Senior Financial Crime Investigator

Klarna; Columbus (OH); On-site; USD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) with company match

Job summary

Klarna is seeking a highly experienced Financial Crime Investigator to join its in-house intelligence team in the United States. You will lead end-to-end AML investigations, spot emerging typologies, and translate signals into actionable insights to help scale prevention efforts.

You will influence monitoring rules, close coverage gaps, and contribute to the broader fraud-detection framework. Candidates with fintech or banking experience, strong regulatory knowledge, and excellent communication

Qualifications

• Experience in AML or financial crime investigations within fintech, banking, payments, or regulatory bodies.
• Track record of impact: cases resolved, gaps closed, or frameworks shaped beyond single cases.
• Hands-on experience with end-to-end transaction monitoring and complex escalations.
• Ability to draft clear Suspicious Activity Reports in line with regulatory expectations.
• Knowledge of US and/or EU AML regulations, sanctions, and PEP frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Own complex investigations that are nuanced or novel for standard processes.
• Spot emerging typologies, translate signals into actionable insights, stay ahead of patterns.
• Influence transaction monitoring configuration, close coverage gaps, and improve detection.
• Help build Klarna's Financial Crime framework, policies, and documentation.

Skills

AML investigations

Financial crime investigations

Transaction monitoring

SAR drafting

Regulatory knowledge

English communication

Analytical mindset

SQL (basics)

Education

Bachelor's degree in Finance/Law/Business/Criminology/Criminal Justice

Tools

SQL

Job description

Klarna, briefly

At Klarna, we're building an everyday finance network, helping over 120 million consumers across 26 countries save time and money, and worry less about their finances. Working here means taking on problems most companies never get to solve, and being hands-on enough that the interesting part of the work lands with you, not someone else — you'll build with AI, not watch it happen.

Klarna, briefly

At Klarna, we're building an everyday finance network, helping over 120 million consumers across 26 countries save time and money, and worry less about their finances. Working here means taking on problems most companies never get to solve, and being hands-on enough that the interesting part of the work lands with you, not someone else — you'll build with AI, not watch it happen.

This is the stretch zone. Come find out what you're capable of.

About The Position

Klarna operates as a licensed bank, and every transaction that moves through the platform is a potential financial crime signal. You'll join Klarna's Financial Crime Intelligence team, an in-house group handling everything from routine reviews to the most complex, high‑risk investigations in fintech.

Whether your background is in fast‑moving fintech, the regulatory rigor of traditional banking, or investigative work in law enforcement, you'll bring that experience to bear on real, high‑stakes cases and the calls you make will reshape how Klarna detects and prevents financial crime at scale.

This isn't a position where your best work gets buried in a closed case file. You'll be expected to change the system, not just clear the queue: closing a coverage gap nobody else had seen, writing a SAR that changes how a typology gets monitored, or turning a single messy case into an insight that protects thousands of others.

What You Will Do

Your work spans three layers:

• Complex investigations — own the cases too nuanced, layered, or novel for standard processes to resolve, and document why, helping the team build a shared understanding of where the remit begins and ends.
• Intelligence — spot emerging typologies, translate signals into actionable insight, and help the team stay ahead of new fraud and financial crime patterns rather than just reacting to them.
• Enforcement — turn that intelligence into action: influencing transaction monitoring configuration, closing coverage gaps, and ensuring what investigations uncover actually changes the detection infrastructure, not just the individual case outcome.

You’ll also help build and refine Klarna's broader Financial Crime framework — shaping policy, process, and documentation to meet regulatory requirements while staying ahead of emerging risks — and work closely with internal stakeholders to maintain strong investigative controls, support transaction monitoring quality, and ensure the framework scales responsibly as Klarna continues to grow across global markets. Depending on your background, this may also include mentoring and upskilling more junior investigators, contributing to quality calibration across the team, and representing Financial Crime in cross‑functional forums where investigative judgement needs a seat at the table.

Who You Are

• You've built real depth in AML or financial crime investigations within fintech, banking, payments, or a regulatory/investigative body, or as an investigator in law enforcement — candidates coming from a law enforcement investigative background, or with experience across both fintech and traditional banking, are especially encouraged to apply.
• A track record of real, demonstrable impact: cases you've resolved, gaps you've closed, or frameworks you've shaped that changed outcomes beyond a single case.
• Strong hands‑on experience conducting end‑to‑end transaction monitoring, event‑driven investigations, and complex case escalations.
• Proven ability to assess suspicious activity and draft clear, well‑supported Suspicious Activity Reports in line with regulatory expectations.
• Solid understanding of AML and financial crime regulations applicable to the US and/or EU, including sanctions and PEP frameworks, and EU AML Directives/MLRO responsibilities.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and complex judgement calls — high‑risk cases rarely come with a clean playbook, and you're willing to make and defend a reasoned call rather than waiting for certainty.
• You think beyond the case in front of you — spotting connections, patterns, and systemic gaps a narrower investigation would miss, and you share what you find rather than leaving it in your own case notes.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English, with the ability to document and explain investigative decisions clearly to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Comfort operating in a fast‑paced environment with evolving financial crime risks and shifting operational priorities.
• A bias toward influence, not just execution — you'd rather fix the rule than keep catching the same exception by hand.
• Comfort working with transaction monitoring or screening systems at a level where you can meaningfully inform tuning, testing, or rule design — not just work the alerts they generate.
• An analytical mindset, comfortable working with large datasets to spot patterns; familiarity with SQL is a plus.

Awesome to have

• CAMS, ICA, or equivalent AML certification.
• A university degree in Finance, Law, Business, Criminology, Criminal Justice, or a related field — or equivalent practical experience (including law enforcement or investigative service).
• Experience supporting or overseeing outsourced investigation or transaction monitoring teams.
• Exposure to a range of product types — from traditional banking products (lending, deposits, credit) to emerging products like crypto and investments — and/or AML regulatory reporting experience in the EU/UK.
• Additional languages (German, Swedish, and/or French).
• Genuine enthusiasm for AI‑powered tooling in an investigative or compliance context — comfort adopting new tools and using AI‑assisted analysis (e.g., case triage, summarization, pattern/typology detection) to work smarter across case volumes.
• A specific example of impact you're proud of — a case, a rule change, a gap you closed — that we can dig into together in conversation.

Klarna is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse workforce that reflects our global customer base and to fostering a culture where everyone belongs. We provide equal employment opportunities to all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, parental status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds and identities. We consider qualified applicants with criminal history for employment in accordance with state and local laws and "fair chance" ordinances. If you require reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process, please contact [e-mail].

In accordance with applicable law, the salary range for this position is provided in the job posting. The salary offered will be determined by the candidate's location, qualifications, experience, and education. The salary range posted in the job advertisement refers to the base pay. Base pay is part of a total compensation package, which may also include equity rewards, monthly stipends for health and wellness, and benefits such as life insurance, medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents.