Director, Quality Control — BSA/AML & Sanctions Operations

Pathward, N.A.; United States; Hybrid; USD 86,000 - 145,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) retirement benefits

Life insurance

Disability benefits

Paid time off

Job summary

Pathward, N.A. is seeking a Director, Quality Control to lead Pathward’s first independent QC function across BSA/AML and sanctions.

This role reports to the SVP, Deputy BSA/AML Officer, shaping strategy, framework, and standards and guiding a multi-tier team with calibration, sampling, and error taxonomy. The Director will own the operating model, budget, talent development, and cross-line engagement with Independent Testing, Second Line, and Internal Audit while ensuring no production

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• CAMS required; CFE, CFCS, or CRCM strongly preferred.
• 10+ years of BSA/AML experience, including quality assurance/quality control or independent testing.
• 5+ years of people leadership, including leading leaders and building or scaling a function.
• Demonstrated experience designing sampling methodologies and error taxonomies in a regulated environment.
• Depth across alert, case, complex-investigation, and sanctions-screening workflows, including SAR quality and the five-element documentation baseline.
• Experience presenting results and effective challenge to senior governance forums, and supporting regulatory examinations and audits.
• Strategic QC/QA design discipline, including statistically valid sampling, calibration, and root-cause analysis.
• Independence and objectivity; ability to challenge the production line constructively and defend methodology to examiners.
• Deep knowledge of the five-element documentation baseline and examiner expectations.

Responsibilities

• Own the QC strategy and operating model across all five review populations, ensuring independence from production disposition authority.
• Design and govern the sampling methodology with risk-based stratification and oversampling for new hires.
• Define and maintain the error taxonomy aligned to OCC standards with escalation and root-cause rules.
• Lead and develop the QC team, setting goals and building bench strength.
• Own the calibration program with monthly meetings and documented outcomes.
• Report QC results and trends into governance and risk committees; follow-up on remediation.
• Finalize and operate the Independent Testing/QA program document set and maintain QC documents.
• Coordinate read-only system access and maintain the QC results repository.
• Interface with Independent Testing/QA, Second Line, and Internal Audit as a peer.
• Own budget, resource, and technology planning for QC, including automation.

Skills

BSA/AML expertise

People leadership

QC design

Sampling methodology

Error taxonomy

Independent testing liaison

Regulatory examinations support

Budget & resource planning

Governance reporting

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

CAMS

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

Actimize

FCRM

Bridger

Doc Control system

Job description

We are a hybrid, remote-office company dedicated to growing our talent anywhere!

We have onsite locations in: Sioux Falls, SD, Scottsdale, AZ, Louisville, KY, Troy, MI, Franklin, TN, Easton, PA.

At Pathward, we take tremendous pride in our purpose to create financial inclusion for all.We area financial empowerment company that works with innovators to increase financial availability, choice, and opportunity for all. We strive to remove barriers that traditional institutions put in the way of financial access, and promote economic mobility by providing responsible, secure, high quality financial products.

We are a team of problem solvers and innovators who celebrate our differences and know that our unique perspectives make us stronger and well-positioned for success. We celebrate, and embrace, our team members through our *HUMBLE*HUNGRY*SMART approach, and we believe that we are strongest when we embrace the voices of our employees, customers, partners, and the communities we serve.

About the Role:

The Director, Quality Control owns Pathward’s first independent Quality Control (QC) function across BSA/AML & Sanctions Operations. Reporting directly to the SVP, Deputy BSA/AML Officer to preserve independence from the production line, the Director sets the strategy, framework, and standards for QC and leads a multi-tier team covering alerts, cases, complex investigations, merchant acquiring, and sanctions. The role designs the QC program, sampling methodology, and error taxonomy; establishes calibration and effective-challenge disciplines; and delivers QC results and thematic trends into BSA/AML governance and to examiners. As a Director-level people leader, the incumbent owns the operating model, budget and resource planning, talent development, and cross-line engagement with Independent Testing, Second Line, and Internal Audit — without assuming production disposition authority.

