.

• Build a strong team culture based on rigor, accountability, customer protection and continuous learning.

Process design, standardization & scalability

• Translate regulatory policies into clear operational procedures, SOPs, decision trees and analyst playbooks.

• Standardize KYB processes to ensure consistency, scalability and a smooth onboarding experience.

• Identify bottlenecks in workflows and propose operational improvements.

• Balance compliance rigor with operational efficiency, without compromising Pennylane Financial Services’ risk appetite.

• Define how KYB processes should evolve during the migration from Swan’s operational model to Pennylane’s own LoD1 setup.

Tooling, automation & Product collaboration

• Contribute to the implementation and optimization of KYB tooling and back‑office workflows.

• Work closely with Product and Tech teams to design efficient analyst interfaces and operational workflows.

• Help test KYB tooling before go‑live from an operational perspective, not only a technical one.

• Identify opportunities for automation on repetitive tasks such as document verification, data collection, alert triage or case pre‑analysis.

• Ensure that automation improves efficiency while preserving quality, traceability and risk control.

Quality assurance, controls & reporting

• Implement a QA framework for KYB operations:

  • random sampling,

  • peer reviews,

  • calibration sessions,

  • error tracking,

  • remediation plans.

• Monitor operational and risk indicators to detect process weaknesses or compliance issues.

• Produce regular reporting on KYB performance, risk trends, backlog, SLA adherence and quality.

• Support Compliance / LoD2 during audits, controls testing and regulatory reviews by providing evidence and operational insights.

Cross-functional collaboration

• Act as the main operational point of contact for KYB‑related matters.

• Work closely with Compliance, Risk, Fraud, Product, Tech, Customer Support and Finance teams.

• Provide operational input on new features, customer journeys and onboarding requirements.

• Help Product and Tech teams understand KYB constraints and translate them into pragmatic product decisions.

• Collaborate with other LoD1 teams, especially Transaction Monitoring and Fraud & Risk, to ensure a coherent customer risk lifecycle.

First 6–12 months priorities

• Translate the onboarding policy submitted to the regulator into operational procedures, analyst playbooks and escalation rules.

• Define the KYB team target organization and hiring plan.

• Build the first version of the KYB performance dashboard and operating cadence.

• Contribute to the implementation / configuration of KYB and back‑office tools.

• Prepare operational readiness for go‑live:

  • team training,

  • runbooks,

  • decision trees,

  • QA process,

  • incident escalation paths,

  • capacity model.

• Ensure the KYB organization is ready to support ~10,000 onboardings per month while maintaining compliance quality and customer experience.

Profile & must‑have experience

Experience

• 5+ years of experience in KYB/KYC, compliance operations, risk operations or financial services operations.

• Experience in a regulated environment such as a fintech, bank, payment institution, EMI or BaaS / embedded finance provider.

• Proven experience managing or coordinating operational teams in a high‑volume environment.

• Strong exposure to AML/CTF requirements and business customer onboarding.

• Experience translating policies into operational processes, SOPs and analyst guidance.

• Hands‑on experience with KYB tooling, back‑office tools or workflow automation.

• Experience working with Product / Tech teams on tooling or process improvements.

• Bonus: experience with ACPR expectations, licence applications, audits, BaaS migrations or credit‑related onboarding.

Technical & operational skills

• Strong understanding of KYB/KYC workflows for business customers:

  • legal entity verification,

  • UBO identification,

  • document review,

  • risk classification,

  • PEP / sanctions screening,

  • high‑risk escalation.

• Good knowledge of French and European AML/CTF frameworks, including ACPR, TRACFIN and FATF expectations.

• Ability to design scalable operational processes and performance frameworks.

• Data‑driven approach: comfortable using operational metrics, dashboards and analytics to manage performance.

• Strong process mindset: able to identify inefficiencies, structure workflows and improve quality at scale.

• Good judgment in balancing compliance, customer experience and operational efficiency.

• Ability to contribute meaningfully to tooling design, testing and implementation.

Soft skills

• Rigorous, structured and accountable.

• Strong leadership and coaching skills.

• Excellent communication with operational teams, Compliance, Product, Tech and senior stakeholders.

• Pragmatic and solution‑oriented, able to operate under regulatory constraints without creating unnecessary friction.

• Comfortable in a greenfield environment with ambiguity, high autonomy and fast execution.

• Strong pedagogy: able to translate complex regulatory or operational topics into simple, actionable guidance.

• Customer‑conscious: attentive to onboarding friction and customer impact while preserving risk standards.

Languages, Presence & Location

• Languages:

  • Fluent French and English are mandatory.

• Location:

  • Based in France, with a strong preference for Paris.

  • Regular on‑site presence in Paris is expected; partial remote is possible, but this is not a fully remote role.

Why Join Us?

• Greenfield regulatory project: help build the first line of defense of a new regulated financial entity from scratch.

• Massive impact: shape how financial services are delivered to hundreds of thousands of French SMEs.

• High autonomy: own a critical operational domain with direct impact on go‑live readiness and customer onboarding.

• Strategic exposure: work closely with Operations, Compliance, Risk, Product and Tech leaders on a company‑defining project.

• Modern fintech environment: help design scalable, automated and risk‑conscious operations from day one.

• Competitive compensation package, including equity components aligned with impact and responsibility.

Hiring process

• HR interview with Lucie (Senior Recruiter)

• Who interview Stanislas de Villoutreys (Head of Legal, Compliance and Risk) and Maxime Leclercq (General Manager Financial Services)

• Case Stanislas and Eric Scaramozzino (VP Strategic Initiatives)

• Team Fit with Tiffany Dubois (Strategic Project Manager) and Hippolyte Prost (Associate Team Lead Strategy & Operations)

• Last round with Felix Blossier (COO and cofounder) and Guillaume Nicolle (Lead Internal Control & Risk)

Who are we looking for?

-To speak English (level is assessed and appreciated according to the department you’re applying to)

-To be energized by an ever‑shifting work environment

-To be highly collaborative (within your team or other stakeholders)

-Sufficiently experienced to prioritize business‑led actions on your day to day activity

We know that some people are less likely to apply than others, if they don’t feel like they meet the full list of criteria.

We also want to emphasize that we fully embrace diversity, equity and inclusion and that we’re doing our best to create a safe and inclusive environment.

We are committed to providing an equal employment opportunity regardless of gender, sexual orientation, origin, disabilities, or any other traits that make you who you are. If anything, diversity makes us a more fun place to work at.