Head of AML and CTF Compliance
Payward, Inc. is a global financial infrastructure company and the parent organization behind Kraken. It provides trading, custody, payments, lending, staking, tokenized assets, derivatives, and market data infrastructure to consumers, professional traders, institutions, enterprises, fintechs, banks, exchanges, asset managers, and onchain platforms.
Funding
Investors
About Payward, Inc.
Payward, Inc. operates a unified financial infrastructure platform powering a portfolio of products including Kraken, NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, CF Benchmarks, and Payward Services. Its shared architecture provides global liquidity, risk and margin management, collateral and settlement, compliance and licensing, and operational infrastructure across crypto, tokenized assets, and traditional markets. Through Payward Services, the company offers APIs and infrastructure for crypto trading, custody, on/off-ramps, tokenized equities, derivatives, staking and yield, payments, and benchmark data. Payward operates across more than 190 jurisdictions and serves consumers, professional traders, institutional investors, enterprises, fintechs, banks, exchanges, asset managers, and DeFi/onchain protocols.
Skills
About the Role
You will lead and maintain the AML/CFT compliance framework, including policies, controls, risk assessments, reporting, governance, and regulatory engagement. You will act as Money Laundering Reporting Officer, oversee financial crime controls and training, remediate findings, and embed AML/CFT requirements into products, systems, outsourcing, and business changes.
Requirements
- Experience in crypto, fintech, or another regulated, fast-paced industry with a high volume of transactions
- Significant experience in AML/CFT, financial crime compliance, or regulatory compliance within a regulated financial services firm
- Previous experience as a PCF-52 with a CASP or financial services firm
- Knowledge of Irish and EU AML/CFT legislation, regulatory expectations, and guidance
- Experience designing, implementing, and overseeing AML/CFT compliance frameworks using technology
- Experience engaging with regulators, senior management, boards, audit, and second- and third-line oversight functions
- Understanding of AML/CFT risk assessment, CDD/EDD, transaction monitoring, screening, suspicious activity reporting, and governance
- Experience managing compliance issues related to new products, technology, outsourcing, and cross-border operations
- Ability to exercise independent judgment and challenge effectively at senior levels
- Ability to satisfy Fitness and Probity standards
- Risk-based decision-making
- Cross-functional collaboration
Responsibilities
- Lead and maintain the AML/CFT compliance framework in line with legal, regulatory, and internal policy requirements
- Act as the senior accountable officer for AML/CFT governance, oversight, and escalation
- Develop, implement, and review AML/CFT policies, standards, procedures, and controls
- Oversee the enterprise-wide AML/CFT risk assessment and risk reporting
- Design, implement, and oversee AMLR compliance policies, procedures, and controls
- Partner with the business to bring products and services to market quickly
- Implement operational efficiencies through automation
- Ensure controls for customer due diligence, enhanced due diligence, monitoring, screening, transaction monitoring, and suspicious activity escalation
- Oversee suspicious transaction reporting processes and recordkeeping
- Oversee sanctions compliance controls and regulatory developments
- Advise senior management and the board on AML/CFT matters, risks, and control enhancements
- Prepare AML/CFT reporting and risk updates for governance forums, senior management, and the board
- Act as the principal AML/CFT contact for the Central Bank of Ireland and other authorities
- Ensure timely remediation of regulatory findings, audit issues, compliance reviews, and control gaps
- Oversee AML/CFT training and awareness programs
- Embed AML/CFT requirements into business processes, systems, and change initiatives
- Support AML/CFT assessments for new products, jurisdictions, customer segments, and outsourcing
- Maintain oversight of third parties and outsourced AML/CFT service providers
- Promote financial crime compliance, accountability, and ethical conduct
