Regulatory and Compliance Associate

Black Pen Recruitment; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 480,000 - 720,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company committed to creating a comprehensive financial system is seeking a Compliance Associate. This role involves developing compliance strategies, collaborating with regulatory leads, and ensuring adherence to all pertinent laws and regulations while managing risk effectively. The ideal candidate should have a background in finance or law along with significant experience in compliance within the fintech sector.

Qualifications

• 3+ years’ compliance work in fintech, banking, gaming, or financial services.
• Proven ability to craft compliance training and regulatory reports.
• CAMS certification or willingness to earn.

Responsibilities

• Own the full onboarding workflow, gather documentation, and run checks.
• Monitor regulatory changes and refresh policies.
• Conduct vendor impact assessments and enforce privacy obligations.

Skills

Regulatory Expertise

Data Analytics Fluency

Risk Management

Integrity

Clear Communication

Education

Bachelor’s in Law, Finance, Business or similar

Tools

KYC/AML Onboarding

Data Analysis Tools

Job description

Our client is committed to building a financial system that works for all, this includes consumers, merchants, banks, regulators and law enforcement. Fraud and identity are unfortunately still significant challenges for everyone involved in payments and commerce. Our client is committed to combatting this and is building both tools and capabilities to improve its abilities in this space. The Law Enforcement Community (LEC) does a great deal to support the victims of crime and seek out the perpetrators, so our client is looking to build a strong connection with LEC.

Role Overview

The Compliance Associate will play a key role in assisting with the development, implementation, and execution of the risk management and compliance strategy. Through effective collaboration with the Compliance & Regulatory Lead, you will play a key role in solving compliance related issues, and will be responsible for ensuring that our client complies with all relevant regulatory requirements and internal policies.

Job Type: Full time/Permanent

Location: South Africa

Workplace: Hybrid

Requirements

• Education & Experience – Bachelor’s in Law, Finance, Business (or similar) plus 3+ years’ compliance work in fintech, banking, gaming, or broader financial services.
• Regulatory Expertise – In-depth grasp of South African payments regulation (FIC Act, POPIA) and hands-on KYC/AML onboarding, periodic reviews, and escalations.
• Training & Reporting – Proven ability to craft compliance training and produce high-quality regulatory reports (e.g., to the FIC); strong risk-management track record.
• Technical Skillset – Skilled in designing AML/CTF controls and internal rules; comfortable with data analysis and reporting.
• Personal Attributes – Integrity, discretion, ownership mindset, and clear communication with clients, merchants, and cross-functional teams.
• Broader Reg-Framework – Exposure to FAIS, B-BBEE, Card Scheme rules, and SARB TPPP/System-Operator/Screen Scraping directives.
• Data Analytics Fluency – Comfort with analytics tools/programming for sharper risk insights.
• Professional Credentials – CAMS or similar AML certification (or willingness to earn).
• Fintech Product Insight – Working knowledge of payment tech, APIs, and related fintech offerings to spot compliance gaps early.

Responsibilities

• Merchant Onboarding & Screening – Own the full onboarding workflow: gather documentation, run CDD/EDD checks, maintain screening systems, and escalate high-risk cases.
• Regulatory Compliance – Monitor regulatory changes, refresh policies and training, and ensure company practices stay aligned with law.
• Risk Management – Assign merchant risk ratings, update risk registers, run gap analyses, and report breaches to Compliance leadership.
• Regulatory & Internal Reporting – File mandatory reports (e.g., FIC, SARB) and deliver KYC insights to internal stakeholders.
• Stakeholder Liaison – Serve as the primary contact for KYC queries from merchants and internal teams.
• Tech-Driven Controls – Partner with Product/Tech to integrate compliance tools and build SQL-based AML/CTF monitoring rules.
• Data Protection – Conduct vendor impact assessments and enforce client/vendor adherence to data-privacy obligations.
• Process & Policy Governance – Document compliance procedures and audit ongoing adherence to internal policies and external requirements.