Senior Compliance Associate - Automation & Systems

Kraken; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Kraken is seeking an experienced FIU/AML leader to scale transaction monitoring capabilities across evolving regulatory requirements. You will design and tune monitoring rules, implement automation, and work with product and engineering to enhance tooling and vendor integrations.

The role supports expansion into new products and regions while maintaining strong oversight. The ideal candidate has 5+ years in AML/financial crime, 3+ years building monitoring rules, and familiarity with blockchain

Qualifications

• 5+ years of AML or financial crime experience in FIU/compliance roles.
• 3+ years designing, testing, and tuning transaction monitoring rules.
• Experience with transaction monitoring systems and case management tooling.
• Experience in regulated financial institutions in EU/UK/US contexts.
• Experience driving automation and process improvement in compliance.

Responsibilities

• Lead transaction monitoring optimization, including rule testing and threshold tuning.
• Design and rollout new monitoring scenarios to improve detection quality and reduce false positives.
• Drive automation and workflow improvements across FIU processes to raise efficiency.
• Evaluate and implement AI-enabled tools to enhance alert triage and investigations.
• Partner with Product, Engineering and Operations on vendor integrations and tooling upgrades.
• Collaborate with Compliance leadership to maintain well-governed monitoring frameworks.

Skills

AML Knowledge

Transaction Monitoring

Data Analysis

Cross-functional

RegTech Experience

AI/LLM Tools

Vendor Management

Tools

Chainalysis

TRM Labs

Elliptic

Job description

Building the Future of Open FinancePayward - the parent company behind Kraken, NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services and CF Benchmarks - has spent the last 15 years building one of the most modern and globally accessible financial infrastructure platforms in the industry, built to advance an open, global financial system. The teamFounded in 2011, Kraken is one of the world s longest-standing crypto platforms, trusted by over 10 million individuals and institutions across the globe. It offers spot trading, margin, futures, staking, and OTC services, with products built for both individual investors and institutional clients.The Compliance team at Payward plays a critical role in enabling the company to grow responsibly while navigating a rapidly evolving regulatory environment. Our teams work across jurisdictions and product lines to design and maintain scalable compliance frameworks that support Payward s mission while ensuring regulatory obligations are met.The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) Scale Team is responsible for ensuring the FIU can scale, across new operating jurisdictions and new products, effectively and efficiently. The team leads AML transaction monitoring and blockchain monitoring to ensure thresholds are appropriately set, tested, and governed while reducing false positives and maintaining strong oversight. In addition, the team focuses on identifying efficiencies in process workflows and implementing automation across the FIU. Scale works closely with external vendor, Compliance, and internal technology teams.

The opportunity

• Lead transaction monitoring optimization, including rule testing, threshold tuning, and the design and rollout of new monitoring scenarios to improve detection quality and reduce false positives
• Identify and drive automation and workflow improvements across FIU processes to increase operational efficiency and effectiveness
• Evaluate and implement emerging technologies, including LLM and AI-enabled tools, to enhance alert triage, investigations, SAR filing and FIU operational capabilities
• Partner with Product, Engineering, and Operations to support vendor integrations, monitoring infrastructure improvements, and FIU tooling enhancements
• Collaborate with Compliance leadership, including RCOs and MLROs, to maintain well-governed transaction monitoring frameworks aligned with regulatory expectations
• Support FIU scalability by designing processes and monitoring strategies that enable expansion into new products, regions, and increased transaction volumes

What you bring

• 5+ years of experience in AML, financial crime compliance, or FIU operations, with deep knowledge of transaction monitoring frameworks, suspicious activity detection, and regulatory expectations under BSA/AML regimes
• 3+ years of experience designing, testing, and tuning transaction monitoring rules, including threshold optimization, scenario design, and alert reduction strategies
• 3+ years of experience working with transaction monitoring systems and compliance tooling, including case management platforms, monitoring infrastructure, and investigative workflows
• Experience working in a regulated financial institution, preferably one licensed to operate in the EU, UK, and/or United States
• Experience driving process optimization or automation initiatives within compliance or financial crime programs to improve operational efficiency and scalability
• Experience working cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Data, or Operations teams to implement monitoring controls, vendor integrations, or compliance technology solutions
• Strong analytical and data interpretation skills, with experience using metrics, dashboards, and data analysis to evaluate monitoring effectiveness and improve detection quality
• Experience operating in fast-growing fintech, payments, or crypto environments, with the ability to design scalable compliance controls that support new product launches and geographic expansion
• Experience working with AI, machine learning, or LLM-enabled compliance tools, including investigative automation or alert triage technologies
• Familiarity with blockchain analytics tools such as Chainalysis, TRM Labs, Elliptic, or similar crypto investigative platforms
• Experience supporting vendor selection, implementation, or integration of regtech solutions

Nice to haves

• ACAMS, CAMS-Audit, CFCS, or similar financial crime certifications

Unless a specific application deadline is stated in the job posting, applications are accepted on an ongoing basis. Please note, applicants are permitted to redact or remove information on their resume that identifies age, date of birth, or dates of attendance at or graduation from an educational institution. We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment on our team, assessing candidates in a manner consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. Our commitmentPayward is powered by people from around the world and we celebrate the diverse talent