Compliance Operations Manager, Transaction Monitoring

Caliza; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

Home office allowance

Professional development budget

In-person team offsites

Job summary

Caliza is redefining cross-border payments with a unified platform. We seek a Compliance Operations Manager, Transaction Monitoring to own real-time TM, write and tune AML rules, and lead investigations. You will partner with Engineering to enhance detection and ensure audits and regulatory obligations are met.

You will bring 6+ years in AML/compliance, hands-on TM experience, and strong SQL skills. English is required; Spanish or Portuguese is a plus.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in AML, BSA, or financial crime compliance.
• 3+ years in transaction monitoring at fintech, payments, or bank.
• Track record of writing and tuning AML rules and thresholds.
• Knowledge of cross-border payment typologies and fraud patterns.
• Direct experience making SAR decisions and FinCEN filings.
• Ability to query transaction data in SQL and explain analyses.
• Clear, concise writing; English fluency; Spanish/Portuguese a plus.
• Ability to work hours overlapping US Eastern and Brazil time zones.

Responsibilities

• Own real-time TM implementation; partner with Engineering to update requirements and tooling.
• Write and tune AML rules across fiat and stablecoin flows and corridors.
• Run testing to cut false positives while preserving coverage.
• Update TM program documentation, policies, and playbooks.
• Define TM metrics for Compliance leadership and the Board.
• Run daily alert triage, investigation workflow, and case management.
• Review transactions, decide release/return/escalation, and follow up with partners.
• Detect fraud patterns, lead SAR/STR filings, and coordinate with regulators.
• Manage sanctions-adjacent escalations with law enforcement and banks.
• Be primary TM contact for regulators, examiners, and auditors.
• Foster clear documentation and fast, well-reasoned decisions.
• Work hours overlapping US Eastern and Brazil time zones.
• Nice to have: stablecoin monitoring and relevant certifications.

Skills

AML compliance

Transaction Monitoring

Regulatory exams

SQL querying

Documentation

English fluency

Education

CAMS, CFE certifications

Tools

SQL

TM tooling

Job description

Compliance Operations Manager, Transaction Monitoring

Role snapshot

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Title

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Compliance Operations Manager, Transaction Monitoring

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Team

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Compliance

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Reports to

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Chief Risk Officer

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Location

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Remote, United States or Latin America

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Employment type

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Full-time

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Direct reports

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None at start; builds and leads a team of TM analysts as volume scales

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About Caliza

Caliza is commercial banking infrastructure for companies that operate across borders. Most global businesses still piece together several banks, FX providers and spreadsheets to move money. Caliza replaces that with one platform and API: hold USD accounts, collect and pay in 33+ currencies, and convert between fiat and stablecoins, over local rails, SWIFT or stablecoins, in minutes instead of days. On top of that, we’re building the treasury layer: programmable accounts, approval policies, automated reconciliation and working capital, run by a customer’s finance team or their AI agents.

Our customers are importers, exporters, FX brokers, payment companies and fintechs across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. We’re licensed and regulated across our core markets, and our team has built financial infrastructure at Visa, Nubank, EBANX, Flutterwave, Upstart, Intuit and Silicon Valley Bank.

Our backers

Initialized Capital, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Abstract Ventures, New Form Capital, QED Investors, Valor Capital and Quona Capital, along with the founders of Flutterwave, Chipper Cash, Rappi, Pomelo, Dock, Remesa Online and Anchorage.

What you’ll do

Build the program

Own the real-time transaction monitoring implementation. Partner with Engineering to constantly update requirements, run user acceptance testing, and continue to enhance TM tooling, ensuring it continues to be best in class.

Write and tune AML rules, scenarios, and thresholds across fiat and stablecoin flows and across our corridors (US, Brazil, Mexico, and others), mapped to a documented typology coverage assessment.

Run above- and below-the-line testing and ongoing tuning to cut false positives without leaving coverage gaps.

Update documentation for the TM program: policies, procedures, investigation playbooks, QA standards, and model and rule validation, including preparing for independent validation and audit.

Define TM metrics for Compliance leadership and the Board: alert volumes, aging, disposition rates, SLA adherence, and filing timeliness.

