CPD - Compliance AML & Control - Director

SMBC Group; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Paid leave

Private medical insurance

Life insurance

Mental wellbeing support

Learning opportunities

Job summary

SMBC Group is seeking an EMEA Compliance Data Governance Director to lead the data governance framework across EMEA, ensuring data supporting compliance and monitoring is governed, reliable and fit for purpose.

The role works with Compliance, Technology, Data Management, Legal and Privacy to drive data quality, risk controls and enable analytics, automation and responsible AI in a regulated banking environment.

Qualifications

• Significant senior-level experience in data governance, data management and compliance within a financial institution.
• Strong understanding of data governance principles, data quality, data lineage, data ownership and data controls.
• Experience operating within a complex, highly regulated banking environment.
• Strong understanding of compliance, financial crime and monitoring and surveillance processes and their underlying data requirements.
• Strong understanding of regulatory expectations relating to data and controls.
• Experience with data governance tooling, data catalogues, data dictionaries, lineage documentation, issue management and control reporting.
• Ability to translate technical data concepts into clear business, regulatory risk and senior management language.
• Experience influencing senior stakeholders across multiple functions and jurisdictions.
• Experience prioritising resources, vendor activity or programme delivery spend would be advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Develop and enhance the EMEA Compliance Data Governance framework, ensuring data is governed, controlled and fit for regulatory obligations.
• Establish governance frameworks covering data ownership, stewardship, quality, lineage, controls and issue management.
• Define accountabilities for Data Owners, Stewards, Custodians and Consumers and maintain data inventories and dictionaries.
• Design and operate the governance model, forums, decision processes and reporting mechanisms.
• Provide leadership on material data risks and remediation while engaging with multiple stakeholders.
• Monitor data quality metrics and KRIs and escalate issues impacting reporting and surveillance.
• Oversee data lineage, classification and protection throughout technology and analytics workflows.

Skills

Data governance

Data management

Compliance

Regulatory reporting

Data quality

Data lineage

Data ownership

Data controls

Stakeholder management

Regulatory risk

Vendor management

Tools

Data governance tooling

Data catalogues

Data dictionaries

Lineage documentation

Issue management

Job description

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CPD - Compliance AML & Control - Director

25 Sept 2026

London, LND, GB, EC2M 2AT

SMBC: A trusted partner for the long term

Here at SMBC Group, we want to help you find the next step in your career so read on to discover if this opportunity is the one for you. We like to recognise potential in our people, so we welcome your application even when your experience doesn’t perfectly align with the job description. Whilst we’ll always strive to be better, we’re proud of our inclusive culture, and encourage our applicants and colleagues to be their authentic, unique selves.

Who we are

United by a sense of purpose towards our customers – to be a trusted partner for the long-term – and our universal banking platform in EMEA, SMBC Group has an international growth agenda and award-winning products, meaning we provide exciting opportunities to work on a diverse range of projects and initiatives. We deliver a full suite of corporate finance products and solutions to our customers as well as investment banking and advisory services, and a range of innovative solutions in global capital markets. Read on to find out how you could enhance your skills and gain valuable experience, by joining us to support our clients transition to a sustainable future.

Role Summary

Is the next step in your career at SMBC Group EMEA? We’re looking for an EMEA Compliance Data Governance Director to join our Compliance Department.

The role will lead the Compliance Data Governance framework across EMEA, ensuring data supporting Compliance, Financial Crime, Monitoring and Surveillance is appropriately governed, reliable and fit for purpose.

Working across Compliance, Technology, Data Management, Legal, Privacy and Information Security, the Director will drive data quality, strengthen regulatory controls and support the adoption of analytics, automation and responsible AI.

The role is responsible for translating regulatory and business requirements into effective data governance standards and controls, supporting regulatory reporting, compliance monitoring, surveillance, financial crime and risk management activities.

Business Area

Compliance Department

Position Description

The role is responsible for developing and enhancing the EMEA Compliance Data Governance framework, ensuring Compliance data is effectively governed, controlled and fit to support regulatory obligations, risk management, surveillance, financial crime activities and strategic decision-making. The role leads execution of the Compliance Data Governance Strategy, ensuring alignment with Group data strategy, business priorities and regulatory expectations.

Responsibilities include establishing governance frameworks covering data ownership, stewardship, quality, lineage, controls, issue management, escalation and management information. The role defines accountabilities for Data Owners, Stewards, Custodians and Consumers, maintains inventories of critical data elements and data domains, and develops standards, definitions and data dictionaries to ensure consistent interpretation and reporting across Compliance.

