Senior Transaction Investigation Officer

Salmon Group Ltd; Philippines; On-site; PHP 1,200,000 - 2,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Salmon Bank, the banking arm of Salmon Group Ltd, is building its financial crime investigations function from the ground up. You’ll lead a team of three investigators and serve as the primary operational link between investigations and Compliance.

In this role you will establish playbooks, thresholds, and escalation frameworks while shaping investigations quality and turnaround. You’ll oversee AML alerts, draft STRs, and ensure audit-ready records as the function scales within regulated

Qualifications

• 5+ years in AML or financial crime investigations at a bank, digital bank, or payments fintech.
• Experience drafting STRs and working with Compliance or MLRO functions.
• Strong knowledge of payments typologies and digital banking fraud risks.
• Experience leading or mentoring investigators and setting quality standards.
• Hands-on with transaction monitoring platforms and case management systems.
• Solid understanding of AML/CFT regulation, BSP and AMLC requirements.

Responsibilities

• Review and oversee AML alerts, referrals, and suspicious activity cases, validating findings against internal systems and records.
• Challenge investigations and STR recommendations, escalating high-risk cases to Compliance or authorities.
• Manage, coach, and QA three investigators; conduct case reviews to build long-term investigative judgment.
• Write and iterate SOPs, case templates, and escalation playbooks as the team scales.

Skills

AML investigations

Team leadership

Regulatory knowledge

Transaction monitoring

Mentoring investigators

Case management

Education

CAMS or CFCS certification

Tools

Feedzai

Hawk AI

Sardine

Job description

About Salmon

Salmon Bank (Rural Bank) Inc., the banking arm of Salmon Group Ltd., is a technology-driven challenger bank in the Philippines operating under a BSP license. We combine the trust of a licensed institution with the speed and convenience of a modern financial product. Work within regulated financial infrastructure, where product, risk, compliance, operations, technology, and customer experience are closely connected.

About The Role

You’ll build our financial crime investigations function from the ground up — not inherit one.

You’ll lead a team of three investigators and act as the primary operational link between investigations and Compliance.

This role matters because Salmon Bank’s ability to catch financial crime early depends on the standard you set now, while the function is still being built.

What You’ll Do

• Review and oversee AML alerts, referrals, and suspicious activity cases, validating findings against internal systems, transaction records, and supporting documents.
• Challenge your team's investigation assessments and STR recommendations before they move forward, escalating high-risk cases to Compliance, the MLRO, or the right authority.
• Manage, coach, and QA three investigators — run case reviews that build investigative judgment over time, not just fix individual cases.
• Write and iterate SOPs, case templates, and escalation frameworks as the team scales.
• Help select and tune transaction monitoring tools — Feedzai, Hawk AI, Sardine, or similar.
• Report team KPIs to the Head of Payments — alert volumes, SLA adherence, STR volumes, turnaround times, escalation rates.

What You’ll Own

• Investigation quality and turnaround across the team, keeping every case inside SLA with complete, audit-ready records.
• The operational handoff with Compliance and the MLRO — files, STR recommendations, typology trends, and regulatory support.
• Onboarding, workload distribution, and daily prioritization for your team of three.
• The playbooks, thresholds, and quality bar the function runs on as it scales.

What Makes You a Strong Fit

• 5+ years in AML or financial crime investigations at a bank, digital bank, or payments fintech.
• A track record drafting STRs and working directly with a Compliance or MLRO function.
• Strong knowledge of payments typologies and the financial crime risks specific to digital banking.
• Experience leading or mentoring investigators — you know what good investigative work looks like and can teach it.
• Hands-on experience with transaction monitoring platforms and case management systems.
• Solid understanding of AML/CFT regulation, BSP and AMLC requirements.
• Comfortable building in ambiguity — you don't need a finished playbook to start.
• Experience reviewing customer transactions and account activity in a live investigations role, familiarity with CDD and transaction monitoring concepts, and AML-related certification (CAMS, CFCS, or equivalent) are all a genuine advantage, though not required.

What We Offer

You’ll get real ownership from day one, with the authority to shape how investigations run as the function scales. You’ll work inside regulated financial infrastructure alongside product, risk, compliance, and operations teams who move fast and expect direct feedback. This is a chance to build something that doesn't exist yet at Salmon Bank, and to set the standard other investigators will be measured against.