Head of Financial Crime

Zopa; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial technology firm based in Greater London is looking for a Head of Financial Crime to lead their first line financial crime function. The role requires embedding financial crime controls into product teams and designing data-led strategies. Successful candidates will have a strong track record in financial crime, a balance of commercial and risk skills, and experience working closely with product and engineering teams. This position supports a hybrid working environment with flexibility in location.

Benefits

Flexible work arrangements

Work from abroad option

Good work-life balance

Qualifications

• Experience with KYC, transaction monitoring, and SAR processes.
• Proven ability to articulate trade-offs in constrained environments.
• History of effective partnership across functions like Product and Engineering.

Responsibilities

• Embed financial crime expertise while shaping risk-aware MVPs.
• Design financial crime controls across various processes.
• Define early risk indicators and monitoring plans.

Skills

Experience owning financial crime controls

Operating in product-centric environments

Balancing commercial and risk considerations

Translating regulatory expectations

Acting as a senior escalation point

Coaching and developing team skills

Outcome-focused communication

Using data for decisions

Collaboration skills

Job description

Our Story

Hello there. We’re Zopa.

We started our journey back in 2005, building the first ever peer-to-peer lending company. Fast forward to 2020 and we launched Zopa Bank. A bank that listens to what our customers don’t like about finance and does the opposite. We’re redefining what it feels like to work in finance. Our vision for a new era of banking puts people and centre — we’ve built a business that empowers everyone to aim high, every day, to move finance forward. Find out more about our fantastic offerings at Zopa.com!

We’re incredibly proud of our achievements and none of it would be possible without the amazing team here. It’s not just industry awards we’re winning, we’ve also been named in the top three UK’s Most Loved Workplaces.

Want to see us in action? Follow us on Instagram @zopalife. If you embrace unconventional challenges, are unafraid to think differently and are driven to make an outsized impact, you’ll thrive here at Zopa, so join us, and make it count.

We're hiring a Head of Financial Crime to lead the first line financial crime function and build the next generation of financial crime capability. This is a hands‑on, product‑embedded role rather than a traditional maintenance or advisory position.

The role works directly with product squads to shape safe, commercially sustainable MVPs, interpret risk appetite in context, and design proportional, data‑led controls that support rapid delivery. It also acts as the senior escalation point for financial crime and contributes to the overall strategic direction across all products.

A day in the life:

• Embed first line financial crime expertise into product squads and operations teams, shaping risk‑aware MVPs from early ideation.
• Design and build financial crime controls across KYC, screening, customer risk assessment, transaction monitoring, and SAR processes.
• Translate risk appetite into practical decisions, supporting teams with risk/cost/customer trade‑offs and prioritisation.
• Promote a proportional, agile approach to controls and documentation, aligned to product maturity and delivery timelines.
• Define early risk indicators and monitoring plans with data teams, including telemetry, thresholds, and post‑launch checks.
• Act as the senior financial crime escalation point, making balanced judgements on complex or sensitive cases.
• Build overall financial crime capability and resilience within the first line, avoiding dependency on single individuals.
• Partner with second line teams to align with policy, standards, and regulatory expectations while maintaining clear first line ownership.

About you:

• Experience owning a broad range of financial crime controls, including TM rule design, onboarding/KYC flows, customer risk assessment models, and SAR processes (fintech or digital banking exposure beneficial).
• Comfortable operating in product‑centric, agile environments and working closely with product and engineering teams.
• Proven ability to balance commercial and risk considerations, clearly articulate trade‑offs, and support prioritisation in constrained environments.
• Track record of translating regulatory expectations into pragmatic, product‑aligned solutions without unnecessary complexity.
• Experience acting as a senior escalation point, applying sound judgement on complex financial crime issues.
• Focus on capability‑building: developing team skills, sharing expertise, and supporting resilient ways of working.
• Clear, outcome‑focused communication style, connecting financial crime topics to product strategy, customer impact, and business goals.
• Confident using data to inform decisions, including defining thresholds, indicators, monitoring plans, and telemetry.
• Experience working in fast‑moving, iterative environments with changing products and requirements.
• Strong collaboration skills, with a history of effective partnership across Product, Engineering, second line functions, and Operations.

At Zopa we value flexible ways of working.

We value face‑to‑face collaboration and a good work‑life balance. This hybrid role requires you to come to our London office 2‑3 days a week.

You’ll also have the option of working from abroad for up to 120 days a year! But no matter where you are, we’ll make sure you’ve got everything you need to thrive, both in your work and home life, from day one.

Subject to having the right to work in the country of choice.

Diversity Statement

Zopa is proud to offer a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds leads to better products for our customers and a unique company culture for our people. We are made up of nearly 50 nationalities, have a DE&I forum made up of Zopians wanting to make a difference and we are proud of our culture where everyone can bring their full self to work. Our approach to DE&I is reflected in our hiring process so please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.