Head of Financial Crime

Inara; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 110,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Inara is seeking a Head of Financial Crime for their digital banking platform, spearheading the financial crime strategy within a technology transformation initiative. The successful candidate will lead a team, leverage AI and automation, and work closely with executive leadership to develop a robust financial crime framework while ensuring compliance and operational efficiency.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Generous holiday allowance and well-being days

Access to cutting-edge tools and technology

Qualifications

• Leader in financial crime space with experience in regulated environments.
• Expertise in AML, CTF, sanctions, and fraud.
• Experience with transformation programmes in financial crime or risk.

Responsibilities

• Lead the 1st Line Financial Crime function for prevention and detection.
• Collaborate with teams to embed automation and data analytics.
• Maintain oversight of financial crime risk exposure and controls.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder Engagement

Technical Fluency

Job description

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Connecting people in technology | Scaling teams | Organiser, host & enthusiast of events and communities in tech | Amateur public speaker |…

Head of Financial Crime - Digital Banking

Location: Hybrid - minimum one day per week in the Manchester area

Reporting To: Chief Operating Officer

Overview

Our customer, a leading digital banking platform undergoing a multi-million-pound technology transformation, is seeking a dynamic and future-facing Head of Financial Crime. This is a rare opportunity to shape the financial crime strategy at an ambitious and innovative FinTech business, leveraging cutting-edge technologies including automation and AI to drive scalability, resilience, and customer trust.

The successful candidate will report directly to the COO and work in close partnership with the MLRO, product and technology leaders, and the AI function to architect and implement a modern, tech-enabled financial crime framework.

While established Heads or Directors of Financial Crime are encouraged to apply, this role also offers a high-potential stepping stone for an ambitious senior financial crime professional ready to make the leap into a leadership position.

What You’ll Be Doing

Strategic Leadership

• Lead and evolve the 1st Line Financial Crime function, bringing a clear vision for best-in-class prevention, detection, and response capabilities.
• Translate regulatory expectations and emerging risks into scalable, tech-enabled processes that align with the business’s commercial goals and customer experience standards.
• Play a pivotal role in driving the transformation agenda, ensuring financial crime prevention evolves alongside wider digital and AI-led innovation.

Technology, Data & AI Enablement

• Partner with the AI Manager and engineering teams to embed automation, data analytics, and machine learning into financial crime controls, including onboarding, monitoring, and investigations.
• Stay ahead of emerging technologies and evolving threats, benchmarking competitors and leading the exploration of new tools that can enhance efficiency and mitigate risk.
• Maintain rigorous oversight of financial crime risk exposure, controls and mitigations across the business.
• Provide robust and insightful reporting to executive committees and governance forums, enabling effective challenge and decision-making at the highest level.
• Drive consistency in risk ownership, control mapping and assurance reporting across all lines of defence.
• Serve as a strategic connector between the MLRO, Compliance, Operations, Product, and Technology teams, ensuring seamless integration of financial crime controls into business operations and growth initiatives.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement and accountability within the teams responsible for KYC, investigations, and transaction monitoring.

What We’re Looking For

• A rising or established leader in the financial crime space, ideally with experience in regulated environments such as digital banking, lending, payments, insurance, or betting & gaming.
• Deep expertise in financial crime risk and regulation, including AML, CTF, sanctions, and fraud.
• Strong technical fluency, confident engaging with engineering, product, and AI functions to deliver scalable solutions and system enhancements.
• Experience delivering transformation programmes or operating model redesigns within financial crime or risk environments.
• Exceptional stakeholder engagement skills, capable of influencing cross-functional teams and presenting clearly at executive and board level.
• Passionate about using technology to drive better outcomes for customers and reduce financial crime at scale.

What’s on Offer

• A highly influential role at the forefront of one of the UK’s most ambitious FinTech transformations.
• A collaborative and mission-driven environment where innovation, inclusion and impact are core values.
• Competitive salary of £110,000 - £130,000, plus benefits.
• Hybrid working with a minimum of one day per week in the Manchester HQ (more if preferred).
• Generous holiday allowance, birthday leave, and well-being days.
• Access to cutting-edge tools and a cross-functional team of passionate technologists and financial crime specialists.

If you’re looking to accelerate your career, make your mark, and help redefine the future of financial crime prevention in digital banking apply now and lets find a time to chat.

At Inara Talent, we believe everyone deserves a fair chance to shine. We connect great people from all backgrounds with opportunities where they can thrive, making sure hiring is fair, inclusive, and truly diverse. No matter your race, gender, age, ability, or background—we focus on what really matters: your talent.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Director

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Information Technology and Finance

• Industries

  IT Services and IT Consulting, IT System Custom Software Development, and Financial Services

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