AML / Financial Crime Lead (UK) in Manchester

The Legal Chain is a UK-based legal and regulatory advisory firm focused on blockchain, crypto, and Web3. We work with token issuers, exchanges, stablecoin operators, and infrastructure projects navigating FCA authorisation, MLR 2017, MiCA, and the wider UK and EU regulatory landscape. This role owns the firm's financial crime practice — the operational discipline that turns regulatory advice into frameworks clients can actually run.

About the Role

You will lead the AML and financial crime function across client mandates. Where our regulatory counsel answers what the rules require, you answer how a crypto business actually lives inside them: the policies, the monitoring, the escalation triggers, the file a regulator or law enforcement will eventually ask for. In financial crime work, the regulator doesn't care what you knew — only what you can show. Day to day, you will design and implement AML/CTF frameworks for crypto clients, run on-chain transaction monitoring setups, support FCA registration applications with firm-wide risk assessments and policies, handle SAR investigations, and act as outsourced MLRO for clients that need it. You will also own the firm's internal financial crime posture. This is a senior, hands‑on role. You are not managing a team on day one — you are doing the work, setting the standard, and building the practice as client volume grows.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implement AML/CTF frameworks for crypto clients: firm-wide risk assessments, CDD/EDD procedures, policies, and ongoing monitoring.
• Lead Travel Rule compliance programmes, including solution selection, counterparty due diligence, and operational rollout.
• Support FCA cryptoasset registration applications with the financial crime content that regulators actually scrutinise.
• Run on-chain transaction monitoring setups using tools such as Chainalysis, TRM Labs, or Elliptic, and translate alerts into defensible investigative output.
• Handle SAR preparation and NCA liaison on client mandates, with the documentation discipline those files demand.
• Advise on sanctions compliance across OFSI, OFAC, and EU regimes as they apply to crypto flows.
• Act as outsourced MLRO for smaller client engagements where that model fits.
• Build and maintain the firm's internal financial crime framework, including its own MLR 2017 obligations.

What We're Looking For

• Must have 7+ years in AML and financial crime, in regulated financial services, law enforcement, FIU, or a specialist advisory setting.
• 3+ years of that experience specifically in crypto, digital assets, or blockchain.
• Deep working knowledge of MLR 2017, POCA 2002, and FCA expectations for cryptoasset businesses.
• Hands‑on experience implementing the Travel Rule in a UK or EU context.
• Practical experience with at least one major on‑chain analytics platform (Chainalysis, TRM Labs, Elliptic, or equivalent).
• Track record of drafting policies, risk assessments, and SARs that have survived external scrutiny.
• UK resident with the right to work in the UK without sponsorship.
• Native or fully fluent English, with clear written drafting at a professional standard.

Personal qualities that matter to us

• Absolute discretion. You will see client customer files, transaction data, and incident response in real time. That information stays inside the walls.
• Investigative patience. Good financial crime work rewards the person who keeps pulling the thread after everyone else has stopped.
• Calm under pressure. When a SAR is live or a regulator is on the phone, you are the steady voice in the room.
• Long‑term mindset. We are building a practice, not rotating through billable hours. The right person wants to be here in five years.

Nice to have

• Prior MLRO or Deputy MLRO role at an FCA‑registered cryptoasset firm.
• ICA Diploma, ACAMS CAMS, or equivalent qualification.
• Background in law enforcement, the NCA, or a national FIU.
• Experience coordinating with EU AML supervisors (BaFin, AMF, CSSF, or equivalent).
• Familiarity with 6AMLD, DAC8, and incoming EU AMLR/AMLD6 implementation.
• Experience building financial crime training programmes for non‑specialist teams.

What We Offer

• Above‑market base salary (~20% above industry benchmarks for this level).
• No variable compensation; we believe in paying well and predictably.
• Fully remote role, based in the UK, with flexibility on working hours (European business hours overlap required).
• Direct ownership of client financial crime programmes end‑to‑end — no buried layer of reviewers between you and the work.
• Access to a proper analytics tool stack and the budget to use it.
• A long‑term, stable role with a company that values integrity and invests in the people who build it.

How to Apply

Send your CV. We review every application and will follow up with a short set of screening questions. Promising candidates are invited to a full interview where we discuss experience and fit in depth.