Sanctions Policy Lead

The Company

A software development company was established in 2018. It is currently involved in developing governance, risk, and compliance solutions tailored for the financial services industry. The company is delivering a comprehensive suite of services that integrate advanced technology, expert advisory, and scalable managed solutions.

The company's goal is to help clients navigate the increasingly complex regulatory environment by streamlining compliance operations, enhancing risk management, and driving business efficiency. The company's offerings encompass compliance operations management, regulatory reporting, surveillance, compliance consulting, training, and risk analytics-all delivered with a strong focus on operational excellence, innovative technology platforms, and continuous improvement to stay ahead of regulatory change and operational risks in a dynamic, global market.

We are seeking a highly skilled professional with deep expertise in regulatory compliance, data science, and cross-border financial risk management to join our project team. This individual will lead the sanctions policy and control framework for a financial services client, working hand-in-hand with our product/engineering. The individual will own the policy, define and govern screening/surveillance standards, and second into the client to implement controls, training, and reporting. The outcome is a regulator-ready program that is measurable, documented, and scalable.

The Job RESPONSIBILITIES

. Draft and maintain the client's Sanctions & Financial Crime Policy (OFAC/UN/EU/UK/MAS). Set risk appetite, prohibited/heightened-risk activities, licensing/exception paths, and governance.

. Specify name/sanctions/adverse-media screening requirements (watchlists, fuzzy/phonetic/transliteration, phrase lists), transaction/trade checks (transshipment, re-exports, dual-use indicators), and escalation SLAs. Translate into product specs and test cases.

. Establish tuning/back-testing/QA for screening and surveillance thresholds run periodic reviews document model change control and approval memos suitable for internal audit/regulator review.

. Define UBO/ownership-and-control standards for counterparties and supply chains integrate into onboarding and vendor workflows.

. Chair sanctions triage for potential violations prepare block/reject/release determinations with evidence logs coordinate external counsel and licensing where required.

. Build metrics/KPIs (hit rates, false-positive rates, SLA compliance, issue aging, remediation status) and produce quarterly board packs and regulator-facing summaries.

. Secondment & handover. Embed short-term within the client to implement SOPs/dashboards, close findings, and hand over a run-state program.

The Candidate'S PROFILE

Qualifications

. Bachelor's degree in quantitative discipline (e.g., Statistics, Data Science, Economics, Computer Science) advanced technical training welcome.

. 4-7 years progressive experience across financial institutions, regulators, or consulting in sanctions/AML, regulatory policy, or product governance with a strong analytics foundation.

. Demonstrated ability to translate multi-jurisdictional requirements (e.g., MAS, HKMA, SFC) into policies, runbooks, and operational controls spanning onboarding, payments, trade, and vendor/third-party flows.

. Hands-on exposure to screening & surveillance model governance (watchlists, fuzzy/phonetic/transliteration handling, adverse media) comfort with KPI-driven tuning, back-testing, and documented change control.

. Evidence of precision improvements in screening or monitoring while maintaining detection quality.

. Practice in ownership & control analysis, cross-border product due diligence, and preparing sanctions determinations/licensing packages with audit-ready documentation.

. Strong written and verbal communication-able to produce board-level reports, regulator-ready memos, and clear product/engineering specifications.

. Comfortable working side-by-side with product/engineering to embed controls and support client secondments to implement and hand over run-state programs.

. Proficiency in Python/SQL familiarity in Power Automate is an advantage.

Desired Attributes

• Strategic thinker with strong situational awareness of global regulatory trends and geopolitical dynamics.
• Ability to balance technical precision with policy sensitivities in fast-evolving environments.
• Collaborative leadership style with experience influencing cross-border teams and regulators.
• Strong problem-solving skills with a focus on compliance innovation, efficiency, and operational resilience.