Head of Financial Crime Operations (Central London)

About the role

Please note: This is a single position. We are considering candidates from both our London and Manchester locations, so you may see this role advertised for either. There is only one role available, and we welcome applications from candidates based in or able to work from either location. What We're All About at Kroo At Kroo Bank, we're building a better bank from the ground up. One that puts customers first, treats money responsibly, and uses technology to make everyday banking simpler, fairer and more transparent. We're a fully regulated UK bank, backed by long-term investors, with a growing customer base and big ambitions. We move fast, think carefully, and hold ourselves to high standards, whether that's how we build products, manage risk, or look after our people. How you will contribute and key responsibilities: As the Head of Financial Crime Operations, you will lead, inspire and oversee all Financial Crime operational functions across the bank, including KYC, AML, Transaction Monitoring, Fraud, Quality, Strategy and Controls. The core purpose of the role is the outstanding management of a complex, high volume operation, ensuring the department consistently meets its Service Level Agreements while robustly managing regulatory and operational risks. You will be a brilliant people leader, motivating, mentoring and developing a diverse team of financial crime professionals and fostering a supportive, high performing culture. While your primary focus is operational excellence and leadership, you will also support our technology journey, drawing on knowledge of financial crime technology and experience managing third party platform providers to collaborate effectively with product and engineering teams. Other responsibilities include: Lead and inspire the KYC, AML, Transaction Monitoring, Fraud, Quality, Strategy and Controls teams, ensuring clear direction and professional development across all levels. Manage daily operations to ensure all tasks are executed within agreed SLAs and quality standards, maintaining maximum efficiency without compromising compliance. Build and maintain highly collaborative partnerships across the bank, particularly with Customer Service Operations to ensure seamless customer journeys, and the Second Line of Defence to ensure absolute alignment with risk appetite and policy. Act as a key bridge between first line operations and the Second Line of Defence, translating risk policies into clear, actionable operational processes. Cultivate a culture of continuous learning, motivation, and career progression, ensuring team members are supported, engaged, and highly skilled. Serve as the senior escalation point for complex financial crime cases, applying sound, risk based judgement to resolve difficult scenarios. Monitor and report on key operational metrics, SLAs, and risk indicators, providing clear and actionable management information to senior leadership. Ensure operational frameworks, processes, and controls are robust, audit ready, and continuously optimised to address emerging financial crime risks. Support financial crime change and transformation initiatives, collaborating with product and technology teams to help shape system enhancements and automated workflows. Manage key relationships with third party financial crime technology and service providers to ensure service delivery aligns with Kroo Bank standards. Support the Chief Operating Officer and MLRO in representing the bank's operational financial crime framework to regulators, auditors, and external partners. Ensure effective resource planning, capacity management, and workload prioritisation across all financial crime teams to support business growth. Other duties as assigned to meet business needs. Skills - Ability to lead and inspire multiple teams across different financial crime disciplines. - Ability to design and implement scalable financial crime frameworks and operational strategies. - Ability to interpret and apply complex regulatory requirements within a fast paced environment. - Ability to make high impact decisions within the bank's risk appetite and governance structure. - Ability to oversee and enhance transaction monitoring, investigations, and fraud prevention systems. - Ability to communicate effectively with executive stakeholders including the COO and MLRO. - Ability to analyse complex data, identify emerging risks, and implement proactive mitigation strategies. - Ability to manage competing priorities and drive operational efficiency across large functions. - Ability to influence stakeholders and embed a strong financial crime culture across the organisation. - Ability to produce clear, concise, and high quality reporting for senior management and regulators. Qualifications - Professional certification in financial crime or compliance such as ICA, ACAMS, or equivalent would be ideal but not essential. - Strong working knowledge of UK regulatory frameworks including FCA expectations and the Pro

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