Senior Principal Intelligence Specialist, Financial Crimes Intelligence, Strategic Intelligence

FINRA; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 131,000 - 238,000; Full time

Job summary

FINRA’s Strategic Intelligence team seeks a Senior Principal Intelligence Specialist to lead advanced intelligence activities and drive initiatives across regulatory programs.

You will build intelligence frameworks, assess emerging risks, and deliver actionable insights to senior leadership, regulators, and external partners. This role requires strong communication skills and a track record of influencing decisions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and 8+ years of experience; advanced degree preferred.
• Experience at broker-dealer/financial institution or government agency with intelligence focus.
• Strong analytical, strategic thinking and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Identify emerging threats and drive intelligence initiatives with internal stakeholders.
• Develop intelligence frameworks and collection strategies for timely insights.
• Translate complex intelligence into actionable briefings for leadership and regulators.
• Establish partnerships with internal and external stakeholders to prioritize intelligence needs.
• Lead intelligence-sharing events and staff training to disseminate insights.

Skills

Intelligence analysis

Stakeholder engagement

Strategic thinking

Written communication

Regulatory knowledge

Cross-functional collaboration

Analytical problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree

8+ years experience

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Strategic Intelligence is a team within FINRA’s Risk & Intelligence organization that provides strategic and tactical intelligence impacting member firms, investors, and the financial markets, translating into better, more informed, and timely regulatory decisions. The Strategic Intelligence team supports FINRA’s Regulatory Programs by identifying, analyzing, and assessing emerging risks and trends, and generating insights through finished intelligence products. The Senior Principal Intelligence Specialist will have extensive knowledge of and expertise in intelligence disciplines and is expected to utilize an expanded skillset related to the mission of Strategic Intelligence including, but not limited to, the collection, analysis, processing, and dissemination of intelligence. This position will require building and maintaining effective relationships internally with subject matter experts across FINRA’s regulatory programs and externally with member firms, law enforcement, and other government intelligence partners in support of both Strategic Intelligence and FINRA’s missions.

The Financial Crimes Intelligence (FCI) team is a specialized function within Strategic Intelligence focused on advancing FINRA’s understanding of emerging risks and threats related to financial crimes impacting member firms, investors, and the financial markets.

The Senior Principal Intelligence Specialist executes functions in support of the Strategic Intelligence mission including the following:

• Serve as a partner to internal stakeholders, working with subject matter experts across departments to identify emerging threats and drive intelligence-driven initiatives.
• Proactively and independently identify, analyze, and predict emerging risks, threats, regulatory trends, and critical events impacting member firms, investors, and the financial markets. Contribute to the development of strategies around mitigating risks and threats.
• Independently establish and maintain partnerships and networks with internal and external stakeholders to understand intelligence priorities.
• Independently develop and maintain intelligence frameworks, collection strategies, and standards to ensure timely delivery of actionable intelligence to appropriate stakeholders across the enterprise and externally.
• Independently develop intelligence products, assessments, briefings, and communications that translate complex intelligence into actionable insights for senior leadership, regulatory staff, and external stakeholders.
• Independently identify and help implement ongoing and significant improvements to intelligence processes, frameworks, and programs to enhance the effectiveness of Strategic Intelligence's mission.
• Conduct tasks related to member firm/investor intelligence sharing, which include, but are not limited to, participating in conference panels, working groups, and roundtables.
• Conduct tasks related to FINRA staff training and intelligence sharing that may include, but are not limited to, training events, podcasts, workshops, or live webinars.
• Demonstrate FINRA’s values.
• Collaborate, both in-person and virtually, in furtherance of FINRA’s mission of investor protection and market integrity.

Education/Experience Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and minimum of eight (8) years of experience, or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience required; advanced degree in intelligence studies, public policy, business, or law preferred.
• Previous experience working at a broker-dealer or other type of financial institution or at a government agency or department with a focus on intelligence preferred.
• Proven knowledge and advanced expertise performing advanced and high-complexity intelligence functions representing the full intelligence cycle.
• Proven experience applying highly advanced analytical and strategic thinking skills to assess complex risks and threats impacting stakeholders.
• Proven track record of making meaningful improvements to intelligence processes or products.
• Strong knowledge of FINRA rules and the federal securities laws is preferred.
• Strong knowledge of the securities markets and member firm operations is preferred.
• Highly advanced and effective written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills, including building and managing relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Highly advanced organizational skills with exceptional attention to detail.
• Expert proficiency using computer programs with the full suite of Office software applications.

