Senior Financial Crime Operations Manager

Senior Financial Crime Operations Manager

The Senior Financial Crime Operations Manager is a critical leadership role within Monument’s First Line Financial Crime function. The post-holder is accountable for the full operational delivery of financial crime controls across Transaction Monitoring, CDD/EDD, Sanctions Screening, and iSAR reporting, and acts as the deputy to the Head of CS&O on Financial Crime Operational matters. In addition to running the operation, this role carries significant strategic weight: shaping policy, driving the control framework, managing regulatory relationships at an operational level, and developing the team’s capability for the long term. The expectation is that this person could step up to lead the function when required.

KEY INFORMATION

Department: Operations

Reports to: Head of CS&O

Direct Reports: Financial Crime Operations Officers

Deputises for: Head of CS&O for Operational Financial Crime matters

Location: Monument Bank – hybrid working arrangements apply

Seniority: Senior Manager (Certified Person under SM&CR)

Key Responsibilities

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP AND DEPUTISATION

• Act as deputy to the Head of CS&O for Financial Crime matters; assume full accountability for the function in their absence, including attendance at Management meetings where required.
• Contribute to the design and execution of Monument’s Financial Crime strategy; translate strategic priorities into operational plans with clear owners, milestones, and measurable outcomes.
• Provide input to the Financial Crime Risk Appetite and tolerance statements; flag where operational data indicates the business is approaching or breaching agreed thresholds.
• Lead on the development and periodic review of the first line Financial Crime Framework, policies, and procedures, ensuring they remain fit for purpose, compliant, and reflective of the current risk environment.

OPERATIONS AND CONTROL OVERSIGHT

• Maintain end-to-end accountability for financial crime operations including Transaction Monitoring, CDD/EDD, Sanctions Screening, and iSAR filing; set performance standards and hold the team to them.
• Own the operational control environment; identify control gaps or weaknesses, drive remediation, and ensure issues are escalated and resolved within appropriate timeframes.
• Oversee the quality assurance framework across all operational outputs; ensure QA findings are tracked, root causes addressed, and improvements embedded – not just reported.
• Review complex, high-risk, or precedent-setting case decisions including SARs, EDD outcomes, and account closures for escalation to the MLRO; own the quality and defensibility of those decisions.

REGULATORY ENGAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE

• Serve as a senior point of contact for the FCA, NCA, and other relevant bodies on operational financial crime matters; ensure interactions are well-prepared, accurate, and handled with appropriate seriousness.
• Lead the preparation and response for regulatory examinations, internal audits, and compliance monitoring reviews covering financial crime; ensure findings are addressed substantively, not superficially.
• Produce and present financial crime MI and management reporting to the MLRO, ERCC, and Board as required; reporting should provide genuine insight and drive decisions, not simply evidence activity.
• Maintain awareness of regulatory developments (FCA, FATF, JMLSG, HMT, OFSI) and assess their implications for Monument’s financial crime framework; brief the MLRO and relevant stakeholders proactively.

PEOPLE LEADERSHIP AND CAPABILITY

• Lead, manage, and develop a team of Financial Crime Operations Officers; create a high-performance environment where expectations are clear, feedback is direct, and development is genuine.
• Drive recruitment and onboarding of financial crime talent; set the bar for the calibre of person who joins the team.
• Identify and address skill gaps across the team; build a structured learning and development approach that goes beyond mandatory training and creates genuine technical depth.
• Model the behaviours and standards expected of the team; challenge poor practice, recognise strong performance, and take performance management action where necessary without deferring to the People Team.

CHANGE, TECHNOLOGY, AND CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

• Act as the Financial Crime subject matter expert for system enhancements, tooling changes, and automation projects; define requirements, challenge vendor outputs, and ensure changes genuinely improve the control environment.
• Lead on horizon scanning for financial crime typologies and emerging risk; translate intelligence into practical adjustments to detection rules, CDD risk assessments, or screening parameters.
• Drive a culture of continuous improvement within the team; create the expectation that the way things are done today is not necessarily the way they will be done tomorrow.

CROSS-FUNCTIONAL STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

• Build and maintain effective working relationships with Risk, Compliance, Legal, Product, Technology, and Operations; ensure financial crime considerations are embedded into business decisions rather than bolted on afterwards.
• Challenge business lines constructively where proposed products, processes, or customer journeys create unacceptable financial crime risk; engage early and document positions clearly.
• Represent the Financial Crime Operations function at senior internal forums; communicate the team’s position with authority.

Skills and Experience

ESSENTIAL

• Substantial experience in financial crime within a UK-regulated financial institution, with a track record that demonstrates genuine progression into senior operational leadership.
• Proven ability to run a financial crime operations function: setting strategy, managing people at multiple levels, owning the control environment, and delivering results against regulatory and internal expectations.
• Deep technical knowledge across AML, KYC/CDD/EDD, transaction monitoring, sanctions, and SAR obligations; able to make and defend complex decisions without referral upwards.
• Direct experience engaging with regulators (FCA, NCA, PRA) and managing regulatory examinations, audits, or enforcement-related processes.
• Demonstrable experience of policy ownership and framework development; able to write, review, and challenge financial crime policy to a standard that would withstand regulatory scrutiny.
• Strong people leadership credentials – evidence of building and developing high-performing teams, managing performance robustly, and retaining good people.
• Credible at senior level: able to present to ExCo or Board, engage with regulators, and hold their own in difficult conversations with business stakeholders.

DESIRABLE

• Experience in a challenger bank, digital bank, or high-growth fintech where the financial crime function was built or significantly transformed during their tenure.
• Knowledge of lending and Investment products
• ICA Diploma, or equivalent advanced qualification in financial crime.
• Exposure to financial crime technology implementation or optimisation projects at a design and requirements level.

Behaviours and Ways of Working

• Leadership. Leads with visibility and composure, particularly under pressure. Creates an environment where the team feels supported and knows what is expected of them. Engages directly with people rather than relying on process or email to manage.
• Ownership. Takes responsibility for outcomes and sees things through. Comfortable operating with autonomy and uses it well; knows when to seek input and when to make the call and move forward.
• Judgement. Makes considered, risk-based decisions, including where the picture is not complete. Escalates where genuinely necessary and takes responsibility for the decisions they make.
• Standards. Maintains a high bar for the quality of work produced by the team and leads by example in doing so. Provides clear feedback where standards need to improve and recognises strong performance when it is delivered.
• Influence. Shapes decisions across the business through credibility, evidence, and well-reasoned argument. Builds relationships that make it easier to land important messages and achieve the right outcomes for the bank.
• Directness. Communicates with clarity and confidence, including on difficult topics. Shares views and concerns early rather than after the fact, and does so in a way that is constructive and respectful of others.

Regulatory and Conduct Requirements

This role is a Certified Person under the FCA’s Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR). The post-holder is subject to the Individual Conduct Rules and must be certified as fit and proper by Monument on appointment and annually thereafter.

The post-holder is required to:

• Act with integrity and due skill, care, and diligence at all times.
• Be open and cooperative with Monument’s regulators, including the FCA and PRA.
• Pay due regard to the interests of customers and treat them fairly.
• Observe proper standards of market conduct and comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and internal policies.
• Take reasonable steps to ensure that the business for which they are responsible complies with the relevant requirements and standards of the regulatory system.

Any material change to the scope of this role may require reassessment of its regulatory classification. The post-holder should notify the Head of CS&O and People team immediately if they become aware of any matter that may affect their fitness and propriety.