Manager, Quality Control — BSA/AML & Sanctions Operations

Pathward; United States; Hybrid; USD 72,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) retirement benefits

Life insurance

Disability benefits

Paid time off

Job summary

Pathward is a hybrid, remote-office company dedicated to growing our talent anywhere. Pathward seeks a Manager, Quality Control to lead the QC function across BSA/AML & Sanctions Operations, ensuring independence from production and executing the program under governance.

You will guide QC Analysts, implement sampling designs and error taxonomies, and coordinate access to systems such as Actimize, FCRM, and Bridger while reporting findings to governance forums.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required.
• CAMS required; CFE, CFCS, or CRCM preferred.
• 6–9 years of BSA/AML experience, including quality assurance/quality control or independent testing.
• 2+ years of people leadership.
• Experience designing sampling methodologies and error taxonomies in a regulated environment.
• Familiarity with alert, case, and sanctions-screening workflows.
• Strong QC/QA design discipline, including statistically valid sampling and calibration.

Responsibilities

• Operate the QC program day-to-day across all five review populations; ensure independence from production disposition authority is maintained in execution.
• Apply and maintain the sampling methodology set by the Director at defined confidence levels, and recommend refinements based on results.
• Apply the error taxonomy aligned to the OCC five-element documentation baseline, executing escalation and re-work rules and surfacing gaps to the Director.
• Lead the QC Lead and QC Analysts; run monthly calibration between QC, Leads, and Managers with documented outcomes.
• Compile QC results and thematic trends for the Director to report into BSA/AML governance; track and follow up on effective-challenge items to closure.
• Coordinate read-only system access (Actimize, FCRM, Bridger) and maintain the QC results repository; ensure QC holds no production disposition rights.
• Operate to the Financial Crimes Compliance Independent Testing and Quality Assurance Program Document owned by the Director.
• Support the Director’s engagement with Financial Crimes Compliance Independent Testing and Quality Assurance and Internal Audit, without replacing either.

Skills

BSA/AML experience

Quality assurance/independent testing

Sampling methodology design

Leadership

Documentation & governance

Education

Bachelor's degree

CAMS

Tools

Actimize

FCRM

Bridger

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 are a 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 Manager, Quality Control manages the day-to-day operation of the independent QC function across BSA/AML & Sanctions Operations, executing the program under the framework and standards set by the Director, Quality Control. The role reports to the Director, Quality Control, preserving the QC function’s independence from the production line. The Manager operationalizes the QC program, applies the sampling methodology and error taxonomy, and leads a Lead and QC Analysts covering alerts, cases, complex investigations, merchant acquiring, and sanctions.

What You Will Do

• Operate the QC program day-to-day across all five review populations; ensure independence from production disposition authority is maintained in execution.
• Apply and maintain the sampling methodology set by the Director (risk-based, stratified by analyst and queue, with new-hire oversampling) at the defined confidence levels, and recommend refinements based on results.
• Apply the error taxonomy (critical, significant, administrative) aligned to the OCC five-element documentation baseline, executing escalation and re-work rules and surfacing gaps to the Director.
• Lead the QC Lead and QC Analysts; run monthly calibration between QC, Leads, and Managers with documented outcomes.
• Compile QC results and thematic trends for the Director to report into BSA/AML governance; track and follow up on effective-challenge items to closure.
• Coordinate read-only system access (Actimize, FCRM, Bridger) and maintain the QC results repository; ensure QC holds no production disposition rights.
• Operate to the Financial Crimes Compliance Independent Testing and Quality Assurance Program Document owned by the Director.
• Support the Director’s engagement with Financial Crimes Compliance Independent Testing and Quality Assurance and Internal Audit, without replacing either.

What You Will Need

• Bachelor's degree required.
• CAMS required; CFE, CFCS, or CRCM preferred.
• 6–9 years of BSA/AML experience, including quality assurance/quality control or independent testing.
• 2+ years of people leadership.
• Experience designing sampling methodologies and error taxonomies in a regulated environment.
• Familiarity with alert, case, and sanctions-screening workflows.
• Strong QC/QA design discipline, including statistically valid sampling and calibration.
• Independence and objectivity; comfort challenging the production line constructively.
• Knowledge of the five-element documentation baseline and examiner expectations.
• Clear reporting of findings and trends to governance forums.
• 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 Manager, 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.

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

Salary range: $72,000 – $120,000

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.

Don’t have everything listed under qualifications? If you’re excited about this role but your experiences don’t match exactly to everything in the posting, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other Pathward roles. 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.

Applicants with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodation under the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act and certain state or local laws.

For assistance completing an application, please contact a Pathward People & Culture Representative by emailing – [e-mail]

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.