Head of AML Process and Intelligence in London

Company Description

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. As part of our team, you will be helping us create an entirely new network for the world's money. For everyone, everywhere.

Job Description

Your mission

You'll lead the teams that make our AML Operations function brilliant at what they do. Your focus? Making sure our people are set up for success through world‐class training, rigorous quality control, and smart outsourcing partnerships. You're not running day‐to‐day operations – you're building the foundations that let our operational teams deliver fast, fair, and compliant outcomes for our customers. This is about enabling excellence at scale, in true Wise fashion: no shortcuts, no unnecessary complexity, just what works.

What you'll be doing

• You'll lead a team of Senior Leads across three critical enablement areas, working closely with FinCrime Operations, Product, and Compliance to keep raising the bar.
• Training & Development
  • Own the end‐to‐end training strategy for AML Operations – from onboarding new starters to keeping seasoned investigators sharp on evolving risks and regulations.
  • Design and deliver training programmes that are engaging, practical, and effective.
  • Build scalable learning frameworks that work across our global teams and outsourced partners.
  • Measure what matters: training effectiveness, time‐to‐competency, knowledge retention.
  • Stay ahead of regulatory changes and make sure our teams are always ready.
• Quality Control
  • Lead our QC function to ensure investigations are accurate, consistent, and compliant.
  • Build robust QC frameworks that catch issues early and drive continuous improvement.
  • Turn QC insights into actionable feedback loops for training and process improvement.
  • Partner with Compliance to ensure we're meeting regulatory expectations across all jurisdictions.
• Project Management & Outsourcing
  • Lead a team of project specialists to identify and deliver operational improvements across AML Operations.
  • Partner with Operations and Product teams to turn insights from training and QC into tangible process enhancements.
  • Drive initiatives that improve efficiency, accuracy, and the overall customer experience.
  • Ensure improvements are implemented effectively and embedded into BAU.
  • Oversee relationships with our outsourced partners, ensuring they meet Wise standards.
  • Drive performance through clear SLAs, regular calibration, and constructive feedback.
  • Work with vendors to embed our training and QC standards into their operations.

How you'll know you're succeeding

• For our customers: Investigations are handled accurately and fairly, with fast resolution times.
• For Wise: Training investments translate into measurable performance improvements. QC catches issues before they become problems. Outsourced teams perform like they're part of the team.
• For Wisers: Teams feel confident and capable. New starters ramp up quickly. Quality feedback is constructive. People grow in their roles.

Qualifications

• Experience
  • 10+ years in Operations, ideally in banking or fintech.
  • Financial crime background – could be AML, fraud, transaction monitoring, sanctions, or KYC. You don't need to be the deepest technical expert, but you need to understand the landscape.
  • Proven track record building and scaling training programmes, coaching & mentoring initiatives – this is essential.
  • Strong experience in quality assurance and control frameworks.
  • Familiarity with managing outsourced operations and vendor relationships.
• Leadership
  • 5+ years leading and developing senior teams.
  • You've built future leaders, not just managed people.
  • Comfortable operating across multiple locations and time zones.
  • Track record of influencing without authority – you'll need to partner effectively with Operations, Product, and Compliance.
• How You Work
  • Data‐driven decision maker, comfortable with tools like Looker, Superset, or similar.
  • Exceptional communicator – you can make complex things simple for any audience.
  • Proactive and autonomous – you spot gaps and fix them without being asked.
  • Comfortable with ambiguity and fast‐paced environments.