Compliance Lead - Canada

Wise; Austin (CO); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading fintech company is seeking a Senior Regulatory Compliance Lead to oversee compliance programs in Canada. The role involves acting as a liaison with regulators, developing compliance frameworks, and ensuring products are compliant by design. Successful candidates will have at least 5 years of compliance experience, knowledge of Canadian financial regulations, and skills in communication and problem-solving. This position requires attention to detail and the ability to meet tight deadlines.

Qualifications

• 5 years of experience in compliance or audit, including experience with Canadian regulations.
• Knowledge of money transmission and FinCrime related regulations.
• Experience working with internal cross-functional stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Act as primary contact for Canadian regulators and manage horizon scanning.
• Develop and maintain compliance policies and procedures for Canada.
• Collaborate with product teams to ensure compliance by design.

Skills

Detail-oriented

Effective communication

Problem-solving

Tools

G-Suite

Jira

Office

Confluence

Slack

Teams

Job description

Senior Regulatory Compliance Lead

We’re looking for a Senior Regulatory Compliance Lead to join our growing North America Regulatory Oversight Compliance team. In this role, you’ll be leading our Canada regulatory and financial crime compliance programs and regulator engagement.

You’ll work closely with cross-functional teams and lead our efforts to ensure that Wise complies with all applicable regulations in Canada. You’ll also help shape and evolve our second-line compliance framework, providing critical insights to product, operations, and leadership teams, and helping embed compliance into everything we do.

Your Responsibilities Will Include

• Regulatory Liaison & Horizon Scanning: Act as a primary point of contact for Canadian regulators (such as Bank of Canada, FINTRAC and CIRO) and banking partners. You are responsible for "horizon scanning"—identifying upcoming changes in Canadian regulatory and financial crime (FinCrime) legislation (e.g., the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act) and advising product teams on how these changes impact Wise's roadmap.
• Fincrime Framework Oversight: Develop, implement, and maintain the Second Line of Defense (2LoD) policies and procedures for regulatory and FinCrime compliance requirements for the Canadian market. This includes overseeing KYC (Know Your Customer), EDD (Enhanced Due Diligence), and transaction monitoring controls to ensure they effectively mitigate risks without creating unnecessary friction for customers.
• Compliance Advisory: Collaborate directly with Product Managers and Engineers and Product Compliance teams to ensure new features or payment rails are "compliant by design." You would provide expert guidance on how to integrate regulatory and FinCrime controls into the user journey while maintaining the speed and transparency Wise is known for.
• Monitoring & Independent Testing: Support and oversee regular monitoring and testing of the firm’s regulatory and financial crime controls to evaluate their effectiveness. This includes managing internal audits, tracking remediation plans for any identified gaps, and providing comprehensive reporting to the Board of Directors on the health of the Canadian compliance program.

About You

• Knowledge of money transmission, prepaid accounts, Canada's consumer compliance regulations, and FinCrime related regulations.
• 5 years experience in compliance or audit including experience:
  • Utilizing Canadian territory portals and processes to deliver ad hoc and ongoing regulatory reporting.
  • Working with internal cross-functional stakeholders including product, operation, finance, legal, and people teams.
  • Communicating effectively with external stakeholders including auditors and regulators.
• Very detail-oriented.
• Ability to meet tight deadlines.
• Discretion and personal integrity, especially in regards to sensitive financial, personal, and corporate information.
• Ability to be both reactive and help solve problems in the moment as well as proactive, building longer term solutions using data-driven decision making.
• Experience (or interest) in working at a fast-paced internet, technology, or financial services companies in risk or compliance.
• Experience using G-Suite, Office, Confluence, Jira and collaborative tools (e.g. Slack, Teams).
• Willing to travel, as Wise offices are located across different countries; and
• Legally authorized to work in the U.S.

Some Extra Skills That Would Be Great

• Experience working in the Money Services Business (MSB) industry.
• Experience working with international teams and understanding of global regulatory environments.
• Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager or similar qualification.
• Prior experience working with the Bank of Canada, FINTRAC and CIRO.