Financial Crime Product Compliance & Risk Senior Manager in Sydney

Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move and manage the world’s money. Min fees. Max ease. Full speed. Whether people and businesses are sending money to another country, spending abroad, or making and receiving international payments, Wise is on a mission to make their lives easier and save them money.

The Product Compliance & Risk (PC&R) team sits at the centre of Wise’s product development function, supporting our cross-functional teams to deliver exceptional compliant-by-design products for our customers. We’re seeking a highly motivated, customer-centric individual to join our team in Sydney, to help take our Australia and New Zealand (AU/NZ) financial crime risk management program to the next level.

This hands-on role will involve working closely with product teams globally and in APAC to ensure our controls strike the right balance between meeting compliance requirements whilst maximising customer experience.

Your mission: Wise has already pioneered new ways for people to transfer money across borders and currencies. Your mission is to enable our product teams to launch new products, grow our presence and manage compliance risks in AU/NZ through a deep understanding of financial crime risks and regulator expectations.

This is a hands-on role, with high levels of ownership over:

• Designing and continuously improving our products and controls: Leverage your deep understanding of the Wise product, regulatory requirements and financial crime risks to support new product launches. This includes communicating requirements in clear, practical terms, and taking a risk-based, scalable approach with the customer experience front-of-mind when designing, uplifting and implementing controls.
• Financial crime risk management: Stay ahead of financial crime trends and the regulatory agenda in AU/NZ, assess and present risks quantitatively and qualitatively in clear and understandable terms, and work collaboratively to define and execute on risk mitigation plans.
• Regulatory change and remediation: Conduct regulatory gap analyses, define and scope actions to remediate gaps, and ensure implementation plans are executed in a timely manner. Collaborate with global teams to identify synergies with programs of work already completed or underway across the Wise Group.
• External engagements: Represent Wise through external engagements such as audits and regulatory inspections, including explaining and defending our financial crime controls, and developing and executing remediation plans.

This role will give you the opportunity to:

• Play a key role in owning and shaping Wise’s financial crime risk management program in AU/NZ, including building and applying your knowledge and experience across domains - including AML/CTF (CDD, transaction monitoring, reporting), sanctions and fraud.
• Grow your hands-on fintech experience at full speed, with high levels of ownership and autonomy.
• Collaborate with our amazing teams both locally and globally to build state-of-the-art products for our customers that are compliant-by-design.

Qualifications

Must have:

• Expert in financial crime compliance and risk management in AU/NZ, with 8+ years experience in financial services (banking, fintech or consulting) translating regulations into actionable business requirements.
• High levels of ownership and autonomy, with the ability to proactively identify improvement opportunities or areas of elevated risk, prioritise, and drive work from inception to completion at pace with limited oversight. This includes anticipating risks and roadblocks, and demonstrating resilience to work through them.
• Problem solving attitude, with the ability to not only analyse and interpret complex regulatory and risk management frameworks, but to exercise sound judgement in proposing and implementing customer-centric and scalable solutions, using data to drive decision-making and quantify risks.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to effectively interact with different audiences (from Product & Engineering teams to external auditors and regulators such as AUSTRAC).
• Strong collaboration skills, to work effectively with different stakeholders globally (such as Product, Risk and Compliance), and to influence without authority.
• Challenge the status quo, thinking outside-the-box and questioning how we can achieve an optimal balance of achieving compliance whilst delivering the best outcomes for our customers.
• Legally authorised to work in Australia.

Nice to have but not essential:

• Previous experience in working in a fintech or a similar fast-paced environment.
• Experience working in cross-border teams.
• Willingness to travel, as Wise offices are located across different countries.

We’re people without borders — without judgement or prejudice, too. We want to work with the best people, no matter their background. So if you’re passionate about learning new things and keen to join our mission, you’ll fit right in.

And because we believe that diverse teams build better products, we’d especially love to hear from you if you’re from an under-represented demographic.

For everyone, everywhere. We're people building money without borders — without judgement or prejudice, too. We believe teams are strongest when they are diverse, equitable and inclusive. We're proud to have a truly international team, and we celebrate our differences. Inclusive teams help us live our values and make sure every Wiser feels respected, empowered to contribute towards our mission and able to progress in their careers.