Work Conditions

• Hybrid work environment, with defined in-person presence requirements.
• Extended hours and travel as needed.

Los Angeles, CA: $140,000 - $211,000

San Francisco, CA: $147,000 - $220,000

Boston, MA: $131,200 - $238,300

Chicago, IL: $125,900 - $228,000

Denver, CO: $114,200 - $207,200

Jericho, NY: $131,200 - $238,300

Jersey City, NJ: $137,000- $248,700

Philadelphia, PA: $125,900 - $228,000

New York, NY: $137,000 - $248,700

Rockville, MD: $131,200 - $238,300

Tysons, VA: $131,200 - $238,300

Washington, DC: $131,200 - $238,300

Woodbridge, NJ: $131,200 - $238,300

Connecticut State: $114,200 - $248,700

Washington State: $114,200 - $248,700

Employees may be eligible for a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay. Non-exempt employees are also eligible for overtime pay in accordance with federal, state, or local law.

As part of its dedication to employee wellness, FINRA provides comprehensive health, dental and vision insurance. Additional insurance includes basic life, accidental death and dismemberment, supplemental life, spouse/domestic partner and dependent life, and spouse/domestic partner and dependent accidental death and dismemberment, short- and long-term disability, long-term care, business travel accident, disability and legal. FINRA offers immediate participation and vesting in a 401(k) plan with company match and eligibility for participation in an additional FINRA-funded retirement contribution, tuition reimbursement, commuter benefits, and other benefits that support employee wellness, such as adoption assistance, backup family care, surrogacy benefits, employee assistance, and wellness programs.

Time Off and Paid Leave*

FINRA encourages its employees to focus on their health and wellness in many ways, including through a generous time-off program starting at 15 days of paid time off (increasing with years of service, up to 25 days), 5 personal days, and 9 sick days, unless otherwise required by law (all pro-rated in the first year). Additionally, we are proud to support our communities by providing two volunteer service days (based on full-time schedule). Other paid leave includes military leave, jury duty leave, bereavement leave, voting and election official leave for federal, state or local primary and general elections, care of a family member leave (available after 90 days of employment); and childbirth and parental leave (available after 90 days of employment). Full-time employees receive nine paid holidays.

• Based on full-time schedule

Important Information

FINRA’s Code of Conduct imposes restrictions on employees’ investments and requires financial disclosures that are uniquely related to our role as a securities regulator. FINRA employees are required to disclose to FINRA all brokerage accounts that they maintain, and those in which they control trading or have a financial interest (including any trust account of which they are a trustee or beneficiary and all accounts of a spouse, domestic partner or minor child who lives with the employee) and to authorize their broker-dealers to provide FINRA with duplicate statements for all of those accounts. All of those accounts are subject to the Code’s investment and securities account restrictions, and new employees must comply with those investment restrictions—including disposing of any security issued by a company on FINRA’s Prohibited Company List or obtaining a written waiver from their Executive Vice President—by the date they begin employment with FINRA. Employees may only maintain securities accounts that must be disclosed to FINRA at one or more securities firms that provide an electronic feed (e-feed) of data to FINRA, and must move securities accounts from other securities firms to a firm that provides an e-feed within three months of beginning employment.

You can read more about these restrictions here.

As standard practice, employees must also execute FINRA’s Employee Confidentiality and Invention Assignment Agreement without qualification or modification and comply with the company’s policy on nepotism.

Washington state applicants

for required notice(s).

Search Firm Representatives

Please be advised that FINRA is not seeking assistance or accepting unsolicited resumes from search firms for this employment opportunity. Regardless of past practice, a valid written agreement and task order must be in place before any resumes are submitted to FINRA. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at FINRA without a valid written agreement and task order in place will be deemed the sole property of FINRA and no fee will be paid in the event that person is hired by FINRA.

FINRA is an Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to any legally protected category, including race, color, age, national origin, ethnicity, religion, disability, genetic information, military or veteran status, sex, or any other status or classification protected by state or local law.

FINRA strives to make our career site accessible to all users. If you need a disability-related accommodation for completing the application process, please contact FINRA’s Employee Relations team at 240-386-4865 or by email at [e-mail]. Please note that this process is exclusively for inquiries regarding accommodations in the application process.

FINRA abides by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-741.5(a). This regulation prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals on the basis of disability and requires affirmative action by covered prime contractors and subcontractors to employ and advance in employment qualified individuals with disabilities.

FINRA abides by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-300.5(a). This regulation prohibits discrimination against qualified protected veterans and requires affirmative action by covered prime contractors and subcontractors to employ and advance in employment qualified protected veterans.

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