Director, Fraud and Financial Crime Operations - Business Banking in Manchester

The Director, Financial Crime Operations will provide strategic leadership of OakNorth Bank's first line of defense for business current accounts, covering fraud prevention, AML transaction monitoring, and sanctions screening. This role will set the vision, lead cross-functional execution, and ensure that financial crime risk management not only meets regulatory standards but enables OakNorth's growth plans, designed and executed for scale.

Responsibilities

• Own and continuously evolve the Bank's financial crime and claims management framework.
• Lead, mentor, and scale teams across Manchester and India, embedding innovation and resilience.
• Provide oversight of core platforms and optimise them for effectiveness, efficiency, and compliance.
• Partner with senior stakeholders across Compliance, Operational Risk, Product, Engineering, and Operations to build a scalable and compliant operating model.
• Represent OakNorth with regulators, auditors, and industry bodies, ensuring credibility and thought leadership.

Strategic Leadership & Risk Ownership

• Define and lead the first line strategy for fraud, AML, sanctions, and claims management.
• Anticipate emerging financial crime threats and regulatory changes (FCA, POCA, MLRs, JMLSG, OFSI, PSD2, VISA scheme rules).
• Serve as executive escalation point for all major fraud, AML, sanctions, or dispute claims issues.
• Own risk appetite calibration, KRIs, and thresholds in partnership with Compliance and Operational Risk.
• Provide OpCo with thematic insights, residual risk reporting, and forward-looking risk strategies.
• Act as business owner for the fraud and transaction monitoring and screening platforms.
• Own continuous optimisation of rules across fraud, AML, and sanctions — balancing detection, efficiency, and customer friction.
• Lead monthly reviews of system performance and adjust rules as appropriate, subject to governance.
• Implement synthetic testing, A/B experimentation, and challenger/champion models to validate rule effectiveness.
• Partner with Engineering to embed machine learning, automation, and advanced analytics.
• Ensure monitoring and screening systems are scalable from hundreds to thousands of accounts.
• Oversee UK Business Current Account & Card Payments Risk Management across features (payments, overdrafts, lending, direct debits, standing orders, international transfers, faster payments, CHAPS, card payments).
• Lead the claims management function for card payments, including Section 75 claims, VISA chargebacks, consumer disputes, and adherence to VISA scheme requirements.
• Ensure compliance with PSD2, SCA, and APP scam reimbursement rules.
• Partner with Product and Engineering to build seamless customer journeys with embedded fraud/claims controls.
• Serve as OakNorth's subject matter expert on payments regulation, card scheme requirements, and dispute processes.

Cross-Functional Partnership & Product Enablement

• Act as SME for new product launches and features — defining "what good looks like" for fraud, AML, sanctions, and claims risk.
• Collaborate with Compliance (2LOD) and Operational Risk to align risk appetite, policies, and assurance frameworks.
• Drive product and engineering to design new functionality with embedded controls (e.g., card issuance, international payments).
• Partner with Operations to delegate low-risk processes in a controlled way, optimizing cost and efficiency.
• Influence senior stakeholders at HQ on strategy, investment, and risk management priorities.

People Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, mentor, and scale high-performing teams across London, Manchester and India.
• Build functional expertise in fraud analytics, transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, and dispute claims.
• Provide visible leadership to adjacent teams in client onboarding, ongoing monitoring, and quality control.
• Establish succession planning, career pathways, and a leadership bench for sustainable growth.
• Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.

Governance, Reporting & Assurance

• Own and present MI, KRI, and risk dashboards to senior management.
• Chair financial crime and claims governance forums, reviewing all rule changes, system upgrades, and product launches for risk.
• Lead internal and external audit engagements, evidencing robust control design and operation.
• Ensure casework, investigations, and dispute handling are documented to the highest standard, compliant with internal policies and regulatory expectations.
• Oversee bank-wide QA and QC frameworks, including error taxonomies and remediation tracking.

External Engagement & Representation

• Represent OakNorth with regulators (FCA, OFSI), card schemes (VISA), auditors, and industry forums.
• Maintain awareness of industry fraud and claims trends and bring insights back into OakNorth's strategy.
• Negotiate with vendors to secure technology enhancements and value for money.
• Position OakNorth as a leader in safe, scalable, technology-enabled financial crime and claims management.

Experience & Skills (Qualifications)

• Deep familiarity with UK business current account features and financial crime risks across sanctions, money laundering and fraud.
• 10+ years of senior leadership in financial crime risk management, covering fraud, AML, sanctions, and card payments claims.
• Proven experience managing VISA debit disputes, chargebacks, and consumer claims.
• Track record of designing, implementing, and optimising transaction monitoring systems.
• Proven experience leading teams across multiple geographies.
• Strong knowledge of fraud typologies (APP scams, impersonation, CNP fraud, mule activity, synthetic ID, etc).
• Experience leading technology transformation in financial crime (transaction monitoring, screening, machine learning, fraud authentication).
• Significant experience influencing and advising at Executive level.

Leadership & Stakeholder Skills

• Exceptional ability to partner across Compliance, Operational Risk, Product, Engineering, and Operations.
• Proven record of influencing executives, regulators, and auditors with clarity and authority.
• Skilled in balancing regulatory expectations, operational efficiency, and customer experience.
• Strong mentor and people leader, with experience developing future leaders.

Personal Attributes

• Strategic thinker with a hands-on curiosity for systems, data, and analytics.
• Pragmatic and decisive, with resilience in a scaling, fast-paced environment.
• Collaborative and credible with internal and external stakeholders.
• Passionate about customer protection, product enablement, and building best-in-class controls.

Benefits & Perks

• Equity. We want people to have a stake in the business so that all our interests are aligned.
• 25 days holiday.
• Personalized benefits – opt-in to what matters to you.
• Subsidised Private Medical Insurance with Bupa.
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave.
• Wellbeing and social events.
• In-house Barista Bar in London office.
• Support causes that matter to you – Volunteering time off.
• Salary sacrifice schemes (Cycle to work, nursery, gym, electric car scheme).