Head of Compliance - Payments

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced, strategic, and hands-on Head of Compliance to lead our global compliance function and anti-money laundering (AML) operations. In this critical leadership role, you will be responsible for building, scaling, and overseeing our compliance architecture, with a heavy focus on 3rd-party payment processing, B2B payment flows, merchant/corporate KYCC (Know Your Customer's Customer), and complex financial crime investigations.

You will act as the primary owner of our regulatory framework, ensuring our B2B financial services and payment infrastructure remain compliant with global AML/CFT standards while enabling rapid business growth.

Key Responsibilities

Compliance Strategy & Leadership

• Design, implement, and maintain the company's global compliance, AML/CTF, and sanctions risk management frameworks.
• Serve as the primary liaison with banking partners, liquidity providers, regulators, external auditors, and payment processors on all compliance-related matters.
• Stay ahead of evolving global payment regulations, financial crime trends, and cross-border B2B compliance standards.

B2B AML, KYCC & Merchant Due Diligence

• Oversee institutional customer onboarding (KYB) and deep-dive KYCC (Know Your Customer's Customer) protocols to evaluate indirect risks within client ecosystems.
• Establish robust ongoing monitoring frameworks for high-risk B2B payment flows, cross-border corporate transactions, and complex payment structures.
• Assess, audit, and approve complex corporate structures, ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs), and high-risk merchants.

Prohibited Client & Complex Investigations

• Lead internal investigations regarding prohibited clients, restricted industries, fraud schemes, and suspicious transaction patterns.
• Manage the escalation, filing, and reporting of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs / STRs) to relevant regulatory bodies and financial intelligence units (FIUs).
• Maintain and enforce clear policies around target market restrictions, sanctioned entities, and prohibited business verticals.

3rd-Party Payment & Ecosystem Oversight

• Build compliance frameworks tailored to 3rd-party payment rails, payment aggregators, and sub-merchant risk management.
• Conduct ongoing risk assessments and due diligence audits on third-party vendors, liquidity providers, and banking partners.
• Work closely with Product, Tech, and Operations teams to automate transaction monitoring, screening rules, and compliance workflows.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive compliance/AML experience within fintech, global payment service providers (PSPs), merchant acquiring, or cross-border payment institutions.
• Extensive expertise in B2B financial products, corporate payment flows, wire transfers, and cross-border liquidity rails.
• Proven track record in establishing KYCC frameworks and assessing down-stream risk within third-party payment models and merchant networks.
• Hands-on experience investigating complex AML/CFT cases, prohibited entities, sanctions evasions, and illicit financial networks.
• Strong working knowledge of global AML/CFT regulations (FATF guidelines, FinCEN, EU 5AMLD/6AMLD, MAS, or regional equivalents).
• Experience building, mentoring, and leading high-performing compliance and risk teams in a high-growth environment.
• ACAMS (CAMS), ICA, or equivalent professional compliance certifications are highly preferred.
• Fluent in Mandarin to communicate with the internal stakeholders