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About the Role

The Regional Lead of AML Investigations is responsible for the strategic direction and operational excellence of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) investigations, serving as a critical strategic partner to regional executives. This role drives focused results, defines the regional investigative strategy, and governs standards to ensure sustainable growth, bridging regulatory requirements and operational efficiency.

Responsibilities

Act as a trusted advisor to regional teams, providing data-driven insights into risk profiles, investigative performance, and emerging threats.
Lead a multi-layered AML organization of approximately 200 people, driving high performance through leadership of direct reports and ensuring workflow optimization.
Proactively identify emerging financial crime trends and implement investigative strategies to protect the platform.
Drive the delivery of KPIs aligned with regional business objectives, ensuring AML operations support seamless service delivery and customer experience.
Build and maintain scalable high-performance teams, uplifting skills, demonstrating proactiveness, and ensuring timely, high-quality SAR/STR filings.
Foster a high-performing, mission-driven culture of curiosity and integrity, building technical expertise and evolving team structure.
Mentor Senior Team Leads, investigative leads, and specialists.
Accountable for the regional roadmap of risk tooling, partnering with Product, Engineering, and Global Compliance teams.
Align investigative capacity with the regional growth roadmap, identifying resource gaps and implementing technological solutions.
Act as the primary regional lead for internal audits and regulatory exams, ensuring governance framework transparency.
Provide dedicated support to Global Heads of AML Operations and Investigations Service Delivery, ensuring regional initiatives synchronize with global strategy.
Escalate regional insights and implement global best practices.

Requirements

Minimum of 5+ years in a leadership role within AML, Financial Crime, or Risk Operations, preferably in a fast-growing fintech or global financial institution.
Extensive experience, typically 10+ years, in Operations (preferably KYC/AML, financial crime, compliance, or related fields within the financial services industry).
Proven ability to spot improvement opportunities, drive them through to delivery, and provide data-backed evidence of successful deployments.
Operates beyond a compliance checklist by deeply understanding the intent behind regulations.
Takes full ownership of building a regional investigative function that effectively mitigates risk while enabling Wise to scale safely and sustainably.
Passionate about leveraging technology and automation to solve compliance challenges.
Exceptional ability to use data to drive investigations, set regional KPIs, and identify emerging financial crime patterns.
Thrives in a fast-paced, ever-changing regulatory landscape; comfortable making high-stakes decisions with incomplete information and pivoting strategies.
Highly skilled at navigating a matrix organization, successfully balancing needs.
A hands-on leader dedicated to mentoring high-performing investigators and fostering a culture of intellectual honesty, curiosity, and integrity.
Capable of distilling complex regulatory nuances into clear communication for diverse stakeholders.
A track record of managing high-pressure projects and regulatory exams with transparency, ensuring Wise remains 'audit-ready' at all times.

Skills

AML
Financial Crime
Risk Operations
KYC
Compliance
Data-driven insights
Risk mitigation
Strategic planning
Team leadership
Mentoring
Stakeholder management
Product collaboration
Automation
Data analysis
SQL
Regulatory liaison

Location

Regional

Work Type

Full-time

Experience Level

Leadership role (5+ years)
Operations experience (10+ years)

Education Level

Professional certifications like CAMS, or equivalent regional AML qualifications (Nice to have)

Salary/Compensations

USD 193000 - USD 277000

Benefits

International team environment
Diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace

About the Company

Wise is a global technology company building the best way to move and manage the world’s money.
Wise is on a mission to make people's and businesses' lives easier and save them money when sending money internationally, spending abroad, or making/receiving international payments.
The company is creating an entirely new network for the world's money.

Equal Opportunity

For everyone, everywhere. We're people building money without borders — without judgement or prejudice, too.
We believe teams are strongest when they are diverse, equitable and inclusive.
We're proud to have a truly international team, and we celebrate our differences.
Inclusive teams help us live our values and make sure every Wiser feels respected, empowered to contribute towards our mission and able to progress in their careers.