As the Financial Crime Group Lead for the Americas Region, you will execute Adyen's global financial crime compliance strategy and drive the continuous enhancement of controls that safeguard our banking products, acquiring flows, issuing programs, and capital underwriting. In close partnership with Fraud, Risk, Product, Compliance, and global operations teams, you will translate regulatory expectations, data, and intelligence into scalable, intelligence-led solutions that strengthen the end-to-end merchant risk lifecycle. Your leadership will directly enable Adyen's growth by ensuring a secure, trusted, and compliant platform for merchants worldwide, operating in strong counterbalance and collaboration with Fraud prevention to deliver holistic FinCrime coverage.
Responsibilities
Lead, develop, and scale the Americas Financial Crime organization, overseeing high-performing teams across Chicago and São Paulo (3 teams).
Oversee complex investigations across Adyen's Acquiring, Issuing, Banking, and Capital products. Act as the final escalation point for high-stakes AML, Sanctions, and Fraud cases, ensuring SAR/STR recommendations are bulletproof.
Monitor emerging AML, sanctions, and FinCrime typologies and regulatory developments, translating insights into improved controls, risk coverage, and operational readiness.
Implement and continuously enhance policies, procedures, and controls across transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, investigations, escalation, and regulatory reporting, aligned with Fraud and broader FinCrime strategy.
Drive operational excellence using data insights, automation, quality assurance, and root-cause analysis, while partnering cross-functionally to deliver scalable monitoring and detection capabilities.
Build team capability through hiring, performance management, training, leadership mentorship, and clear communication that supports professional growth and sustained high performance.
Provide performance visibility through outcome tracking, senior stakeholder reporting, audit and regulatory support, and execution of global AML & Screening priorities.
Requirements
6+ years of experience in AML, Screening, or broader Financial Crime within a financial institution, PSP, issuing bank, or fintech, including demonstrated people-leadership skills.
Proven leader with a track record of building, mentoring, and motivating high-performing teams, driving accountability, development, and a strong performance culture.
Strong analytical and problem-solving capability, able to interpret complex data, identify risk trends, and make sound, risk-based decisions in a KPI-driven environment.
Experienced in designing scalable processes, controls, and operational improvements, while managing investigations and screening activities with precision and attention to detail.
Effective communicator and collaborative partner, comfortable operating in fast-moving global environments, presenting to senior stakeholders, and adapting to evolving priorities; payments or FinTech experience preferred and willingness to travel internationally as required.
Payments, banking, or FinTech experience is strongly preferred.
Full professional proficiency in English with clear written and verbal communication skills; able to present insights to senior stakeholders.
Willingness to travel internationally as required.
The base compensation range for this role in Chicago is: $160,000.00 - $220,000.00. The compensation package also include equity (RSUs).
Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion commitments
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What's next?
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Benefits
Equity / stock options
Additional Information
This is Adyen
Adyen provides payments, data, and financial products in a single solution for customers like Meta, Uber, H&M, and Microsoft - making us the financial technology platform of choice. At Adyen, everything we do is engineered for ambition.
For our teams, we create an environment with opportunities for our people to succeed, backed by the culture and support to ensure they are enabled to truly own their careers. We are motivated individuals who tackle unique technical challenges at scale and solve them as a team. Together, we deliver innovative and ethical solutions that help businesses achieve their ambitions faster.
Adyen · Chicago