Head of Compliance & MLRO (SMF16 & SMF17)
London (City)
Hybrid (3 days in 2 from home)
A newly-authorised, fast-growing UK specialist retail/lending bank is looking for its next Head of Compliance & MLRO to take full ownership of the second-line compliance and financial crime framework.
This is a genuine build role with Board access. You'll hold both the SMF16 (Compliance Oversight) and SMF17 (MLRO) functions and shape the compliance culture of a scaling institution from an early stage.
What you'll own
- The firm-wide compliance monitoring framework, policies and FCA/PRA relationship
- Consumer Duty embedding across mortgage and savings propositions, evidencing good outcomes for a non-standard customer base
- The full AML, CTF, sanctions and fraud framework as Nominated Officer — including a customer base with meaningful cross-border and PEP exposure
- SMCR implementation, financial crime risk assessment, SAR reporting and the annual MLRO report to the Board
- Building and developing the compliance function as the bank grows
What we're looking for
- Current or recent FCA/PRA approval as SMF16 and/or SMF17, with proven retail lending experience (ideally mortgages)
- Strong working knowledge of MCOB, BCOBS, Consumer Duty, SMCR and the financial crime regime (MLRs 2017, POCA, JMLSG, OFSI sanctions)
- A track record of building or maturing compliance in a smaller, growing or newly-authorised firm — balancing rigour with proportionality
- Experience managing higher-risk or cross-border customer exposure is a strong advantage
- A pragmatic, commercial partner to the business who can also hold the line
Why this role
The autonomy to build a function the right way, a clear social mission, direct Board engagement, and the chance to grow with a bank at the start of its journey.
