Head of Financial Crime Operations

This job is brought to you by Jobs/Redefined, the UK's leading over-50s age inclusive jobs board. LemFi (Series B) is building the go-to financial app for the Global South. Moving to a new country shouldn't mean starting from zero. That's why our team of 400+ spanning 20+ countries is building a financial ecosystem that helps immigrants stay connected to home, build stability, and create wealth regardless of where they are from or where they live. What began as fast, affordable remittances is now evolving into a complete platform for multi-currency accounts, payments, credit, and long-term financial growth. With over 2 million users across the globe, we process over $1.5B in monthly transactions to 30+ countries, proving that borders shouldn't limit financial opportunity.

The Role

You will be the engine behind LemFi's Financial Crime Operations. Your primary focus will be leading investigations, streamlining unblocks, and improving operational efficiency to protect our customers while maintaining regulatory compliance. You won't just manage queues; you will design and optimise workflows, implement data-driven improvements, and lead a high-performing team that ensures financial crime is prevented without compromising the user experience.

How You'll Contribute

• Lead & Develop: Manage and mentor the Financial Crime Operations team, overseeing investigations, unblocks, and analyst performance.
• Drive Operational Excellence: Own key KPIs such as Time-to-Unblock, investigation turnaround, and QA accuracy, ensuring workflows are efficient and reliable.
• Optimise Processes: Maintain and enhance SOPs, QA processes, and operational dashboards, identifying and addressing inefficiencies using data insights.
• Collaborate Across Teams: Partner with Product to refine rules and unblock experiments, and with Compliance and the MLRO on escalations, SARs, and regulatory reporting.
• Data-Driven Insights: Provide actionable insights on false positives, alert quality, and investigation trends to continuously improve financial crime operations.
• Stakeholder Management: Manage communications with banking partners and law enforcement, ensuring timely, high-quality responses within SLAs.
• Support Compliance & Audits: Assist Compliance with regulatory reporting and audits, implementing improvements through the change-control framework.

Who You Are

• Impact-Oriented: You thrive in a fast-paced, high-volume environment, balancing fraud prevention, customer experience, and regulatory safety.
• Analytical & Process-Focused: You enjoy solving complex problems, improving workflows, and leveraging data to optimise operations.
• Leadership-Driven: You are experienced in leading teams, mentoring analysts, and driving high performance.
• Collaborative: You communicate effectively with Product, Compliance, and external partners, ensuring alignment across the business.
• Curious & Adaptive: You seek opportunities to improve systems, unblock bottlenecks, and scale operations across multiple markets.

What You'll Bring

• 5+ years of experience in AML or Fraud operations, including at least 2 years in a leadership role.
• Strong knowledge of AML/Fraud frameworks, ideally in the UK, US, and Canada.
• Proven experience managing investigations, alerts, and escalations in a fintech or financial institution.
• Excellent analytical skills with proficiency in Excel or similar analysis tools.
• Experience in fintech or payments companies, with ability to collaborate across Product and Compliance teams.
• Desirable: Knowledge of AML/CFT regulations in Africa, Asia, and Europe, and CAMS certification or equivalent.

The Interview Process

• Chat with a Talent Partner (30 mins)
• Behaviours & Culture Interview (45 mins)
• Case Study (3 days to complete + 1-hour presentation)
• Final Interview (30 mins)

Why Join LemFi?

Love shouldn't be expensive, yet those working hardest for their families often face predatory fees and banking exclusion. We're changing this. At LemFi, you won't be just a cog in a machine. Whether designing products, scaling operations, or telling our story, you'll tackle complex challenges with real, immediate impact. Your work goes beyond metrics - it puts money back in families' pockets and offers access to the previously excluded. Join us to make a meaningful difference, where high performance is a lifeline for millions.

Our Values: How We Win

• Sharp Customer Focus: We cut through the noise and prioritise ruthlessly based on what drives real value.
• Lead with Data: We trade instinct for insight. We test, analyze, and own the outcomes.
• Ownership: We take responsibility for global outcomes, not just local wins.
• Grit: We navigate ambiguity with resilience and keep pushing until the customer feels the impact.

Diversity & Inclusion at LemFi: To build the best financial tools for the global diaspora, we need a team that reflects the world we serve. We welcome builders from all walks of life who embody our values over a perfect resume. Don't meet every single requirement in the job ad? Research shows that candidates from underrepresented backgrounds often hesitate to apply if they don't check every box. If you are excited about this role and our mission, we encourage you to apply anyway. You might be just the right person for this, or other roles.