Compliance Operations Specialist

Skills

About the Role

You will conduct investigations into AML fraud sanctions and other violations, monitor merchant activity and perform onboarding and ongoing due diligence reviews, document investigative findings, and make risk based recommendations. You will interact with merchants in Japanese and English to obtain information and communicate compliance requirements, and you will ensure reviews are completed within service level agreements while coordinating with payment network and banking partners to align monitoring with applicable requirements.

Requirements

• Professional fluency in Japanese and English (spoken and written)
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in compliance operations, transaction monitoring, AML investigations, fraud investigations, risk management, or policy implementation within a financial institution, payment service provider, fintech company, or regulated financial services organization.
• Strong understanding of Japanese financial crime compliance requirements, including CDD, Know Your Customer (KYC), transaction monitoring, and suspicious activity investigations.
• Knowledge of Japanese payment industry regulations, merchant acquiring requirements, and payment network rules.
• Strong investigative skills, including familiarity with public record research and investigative databases.
• Strong transaction analysis skills that apply across numerous financial products and services in complex scenarios.
• Ability to identify and assess suspicious activity, financial crime risks, and policy violations.
• Strong judgment and ability to make risk based decisions in complex investigative scenarios.
• Excellent written communication and case documentation skills in both Japanese and English.
• Ability to work in a fast paced and dynamic environment with a drive to deliver outstanding results.
• Based in Japan.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and investigate compliance related alerts from transaction monitoring systems and manual reviews.
• Analyze merchant activity, payment flows, customer relationships, and operations to identify unusual or suspicious behavior.
• Conduct investigations into AML, fraud, sanctions, prohibited activities, financial crime risks, and policy violations.
• Verify merchant information and perform onboarding and ongoing due diligence reviews in line with policies and regulatory requirements.
• Document investigative findings and make risk based recommendations regarding account actions and escalations.
• Conduct public record research and open source intelligence reviews to support investigations.
• Interact with merchants in Japanese and English to obtain information, communicate compliance requirements, and support remediation.
• Ensure operational reviews and investigations are completed within established SLAs.
• Communicate with payment network partners, banking partners, and other stakeholders to ensure compliance monitoring activities align with applicable requirements.

Benefits

• Remote work
• Medical insurance
• Flexible time off
• Retirement savings plans
• Modern family planning