Compliance Associate (Contract, London)

Ethos; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Ethos, based at our London HQ in Kings Cross, is seeking a Compliance Associate to build the foundations of compliance for a fast‑growing AI marketplace.

You’ll own financial crime, data privacy and information security, review flagged cases, write policies, and work with product and engineering to turn findings into automated checks. This is the first dedicated compliance hire, requiring 2–5 years in compliance and strong knowledge of KYC/AML.

Qualifications

• 2–5 years of experience in compliance, fraud or financial crime, ideally at a marketplace or high-volume payments startup.
• Solid grounding in KYC, AML, fraud and sanctions with good judgement for fast-moving businesses.
• Hands-on with identity verification vendors (Persona, Onfido, Sumsub or Veriff).
• Knowledge of UK GDPR and data protection is a plus; familiarity with SOC 2 or ISO 27001 is beneficial.
• Strong written communication and ability to explain decisions to experts, banks or the board.

Responsibilities

• Build and own our KYC, AML, sanctions and fraud policies, and update them with regulatory changes.
• Own identity verification setup to balance smooth verification and preventing fraud.
• Investigate suspicious activity and collaborate with engineering to automate checks.
• Handle KYC/KYB requests and compliance reporting for banks, payment partners and clients.
• Maintain a single compliance register and report risk metrics to leadership.

Skills

KYC and AML

Fraud detection

Data privacy awareness

Strong written communication

SQL / data analysis

Tools

Persona

Onfido

Sumsub

Veriff

Job description

About This Opportunity

This role works directly for Ethos and is based in our London HQ, in Kings Cross. Successful candidates will be required to work in the office Monday to Thursday with Friday working remote.

Ethos is on a mission to make human opportunity abundant with AI. We use cutting-site AI to match experts to paid opportunities at scale, from AI model training, investment research to full-time roles. We now pay out more than $1M/day to experts globally. Backed by world-leading investors including a16z, General Catalyst, XTX and more.

Job Overview

We're looking for a Compliance Associate to keep our platform, experts and clients safe as we grow. You’ll be our first dedicated compliance hire, building our compliance foundations from the ground up. You’ll own three connected areas: financial crime (KYC, AML and fraud) and regulation, data privacy, and information security. This is a hands‑on role in a hyper‑growth start‑up. You’ll review flagged cases, investigate suspicious activity and respond to data requests. You’ll also write and own the policies behind that work. We're moving fast and you won't wait for problems to land; you’ll go looking for them.

What You'll Do

Financial Crime and Regulation

• Build and own our KYC, AML, sanctions and fraud policies, including clear rules for edge cases. Put them into practice day to day, and update them as regulation changes
• Own our identity verification setup, making verification smooth for genuine experts and hard for everyone else
• Investigate suspicious activity, from fraud patterns and account takeovers to unusual payment or login behaviour, and work with engineering to turn what you find into automated checks
• Handle KYC/KYB requests and compliance reporting for our banks, payment partners and clients, and escalate suspicious activity to the right people
• Apply expert tax and payout rules, including W‑8/W‑9 forms, platform reporting rules (such as DAC7) and country‑specific requirements

Data Privacy

• Handle data subject requests, such as access and erasure, within legal timeframes
• Lead data protection impact assessments, and keep our privacy notices, records and retention rules current as the product evolves

Information Security

• Own our information security policies and controls, from access management to incident and breach response, and drive our security certifications (such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001)
• Complete client security questionnaires and review the security and data protection of new vendors

Across Ethos

• Keep a single compliance register of risks, controls and owners, and report monthly risk metrics to leadership and the board
• Work with product, engineering and support to tighten controls without adding friction for experts

Who You Are

• 2-5 years' experience in compliance, fraud or financial crime, ideally at a marketplace, or high volume payments startup
• A strong grounding in KYC, AML, fraud and sanctions, and the judgement to apply them in proportion to the risk at a fast-moving business that isn’t a bank
• Hands‑on experience with an identity verification vendor such as Persona, Onfido, Sumsub or Veriff
• Knowledge of UK GDPR and data protection is a big plus, or you're keen to learn it
• Familiarity with information security frameworks such as SOC 2 or ISO 27001, or the appetite to build it quickly
• A natural investigator: you read signals in context, not in isolation (a VPN flag on its own isn’t evidence of fraud), you know when to decide and when to escal, and you handle sensitive information with discretion
• Comfortable pulling and checking your own data with SQL or a BI tool, quick to learn new tools, and you never present numbers you haven’t verified
• A clear writer who can explain a decision to an expert, a bank or the board
• Proactive, independent, and at home with pace and ambiguity
• Comfortable with pace and ambiguity in a fast‑moving tech startup, with solid fundamentals and open to new ways of working
• ICA or ACAMS certification is a plus

Why Join Ethos

Work at the centre of the AI industry, on projects that shape how the next generation of AI is built.

Be part of an ambitious team building something genuinely new, leveraging AI for the future of expertise.

We've grown revenue 84x since our Series A in March 2026, and we're only just getting started!

Real ownership from the start. You'll run your own workstreams, not shadow someone else's.

Key Requirements

• 2-5 years' experience in compliance, fraud or financial crime, ideally at a marketplace, or high volume payments startup
• A good amount of experience in KYC, AML, fraud and sanctions, and the judgement to apply them in proportion to the risk at a fast-moving business that isn’t a bank
• Hands‑on experience with an identity verification vendor such as Persona, Onfido, Sumsub or Veriff
• Willingness to learn UK GDPR and data protection, gained experience is not essential
• Familiarity with information security frameworks such as SOC 2 or ISO 27001, or the appetite to build it quickly
• A natural investigator: you read signals in context, not in isolation (a VPN flag on its own isn’t evidence of fraud), you know when to decide and when to escal, and you handle sensitive information with discretion
• Comfortable pulling and checking your own data with SQL or a BI tool, quick to learn new tools, and you never present numbers you haven’t verified
• A clear writer who can explain a decision to an expert, a bank or the board
• Proactive, independent, and at home with pace and ambiguity