Run the program

Run daily alert triage, investigation workflow, case management, and disposition tracking.

Review held and pended transactions, decide release, return, or escalation, and follow up with customers and integrator partners for information and documentation.

Detect and investigate fraud patterns, including account takeover, authorized push payment and social engineering scams, mule activity, and first‑party fraud.

Lead SAR and STR decisioning and filing for the US (FinCEN), Bermuda (Financial Intelligence Agency), and relevant LATAM jurisdictions such as Brazil (COAF) and Mexico (UIF), meeting each regime’s deadlines and continuing‑activity review requirements.

Manage sanctions‑adjacent escalations and requests from law enforcement and partner banks (for example, 314(a) and 314(b) requests and RFIs), in coordination with Compliance and Legal.

Act as the primary point of contact for TM‑related questions from regulators, examiners, auditors, and correspondent and sponsor banks.

Build a culture of clear documentation, sound judgment, and fast, well‑reasoned decisions.

What you’ll bring

6+ years in AML, BSA, or financial crime compliance, with at least 3 years focused on transaction monitoring at a fintech, payments company, money services business, crypto business, or bank.

Hands‑on experience implementing or migrating a TM system: writing requirements, testing rules, and taking it live with an engineering team.

A track record of writing and tuning AML rules and thresholds, and documenting the rationale for examiners and auditors.

Deep familiarity with cross‑border payment, remittance, and B2B money movement typologies, plus fraud patterns in real‑time payments.

Direct experience making SAR decisions and filing them with FinCEN, including narrative writing and continuing‑activity reviews.

Experience supporting regulatory exams, independent audits, or bank partner due diligence on a TM program.

Comfort working with data. You can query transaction data in SQL, build analyses to support tuning decisions, and explain them in plain language.

Clear, concise writing, and judgment you can defend in a fast‑moving, ambiguous environment.

Professional working fluency in English. Spanish or Portuguese is a strong plus.

Ability to work hours that overlap with US Eastern and Brazil time zones.

Nice to have

Experience with stablecoin or digital asset transaction monitoring, including on‑chain analytics and Travel Rule compliance.

Certifications such as CAMS, CFE, CAMS‑FCI, CCI (Certified Cryptocurrency Investigator), or CAMS‑Audit.

Benefits

Benefits vary by country of employment and may include health coverage, paid time off and holidays, a home office or equipment allowance, a professional development budget, and in‑person team offsites. Candidates based outside the US may be employed through an employer of record or engaged as contractors, with pay and benefits structured to local law and market practice.

Equal opportunity and other disclosures

Equal opportunity employer. Caliza is an equal opportunity employer. We make employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital or family status, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We value diverse backgrounds and encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every listed qualification.

Accommodations. We provide reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants with disabilities and to anyone who needs one during the hiring process. To request an accommodation, contact the recruiting team.

Background screening. Because we handle sensitive financial data and regulated activity, any offer will be contingent on a background check, which may include criminal history, employment and education verification, and sanctions screening, to the extent permitted by law. In the US, we conduct screening in line with the Fair Credit Reporting Act and applicable state and local fair chance laws, and we consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records in accordance with those laws.

Work authorization. Candidates must be authorized to work in their country of residence. We are not able to sponsor visas for this role.

Employment terms. For US‑based hires, employment with Caliza is at‑will. Terms for hires outside the US follow local law.

Applicant privacy. We collect and process applicant personal data solely for purposes of evaluating applications and managing the recruitment process in accordance with applicable data protection laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (LGPD), Mexico’s Federal Law on the Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties (LFPDPPP), the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 (NDPA). We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for these purposes or as required by applicable law. Subject to applicable legal requirements, applicants may request access to, correction or deletion of their personal data, as well as exercise other applicable rights, including restricting or objecting to processing and requesting data portability.

Use of AI in hiring. We may use AI tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications or assessing responses. These tools assist our team but do not replace human judgment, and final hiring decisions are made by people.

Recruitment fraud. Caliza will never ask candidates for payment, banking details, or cryptocurrency during the hiring process. Official communications come only from Caliza email addresses. If you receive a suspicious message claiming to be from us, please report it to our team.