The role designs and operates the Compliance data governance operating model, including governance forums, decision-making processes, escalation routes and reporting mechanisms. Acting as a senior Compliance representative across governance and transformation committees, the individual provides leadership and challenge on material data risks, priorities and remediation activities while engaging with Compliance, Risk, Technology, Data Management and business stakeholders.

The position is accountable for establishing a robust data quality framework to ensure critical Compliance data is accurate, complete, timely, consistent, traceable and auditable. This includes defining data quality metrics and KRIs, identifying material issues, overseeing remediation activity and escalating matters that could impact regulatory reporting, surveillance effectiveness, financial crime controls or management decision‑making.

The role also leads the development and maintenance of data lineage and control frameworks, ensuring transparency of critical data flows from source systems through monitoring, surveillance, analytics and reporting processes. Working closely with Technology, Data Management and Financial Crime Compliance teams, the role ensures critical data is appropriately classified, catalogued, retained, protected and supported by effective preventative and detective controls.

From a regulatory and risk perspective, the role monitors evolving regulatory expectations relating to data governance and quality, translating these requirements into practical controls and operating standards. The individual supports regulatory reviews, audits, inspections and risk assessments, coordinates responses to data-related findings and oversees remediation programmes. The role also provides governance over analytics, surveillance scenarios and financial crime data inputs, ensuring data used for monitoring, detection and reporting is complete, accurate, traceable and appropriately validated.

The position serves as the Compliance lead for data transformation, technology, automation and AI initiatives. The role ensures that data quality, lineage, ownership, privacy, security, explainability, testing and control requirements are embedded throughout the technology lifecycle.

Through strong governance and stakeholder engagement, the role leverages high-quality, well-governed data to enhance Compliance effectiveness, strengthen risk detection capabilities, improve regulatory outcomes, reduce manual processes and support sustainable business transformation across EMEA.

Knowledge and Experience

The role requires:

• Significant senior-level experience in data governance, data management and compliance within a financial institution.
• Strong understanding of data governance principles, data quality, data lineage, data ownership and data controls.
• Experience operating within a complex, highly regulated banking environment.
• Strong understanding of compliance, financial crime and monitoring and surveillance processes and their underlying data requirements.
• Strong understanding of regulatory expectations relating to data and controls.
• Experience with data governance tooling, data catalogues, data dictionaries, lineage documentation, issue management and control reporting.
• Ability to translate technical data concepts into clear business, regulatory risk and senior management language.
• Experience influencing senior stakeholders across multiple functions and jurisdictions.
• Experience prioritising resources, vendor activity or programme delivery spend would be advantageous.

Customer Focus

Driving Change

Driving Results

Judgement and Decision Making

Strategic and Visionary

Trust and Integrity

What we offer

For all the expertise and experience you bring to help us make a difference, it’s only sustainable if we support you to build your career and be your best self so we offer competitive company benefits, centred around promoting positive well-bring and work-life balance. We also believe in fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment, where all team members perspectives and contributions are valued. Initiatives in place which promote a diverse and inclusive culture and healthy work life balance include hybrid working, Sport & Social Clubs and Diversity and Inclusion networks.

As an employee of SMBC you have access to a host of both useful and exciting benefit offerings. See below some of the benefits on offer to you:

• Hybrid and flexible working
• Competitive paid leave days
• Benefits to support your physical wellbeing, including private medical insurance and life and invalidity insurance
• Various policies to support your mental wellbeing, including a robust behavioural health network with counselling and coaching services
• Access a wide range of learning and development opportunities and career progression opportunities

We recognise our role as a bank to support social change and welcome all applications, including those from groups often under-represented in financial services. We value the uniqueness of professional and personal, backgrounds and perspectives as they play a vital role in continuing the sustainable growth of our organisation. We’ll ensure reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process are offered due to a disability or long-term condition whenever requested.

We are committed to transparent and equitable pay practices. Compensation is determined using objective criteria, including skills, experience, and role responsibilities, and applied consistently throughout our recruitment processes. We do not request candidates' pay history and are committed to preventing unjustified pay disparities.

About SMBC

A trusted partner for the long term
United by a sense of purpose towards our customers - to be a trusted partner for the long-term - and our universal banking platform in EMEA, we deliver a full suite of corporate finance products and solutions to our customers, including corporate, structured and trade finance, leveraged finance, loan market and treasury products. We can also provide investment banking and advisory services and a range of innovative solutions in global capital markets.
Find out more about what we do and who we are at https://www.smbcgroup.com/emea/careers