Financial Crime Operations Team Manager in London

Who are we

Founded in 1896, Knight Frank is one of the world's leading independent real estate consultancies. We work responsibly in partnership to enhance people's lives and environments in over 50 Markets, 600+ Offices, 20,000+ People, 1 Global Network. At the heart of all we do are our Clients. A relationship built on trust is vital. As trusted partners in property, we act with integrity and care, understanding our clients’ unique needs and consistently thinking about the bigger picture to provide personalised, clear and considered advice across all areas of property.

Our collaborative and engaged teams provide excellent and dedicated client service. In our workplace, opinions are respected, everyone is invited to contribute to the success of our business and innovation, and new ideas are celebrated.

About The Role

Knight Frank is seeking a Financial Crime Operations Team Manager to join our Head Office in Baker Street. We are looking for someone who can lead the day‐to‐day delivery of Financial Crime requirements and CDD/EDD operations across our estate agency business. The role will provide hands‐on leadership to the centralised KYC team, whilst also managing two Senior CDD & AML Supervisors, who support the front office with AML queries, training, risk assessments, and complex case escalations. This is a key leadership position responsible for ensuring robust, compliant, and efficient AML processes across all parts of the real estate lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities:

• Team Leadership & Oversight
  • Manage and develop the CDD/EDD operations team, providing coaching, guidance, and structured career development.
  • Directly manage two Senior CDD & AML Supervisors, with broader oversight of an extended team comprising Senior EDD/CDD Specialists and CDD/AML Officers.
  • Monitor daily case flow, allocate workloads where applicable, and ensure SLAs are consistently met.
  • Lead daily stand‐ups, performance reviews, and QA discussions.
• Estate Agency AML Governance
  • Oversee AML quality checks for sellers, buyers, landlords, tenants, and corporate entities involved in property transactions.
  • Ensure robust verification of identity, beneficial ownership, and authority to act, in line with property‐specific AML requirements.
  • Support high‐risk transaction reviews including: Off‐market or high‐value prime purchases, Overseas entities buying/selling UK property, Probate and executor‐led transactions, Companies, trusts, LLPs, funds, and SPVs, Third‐party payments and complex SOF/SOW routes.
  • Act as the senior escalation point for complex or sensitive estate agency cases.
• Quality Control & Continuous Improvement
  • Conduct regular QC checks on KYC files to ensure accuracy, completeness, auditability, and alignment with internal policies.
  • Identify training gaps within the business partner team and wider estate agency offices; support their delivery.
  • Drive improvements to AML workflows, ensuring efficient and consistent processes across all market teams.
  • Work with IT and transformation functions to enhance AML onboarding tools and customer journeys.
• Partnership with the Business
  • Work closely with Office Heads, Regional Partners, Negotiators, and Support Teams to ensure Financial Crime requirements are understood and consistently applied.
  • Guide front‐office teams through complex AML situations, risk assessments, and documentation requirements.
  • Provide MI and risk insights to senior estate agency leadership, identifying trends or emerging risks.
  • Support senior management in responding to regulators, auditors, and internal governance committees.
• Policy, Risk & Regulatory Compliance
  • Interpret and operationalise Financial Crime legislation relevant to real estate (MLR 2017, HMRC Supervision, sanctions, PEPs, property‐related guidance, ABC, tax evasion, CTF).
  • Contribute to the development and maintenance of operational Financial Crime policies and guidance notes.
  • Maintain strong controls around sanctions, PEP identification, ongoing monitoring, and adverse media screening.
  • Support internal audits, external legal reviews, and regulatory inspections.

Skills and Experience Required:

Essential

• 5+ years of AML/KYC/financial crime experience, ideally within estate agency, property services, conveyancing, or professional services.
• Proven experience managing or supervising a financial crime/KYC team.
• Strong understanding of AML risks specific to property transactions and the real estate sector.
• Experience handling complex KYC for companies, trusts, overseas entities, funds, and private wealth clients.
• Comfortable reviewing and verifying SOF/SOW in the context of property purchases and rental arrangements.
• Ability to build strong relationships and influence stakeholders across a fast‐paced sales environment.
• Excellent attention to detail and strong judgement.

Desirable

• Experience managing business partner‐style roles or supporting front‐office teams.
• Strong understanding of upstream/downstream impacts within the estate agency process (instructions → marketing → offers → sales progression → completion).
• ICA/ACAMS or other recognised AML qualifications.
• Experience producing MI dashboards and operational reporting.

Personal Attributes

• Confident leader with a collaborative and approachable style.
• Commercially aware and able to balance regulatory obligations with practical business needs.
• Strong communicator who can translate complex AML requirements into clear guidance for negotiators and partners.
• Calm under pressure, solution‐oriented, and able to manage competing priorities.
• High integrity and strong ethical standards.

Competitive salary. Please note: this is a Direct Search led by Knight Frank. Applications from recruitment agencies will not be accepted nor will fees be paid for unsolicited CVs, even if provided by PSL agencies.