Compliance Director & AMLCO

We are delighted to be recruiting for a Compliance Director to lead compliance for the Australian arm of a global digital finance business. Owned by a major international bank, the business is applying bank-grade compliance frameworks to a crypto and digital asset environment, so you'll be building compliance to a banking standard while working at the pace of a fast-growing scale-up.

Reporting to the Group Chief Risk & Compliance Officer and working alongside the local responsible managers and the group function (UK, EU and APAC), you'll own compliance for the Australian entity end to end. This is a genuinely hands-on role, you'll come in and do the gap analysis, blockchain investigations and framework build, not just oversee.

Your responsibilities will include

• Holding the Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) role, with ultimate responsibility for AML and sanctions compliance, suspicious activity reporting to AUSTRAC, and transaction reporting.
• Developing and implementing the Australian compliance framework and regulatory strategy, ensuring adherence to AFSL obligations, ASIC and AUSTRAC requirements, and group policies.
• Owning relationships with regulators and overseeing compliance with the AFSL.
• Building and maintaining a bank-grade compliance and risk framework across anti-financial crime (AML, sanctions, fraud, ABC), data privacy, conduct, conflicts, risk management and governance.
• Leading local risk committees and contributing to board and executive-level risk reporting.
• Ensuring compliance with crypto custody standards, including asset segregation, key management, third-party risk and operational resilience.
• Conducting blockchain analytics, transaction monitoring and screening investigations. (Financial crime operations, including KYC and screening, sit with an outsourced UK team; escalations come to you.)

What skills and experience will you need

This is a senior role, so a blend of 2nd line technical financial crime expertise and the resilience to thrive in a fast-paced, small-team scale-up will set you up for success.

• Financial crime compliance experience is essential, from a second line or consulting background. This is non-negotiable for the MLRO role.
• Senior compliance experience within an AFSL-licensed financial services firm, with a track record of designing and overseeing compliance frameworks and direct engagement with ASIC, AUSTRAC and other regulators.
• A hands‐on approach, comfortable being the first compliance lead in Australia and working into the detail.
• Accustomed to a bank-grade, highly regulated environment, while able to work at scale‐up pace, balancing strong governance with commercial pragmatism.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, including board-level reporting.
• A genuine interest in crypto / digital assets. Direct experience is a bonus rather than a requirement, but you'll be expected to speak to the space, particularly the financial crime risks digital assets present.
• Resilience, adaptability and comfort with ambiguity, given the pace, standards and small‐team environment.

Benefits

• The rare chance to build and shape a compliance function at an early stage, within a global business backed by a major international bank.
• Hybrid working (minimum 2 days in-office). Sydney CBD
• Genuine leadership exposure across compliance, risk management, risk committees and governance.
• The autonomy to manage your own time, including some flexibility around calls with UK colleagues across time zones