Quality Control Lead

Northreach; Greater London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Northreach is seeking a Quality Control Lead to establish and embed a QC framework across outsourced financial crime operations and first-line processes. You will drive oversight of external partners, develop MI dashboards in Excel and Power BI, and implement remediation workflows while travel to vendor sites, including Birmingham.

The role requires 5+ years in Financial Crime/AML and deep regulatory knowledge of UK standards.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on experience in Financial Crime, AML, Transaction Monitoring, Sanctions, or Risk & Compliance Quality Control in a regulated environment.
• QC Framework Design: Demonstrated ability to build or adapt sampling models, review checklists, and issue-rating structures for first-line oversight.
• Vendor & Stakeholder Management: Strong communication skills with the confidence to challenge third-party providers constructively on decision rationale, error rates, and SLAs.
• Data Analysis & MI Tooling: Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and working knowledge of Power BI to manipulate data streams, identify trends, and format executive-level reporting.
• Regulatory Knowledge: Deep understanding of UK Money Laundering Regulations, POCA, FATF standards, Sanctions regimes, and FCA regulatory expectations.

Responsibilities

• Framework Development & Rollout: Design, build, and embed a Quality Control (QC) framework - including sampling methodologies, review criteria, rating scales, and remediation workflows.
• Third-Party & Operational Oversight: Conduct routine QC checks on Level 1 alert handling across PEPs, Sanctions, and Transaction Monitoring performed by outsourced providers and internal first-line teams.
• Vendor Management & Site Visits: Travel to vendor locations (primarily Birmingham ~1 day per week initially) to align operational standards, evaluate alert disposition quality, and enforce SLAs.
• Data & MI Reporting: Analyze raw operational data using Excel and Power BI to produce monthly and quarterly executive MI packs, dashboards, and trend analysis for governance forums.
• Constructive Challenge & Remediation: Act as the primary challenge function for third-party decision accuracy, escalating control gaps, establishing remediation timelines, and executing re-testing protocols.

Skills

Financial Crime & AML

QC Framework Design

Vendor & Stakeholder Management

Data Analysis & MI Tooling

Regulatory Knowledge

Tools

Excel

Power BI

Job description

Northreach is a specialist recruitment partner connecting exceptional talent with high-growth businesses across Financial Services, FinTech and Digital. We partner with ambitious organisations to help them attract exceptional talent while supporting professionals with exciting career opportunities across the Financial Services ecosystem.

The Quality Control Lead is responsible for establishing, embedding, and managing the Quality Control (QC) framework and management information (MI) suite across outsourced financial crime operations and first-line processes. The role drives the oversight of key external partners, assessing decision quality, SLA compliance, and consistency in rationale across PEPs, Sanctions, and Transaction Monitoring.

This is a high-impact, greenfield-style opportunity with a implementation roadmap to adapt internal methodologies, build operational dashboards, and establish robust vendor remediation workflows.

Key Responsibilities

• Framework Development & Rollout: Design, build, and embed a Quality Control (QC) framework - including sampling methodologies, review criteria, rating scales, and remediation workflows.
• Third-Party & Operational Oversight: Conduct routine QC checks on Level 1 alert handling across PEPs, Sanctions, and Transaction Monitoring performed by outsourced providers and internal first-line teams.
• Vendor Management & Site Visits: Travel to vendor locations (primarily Birmingham ~1 day per week initially) to align operational standards, evaluate alert disposition quality, and enforce SLAs.
• Data & MI Reporting: Analyze raw operational data using Excel and Power BI to produce monthly and quarterly executive MI packs, dashboards, and trend analysis for governance forums.
• Constructive Challenge & Remediation: Act as the primary challenge function for third-party decision accuracy, escalating control gaps, establishing remediation timelines, and executing re-testing protocols.

Key Skills

• Financial Crime & AML Expertise: 5+ years of hands-on experience in Financial Crime, AML, Transaction Monitoring, Sanctions, or Risk & Compliance Quality Control in a regulated environment.
• QC Framework Design: Demonstrated ability to build or adapt sampling models, review checklists, and issue-rating structures for first-line oversight.
• Vendor & Stakeholder Management: Strong communication skills with the confidence to challenge third-party providers constructively on decision rationale, error rates, and SLAs.
• Data Analysis & MI Tooling: Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and working knowledge of Power BI to manipulate data streams, identify trends, and format executive-level reporting.
• Regulatory Knowledge: Deep understanding of UK Money Laundering Regulations, POCA, FATF standards, Sanctions regimes, and FCA regulatory expectations.