Senior Compliance Specialist – Governance & Reporting

ABOUT US
We’re the world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services, headquartered in Belgium. We are the way the world moves value – across borders, through cities and overseas. No other organisation can address the scale, precision, pace and trust that this demands, and we’re proud to support the global economy. We’re unique too. We were established to find a better way for the global financial community to move value – a reliable, safe and secure approach that the community can trust, completely. We’re always striving to be better and are constantly evolving in an ever-changing landscape, without undermining that trust. Five decades on, our vibrant community reflects the complexity and diversity of the financial ecosystem. We innovate diligently, test exhaustively, then implement fast. In a connected and exciting era, our mission has never been more relevant. Swift now has a presence in 200+ countries and legal territories to serve a community of more than 12,000 banks and financial institutions.

Join Swift’s Compliance team
Swift strives to operate in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and Swift’s Compliance team has the mission to make that happen. We’ve recently launched a major governance and regulatory change programme—so the team is growing, and we’re looking for an experienced compliance professional who enjoys bringing structure, clarity and momentum to complex topics. As Senior Compliance Specialist – Governance & Reporting, you’ll sit at the heart of how Compliance communicates risk, issues and priorities to Executive Management and the Board. You’ll help shape an evolving capability—strengthening ways of working, raising the quality of insight, ensuring a clear, consistent and coherent view of Compliance risks, issues and priorities.

Role purpose
This role is accountable for defining, leading and continuously improving Compliance governance, management information and reporting across Swift, while supporting oversight and delivery tracking for key regulatory change initiatives. Reporting directly to the Chief Compliance Officer, the role ensures that Compliance communicates a clear, coherent and decision-focused view of risks, issues and priorities to Executive Management, the Management Board and the Supervisory Board. The role leads a small team and sets the standards, operating model and expectations for governance and reporting across Compliance—ensuring consistency, quality and impact.

Key responsibilities

• Executive & Board Reporting
  • Own the end‐to‐end Compliance reporting cycle for all stakeholders, including the Chief Compliance Officer, Executive Management, the Management Board, Board Committees and the Supervisory Board.
  • Own the end-to-end narrative to Executive Management and the Board, ensuring materials are clear, focused on decision-making and reflect a consistent message.
  • Partner directly with the CCO and senior stakeholders across Legal, Compliance, Risk and the business to shape messaging, align priorities and avoid conflicting messages across forums.
• Compliance Committee
  • Run the Compliance Committee end‐to‐end (agenda, submissions, minutes/actions, follow‐up), keeping the forum focused and effective.
  • Ensure leaders receive clear, relevant and timely information—prioritised to support oversight and decisions.
  • Keep strong governance discipline around escalation paths, decision records and action tracking—so nothing critical gets lost.
  • Maintain the terms of reference for the Compliance Committee, including periodic reviews and updates.
• Quality, Insight & Narrative
  • Own the Compliance management information framework, including what is reported, why it matters and how it supports oversight and decision-making.
  • Lead the collation and validation of data used to measure and monitor compliance, working with teams across the business to ensure reporting is timely, accurate and complete.
  • Draw out key themes, emerging risks, issues and anomalies, applying judgment and challenge so that the right matters are escalated at the right time.
  • Set high standards for data quality, reporting discipline and insight—ensuring reporting supports informed discussion, challenge and decision-making, not just information sharing.
• Capability Maturity
  • Define and embed strong ways of working, standards and expectations for Compliance governance and reporting.
  • Continuously improve the Compliance Committee and reporting approach as the function matures and expectations evolve.
  • Document and maintain governance and reporting processes, procedures, templates and playbooks—making it easy for teams to follow a consistent, high‐quality approach.
  • Assess and help shape the tools, processes and data capabilities needed to support effective compliance monitoring and reporting.
• Leadership
  • Lead and develop the Compliance Governance & Reporting team, setting priorities, allocating resources and maintaining a high bar for quality and timeliness.
  • Support governance, oversight and delivery tracking for key regulatory change initiatives, helping to establish proportionate PMO discipline where needed.
  • Act as a senior partner to Compliance, Risk, Legal and business teams, influencing stakeholders to align on priorities, messaging and decisions.
  • Be required to participate in, and at times lead, key initiatives and workstreams across the wider Compliance function—bringing structure, delivery discipline and strong stakeholder engagement.

Experience & profile

• 7-10 years’ relevant experience in Compliance, Risk, or Governance within a regulated environment.
• Proven track record of engaging with Executive Management and Board-level audiences, including shaping and delivering key messages for senior governance forums.
• Strong experience translating complex topics into clear, decision-relevant narratives for senior stakeholders.
• Strong capability in creating accurate reporting and managing data in a disciplined and controlled way.
• Experience owning management information and reporting, including defining metrics, improving data quality and using insight to challenge and influence senior stakeholders.
• Comfortable working with data, reporting processes and analytical tools, with the judgement to spot inconsistencies, trends and areas requiring escalation.
• Experience supporting cross-functional regulatory or compliance change initiatives, with strong delivery discipline, tracking and stakeholder coordination.
• A builder’s mindset: you enjoy improving operating models, setting standards, and making governance/reporting work better for everyone.
• Comfortable operating with ambiguity and evolving expectations—able to bring order, priorities and pace.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and challenge at senior level with credibility and confidence.
• A passion for continuous improvement and a visible commitment to high‐quality delivery and impeccable attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including confident stakeholder management and presentation.
• Professional proficiency in English.

What we offer
We give you the freedom to be yourself. We are creating an environment of unique individuals – like you – with different perspectives on the financial industry and the world. A diverse and inclusive environment in which everyone’s voice counts and where you can reach your full potential.

We are committed to an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation related to accessibility during your application or interview, please contact accessibility-Sysgroup@swift.com or indicate this in your application. Please note that this mailbox is not monitored for general recruitment enquiries and should only be used for accessibility or accommodation-related requests (for example related to vision, hearing or neurodiversity). All requests are confidential and will not affect your candidacy.

Don’t meet every single requirement? At Swift, we are dedicated to building a workplace where people can bring their full selves and ideas to the team, so if you are excited about this role, we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet every single qualification.