Head of Financial Crime - MLRO in London

We’re looking for a hands-on and strategic Head of Financial Crime - MLRO to lead iwoca’s financial crime compliance in the UK. You’ll be responsible for developing and maintaining a robust AML framework, ensuring we meet all regulatory expectations while supporting the business in scaling safely and responsibly. Reporting directly to the UK General Manager (who is also a co-founder), you’ll play a key role in protecting iwoca, our customers, and our reputation.

About us: Fast, flexible finance empowers small businesses to manage their cash flow better and seize opportunities - making their business and the economy stronger as a whole. At iwoca, we do just that. We help businesses get the funds they need, when they need it, often within minutes. We’ve already made several billion in funding available to over 100,000 businesses since we launched in 2012, and positioned ourselves as a leading Fintech in Europe. Our mission is to finance one million businesses.

Your mission:

• Financial Crime & AML Oversight
  • Serve as iwoca’s registered MLRO for UK operations, with responsibility for AML, CTF, sanctions, and fraud risk management.
  • Own and evolve iwoca’s financial crime framework, ensuring ongoing compliance with regulatory expectations.
  • Lead investigation and reporting of suspicious activities, including SAR submissions and law enforcement liaison.
  • Develop and implement UK-specific AML Risk Assessments, Customer Risk Assessments, and Country Risk Assessments to ensure robust controls are in place across all relevant areas.
• Risk Assessment & Monitoring
  • Conduct regular financial crime risk assessments and ensure effective controls are in place to manage emerging risks.
  • Oversee transaction monitoring, customer due diligence, and enhanced due diligence processes to ensure they are effective, scalable, and aligned with iwoca’s growth in new products.
  • Lead the design, implementation, and maintenance of transaction monitoring controls, working closely with Operations, Legal, and Product teams to integrate them into iwoca’s UK product offerings.
  • Collaborate with internal teams to improve and streamline financial crime compliance workflows, ensuring they align with new product developments.
• Policy & Training
  • Develop and maintain AML/CTF and financial crime policies and procedures to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and best industry practices.
  • Deliver engaging training programmes across the organisation, promoting awareness and understanding of financial crime risks, and ensuring that both first- and second-line teams are equipped to identify and mitigate risks.
  • Work with the Product and Transformation teams to ensure financial crime compliance is embedded into new product offerings and services from the outset.
• Governance & Regulatory Engagement
  • Act as the primary contact for financial crime matters with the FCA and relevant authorities.
  • Lead the development and delivery of MLRO reporting, internal MI, and dashboards to track financial crime risks and performance metrics, ensuring accurate and timely reporting to senior management.
  • Oversee financial crime policy and procedure updates, ensuring compliance with changing UK regulations and best practices.
  • Provide regular updates and reports on financial crime risk management activities, including findings from investigations, risk assessments, and key metrics for senior management.
• Team Leadership & Collaboration
  • Lead the financial crime compliance team, setting direction and supporting development.
  • Collaborate with Legal, Product, Operations, and Risk teams to embed financial crime compliance into business processes.
  • Manage the investigation and operational resolution of financial crime flags escalated by the first line of defence, including fraud and SARs.

Requirements:

• 8+ years of experience in financial crime compliance, with prior MLRO or Deputy MLRO experience, ideally in B2B lending, fintech, or alternative credit.
• Strong understanding of UK and EU AML regulations, sanctions compliance, and fraud prevention.
• Experience in scaling compliance programmes for businesses diversifying their product offerings (e.g., credit cards, BNPL, EMI).
• Expertise in risk assessments, CDD, EDD, and transaction monitoring.
• Proven ability to collaborate with internal teams (management, product, risk) and external regulators (e.g., FCA, law enforcement).
• Ability to manage the evolving financial crime risks associated with product diversification.
• Leadership experience and the ability to build and maintain effective compliance frameworks.
• Relevant professional certifications (e.g. ICA Diploma in AML or Financial Crime Prevention).

The salary: We’re open-minded, so definitely include your salary goals with your application. We routinely benchmark salaries against market rates and run quarterly performance and salary reviews.

The culture: At iwoca, we look to hire smart, passionate, humble individuals with a growth mindset. We prioritise a culture of learning, growth, and support, and invest in the professional development of our team members. We value thought and skill diversity and encourage you to explore new areas of interest to help us innovate and improve our products and services. Our friendly and inclusive environment, combined with our flexible work policies, ensures that you’ll have the perfect balance between work and life, empowering you to thrive both personally and professionally.

The offices: We put a lot of effort into making iwoca a brilliant place to work: Offices in London, Leeds, and Frankfurt with plenty of drinks and snacks. Events and clubs, like bingo, comedy nights, yoga classes, football, etc.

The benefits: Medical insurance from Vitality, including discounted gym membership. A private GP service (separate from Vitality) for you, your partner, and your dependents. 25 days’ holiday, an extra day off for your birthday, the option to buy or sell an additional five days of annual leave, and unlimited unpaid leave. A one-month, fully paid sabbatical after four years. Instant access to emotional and mental health support. 3% Pension contributions and share options. Generous parental leave and a nursery tax benefit scheme to help you save money. Cycle-to-work scheme and electric car scheme. Two company retreats a year, we’ve been to France, Italy, Spain, and further afield. And to make sure we all keep learning, we offer: A learning and development budget for everyone. Company-wide talks with internal and external speakers. Access to learning platforms like Treehouse.