Senior Operational Readiness Associate - Financial Crime (9 months)

NatWest Group; Gogar; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 66,000; Full time

Job summary

NatWest Group is hiring a Senior Operational Readiness Associate (Financial Crime) to act as the lead operational SME within NatWest Boxed. The role focuses on embedding compliant financial crime processes and scalable controls across propositions and product launches.

You will partner with Product Managers, Domain Leads, and frontline teams to define roadmaps and ensure operational viability. This nine-month engagement emphasizes collaboration and pragmatic delivery in a FinTech environment

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in Financial Crime operational processes and controls.
• Experience identifying operational risks and applying mitigation strategies.
• Ability to translate complex concepts into structured operational requirements.

Responsibilities

• As the lead Financial Crime operational SME, architect compliant workflows for new product/platform launches.
• Define roadmaps with Product Managers and Domain Leads to automate operations and assess feasibility.
• Collaborate with frontline Anti-Financial Crime teams to identify pain points and build scalable processes.
• Evaluate proposed solutions for operational viability, risks, and required capabilities.
• Translate propositions into clear financial crime requirements, impact assessments, and acceptance criteria.
• Embed within delivery squads to ensure controls and workflows are tested, compliant, and launch-ready.

Skills

Financial Crime operations

Operational readiness

Process optimization

Regulatory knowledge

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

Join us as a Senior Operational Readiness Associate (Financial Crime)

• This is a high-impact opportunity to join NatWest Boxed as a Financial Crime operational subject matter expert, shaping the future of NatWest’s Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) business.
• You’ll be part of an innovative, high-performing, and inclusive culture where fresh ideas, collaboration, and personal development are championed at every level.
• Advance your career in a fast-paced, cutting-edge FinTech environment backed by NatWest’s reach and strong balance sheet.
• Take ownership of embedding robust, compliant financial crime processes and controls to ensure new product and client launches are operationally ready to scale.
• This role is available for a period of 9 months

What you'll do

As a Senior Operational Readiness Associate, you will serve as the lead Financial Crime operational expert within NatWest Boxed. You will drive operational readiness across all propositions by embedding compliant, robust financial crime processes and controls across our entire product and service portfolio. Your core mission is to make sure that every change across the Boxed product suite is operationally viable, seamless, and optimal for our Anti-Financial Crime operations teams to run.

You’ll also:

• Act as the lead operational SME, architecting compliant, best-in-class operational workflows to power new product and client launches.

• Partner with Product Managers, Product Owners, and Domain Leads to define forward-looking roadmaps that automate operations while advising on capacity and operational feasibility.

• Collaborate directly with frontline Anti-Financial Crime teams to identify pain points, remove friction, and build streamlined, scalable processes.

• Evaluate proposed product solutions for operational viability, identifying risks, dependencies, and required operational capabilities.

• Translate high-level product propositions into crisp, structured financial crime requirements, impact assessments, and clear acceptance criteria aligned with regulatory standards.

• Embed directly within delivery squads alongside Project Managers to ensure all controls, systems, and operational workflows are rigorously tested, compliant, and launch-ready.

The skills you'll need

You’ll bring deep, end-to-end expertise in Financial Crime operational processes and controls, alongside a proven track record of identifying operational risks and executing proactive mitigation strategies. You are a natural bridge between product vision and operational execution, skilled at translating complex concepts into structured operational requirements.

You’ll also need:

• Strong negotiation and interpersonal skills to align priorities and explain complex operational challenges to Project Managers.

• Ability to analyse large amounts of financial crime data to balance customer experience, commercial viability, and operational limits while anticipating downstream impacts.

• Skilled at defining clear operational requirements within established delivery frameworks.

• Proactive and results-driven approach to collaborating in cross-functional squads.

• Knowledge of the regulatory framework and financial crime industry trends and experience in Operational Readiness, Product Operations, process optimization, or transformation, plus knowledge of Savings, Personal Loans, and Current Accounts.