FinCrime Operations Team Lead - Sanctions

About the role

Role & Job purpose As a FinCrime Operations Team Lead - Sanctions you will develop and oversee the daily operations of a team of FinCrime Operations Analysts or Specialists. Your primary purpose is to ensure the effective mitigation of financial crime risks associated with Wise's customers, while maintaining a strong focus on operational efficiency, regulatory compliance and a customer-centric approach. You will foster a high-performing team, drive operational excellence, and act as a subject matter expert in KYC/AML/Fraud/Screening and financial crime prevention. You will be responsible for ensuring your team meets performance targets, maintains or elevates quality standards, and contributes to a culture of continuous improvement within the FinCrime Operations organization. The FinCrime Operations Team Lead is a dual-focused leader, combining strong people leadership with domain and operational expertise. You will be instrumental in building and refining processes that prioritise customer impact while maintaining focus on the evolving risks within the financial services industry, specific product vulnerabilities, and the requirements set by regulations and partners. This includes supporting the development of compliant and scalable processes and possessing an understanding of financial crime risks associated with our customers, products, and tooling. Job Responsibilities Team Leadership You will lead by example, driving a customer-focused mindset across your team and the wider fincrime organization. You are instrumental in fostering a high-performance, results-driven culture defined by strong ownership and accountability. This involves building and nurturing high-performing teams that value knowledge sharing, continuous learning, and adaptability in our change-oriented environment. Fincrime Operations Team Lead demonstrates strong capabilities in timely conflict resolution and fosters open communication and guides effective mediation to ensure a positive working environment. You should be visible and actively engaged in team management. Your focus is on unifying the team behind shared goals (and wider FinCrime/servicing strategies) and driving collective actions. People management Coach and develop a strong team of FinCrime Operations Analysts or Specialists with varying levels of experience, providing tailored guidance, and taking swift, decisive action to manage performance issues effectively, ensuring sustained excellence and growth. Provide regular, constructive, and actionable feedback to your direct reports. Coach and mentor team members to support their growth, develop their skills, and help them reach their full potential. Design and manage performance or development plans in identified areas. Conduct career map check-ins and make recommendations for demotions, promotions, salary raises, and other role related decisions. Operational management You will oversee the daily operations of the team, ensuring adherence to relevant regulations and internal policies and processes. Identify and propose opportunities for process and tooling improvements. Collaborate with central functions and other operational teams as needed to increase operational efficiency or to ensure effective cross-team collaboration on joint initiatives. Provide guidance and support on complex, high-risk cases and escalations. Be on top of timely admin related tasks including but not limited to scheduling, training, hiring, interviewing, organising team activities, and others. Performance management Measure team and individual KPIs and ensure performance targets and quality standards are consistently met while maintaining focus on customer experience and adherence to internal guidelines. Drive high-quality results for both the team and individuals, continuously enhancing overall quality outcomes. Conduct timely quality reviews, ensuring high decision accuracy and effectively communicate the importance of quality assurance. Conduct regular and impactful one on one coaching sessions (usually on a weekly or biweekly basis), provide clear and actionable feedback. Ensure tasks are managed timely and aligned with the team's goals. Run team meetings to ensure that your team is kept up to date with the latest information, share best practices and enhance overall team spirit. Addresses underperformance promptly through coaching and setting SMART goals, and ensures all interventions are well-documented. Understand and be able to articulate how to move key metrics at team and individual level through efficient performance and task management. Expertise sharing Be a subject matter expert in financial crime areas with the ability to obtain and maintain sufficient subject matter expertise required to train, develop and coach your team. Maintain a comprehensive understanding of our regulatory obligations, internal policies, domain-specific processes and best practices. Apply a risk-based approach to deterring and preventing money laundering

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