What You Will Do:

• Own the QC strategy and operating model across all five review populations (alerts, cases, complex investigations, merchant acquiring, and sanctions), ensuring structural independence from production disposition authority.
• Design and govern the sampling methodology — risk-based and stratified by analyst and queue, with new-hire oversampling and defined statistical confidence levels — and approve periodic recalibration of sample plans.
• Define and maintain the error taxonomy (critical, significant, administrative) aligned to the OCC five-element documentation baseline, with escalation, root-cause, and re-work rules.
• Lead and develop the QC team — including a Manager/Lead and QC Analysts — setting goals, managing performance, and building bench strength and succession.
• Own the calibration program, running monthly calibration between QC, Leads, and Managers with documented outcomes and closure of disputed dispositions.
• Report QC results and thematic trends into BSA/AML governance and risk committees; provide effective-challenge follow-up and track remediation to completion.
• Finalize and operate to the Financial Crimes Compliance Independent Testing and Quality Assurance Program Document, and maintain the QC program document set within Doc Control.
• Coordinate read-only system access (Actimize, FCRM, Bridger) and maintain the QC results repository; ensure QC holds no production disposition rights.
• Interface with Independent Testing/QA, Second Line, and Internal Audit as a peer — supporting, but never replacing, their functions — and support regulatory examinations and audits with QC artifacts and findings.
• Own budget, resource, and technology planning for the QC function, including business cases for staffing, tooling, and automation of sampling and reporting

What You Will Need:

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• CAMS required; CFE, CFCS, or CRCM strongly preferred.
• 10+ years of BSA/AML experience, including quality assurance/quality control or independent testing.
• 5+ years of people leadership, including leading leaders and building or scaling a function.
• Demonstrated experience designing sampling methodologies and error taxonomies in a regulated environment.
• Depth across alert, case, complex-investigation, and sanctions-screening workflows, including SAR quality and the five-element documentation baseline.
• Experience presenting results and effective challenge to senior governance forums, and supporting regulatory examinations and audits.
• Strategic QC/QA design discipline, including statistically valid sampling, calibration, and root-cause analysis.
• Independence and objectivity; ability to challenge the production line constructively and defend methodology to examiners.
• Deep knowledge of the five-element documentation baseline and examiner expectations.
• Executive-level reporting of findings and thematic trends to governance forums.
• People leadership: talent development, performance management, and building an independent, high-integrity culture.
• Collaborative with second and third lines while preserving first-line QC scope.

Products & Services Knowledge

QC spans every review population, so sampling design and the error taxonomy must reflect the product-specific typologies analysts are expected to document. The Director, Quality Control needs working knowledge of Pathward’s product suite to calibrate reviewers and stratify samples across:

• Card Issuing / Prepaid — the dominant alert/case population; QC must test that narratives correctly reflect GPR, payroll, corporate, gift, and government-card constructs and source-of-funds designations.
• Acquiring (Merchant & ATM) — a distinct QC population; reviews must confirm merchant/ISO and ATM typologies are properly analyzed.
• Tax Products — seasonal refund-transfer and advance activity requiring product-aware sampling.
• Digital Payments & Faster Payments (Visa Direct / Mastercard Send) — push/pull disbursement dispositions.
• Sanctions (OFAC / 314(a) / PEP) — screening dispositions that clear with no other independent review, requiring product-aware error-taxonomy design.
• The Bank-vs-Program-Manager framework — so QC findings correctly attribute Bank vs. program-manager responsibilities in each disposition, including Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) partner activity.

The responsibilities listed above are not all inclusive and may be changed at any time.

Salary range: $86,000 – $145,000

The salary range reflects the minimum and maximum target for a new hire in this role. Individual pay within the range will be determined by multiple factors which can include but are not limited to a candidate’s experience, qualifications, skills, and location. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary for your location during the hiring process. Ranges may be modified in the future. This role is also eligible for an annual performance-based incentive opportunity. Pathward offers a comprehensive benefits package for eligible employees, including health insurance, 401(k) retirement benefits, life insurance, disability benefits, paid time off, and more.

#LI-Remote

Pathward is an equal employment opportunity employer and considers candidates for roles without regard to their race, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability or any other category protected by law.

Who we are:

Our commitment to inclusion is woven into our DNA. We believe that we are strongest when we embrace the voices of our employees, customers, partners, and the communities we serve.

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, pregnancy, national origin, age (age 40 and over), disability, genetic information, marital status, hair texture or hairstyle, ancestry, service in the uniformed services, protected veteran status, status as a victim of domestic violence or any other class protected by federal, state and local laws.

Applications will be accepted for a minimum of 3 days after posting, and there is no predetermined date by which applications should be submitted.

Knowingly submitting false information will result in disqualification for consideration of future positions, termination of employment and forfeiture of other rights.