TikTok EU/UK Senior Financial Crime Compliance Officer

The Global Payment team provides TikTok payment solutions, including payment acquisitions, disbursements, transaction monitoring, payment method management, foreign exchange conversion, accounting, reconciliations, and so on to ensure that our users have a smooth and secure payment experience on the TikTok platform. The Global Payment Compliance team, leveraging industry and technological expertise, provides compliance policy, oversight, advisory and operational support to all of ByteDance's and TikTok's products and services. We are looking for an experienced and pragmatic financial crime compliance officer to function as Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) equivalent to oversee Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terrorist Financing (CTF) compliance for our local entity. While we are a social media platform and not a traditional financial institution, our ecosystem involves financial transactions. In this role, you will act as the primary focal point for AML/CTF compliance. You will ensure that our platform remains safe from financial abuse while maintaining a seamless experience for our users, creators and merchants. The role will support the TikTok AML/CTF Officer and will have day-to-day responsibility for AML/CFT risk management based on the guidelines drawn from relevant payment and AML regulations in the EU and UK.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) equivalent for relevant UK and EU entities, with responsibility for AML/CFT oversight based on local regulatory requirements (e.g., FCA, Central Bank of Ireland, and other designated EU authorities).
• Serve as the primary point of contact for regulators, law-enforcement agencies (including the UK National Crime Agency), and external auditors on AML/CFT matters.
• Lead and coordinate responses to regulatory inspections, supervisory reviews, regulatory engagements, internal audits, and independent assurance activities, ensuring timely and effective remediation of findings.
• Provide regular and ad-hoc AML/CFT risk reporting and advice to Senior Management and governance committees, including escalation of material issues.
• Conduct and maintain the local entity’s Enterprise-Wide Risk Assessment (EWRA) specifically focusing on risks inherent to social media, and product, customer, and geographic risk analyses.
• Adapt global AML/CTF policies to fit local laws and the specific operational reality of the local market, ensuring we meet industry best practices for a non-regulated environment.
• Assist in the oversight, design, implementation, and ongoing effectiveness of TikTok's AML/CFT control framework, covering customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, suspicious transaction reporting (STRs), and record-keeping.
• Ensure TikTok's AML/CFT controls are appropriately calibrated to TikTok's products, transaction flows, and customer risk profiles.
• Identify emerging risks (including typologies relevant to digital payments and platform-enabled financial activity) and drive enhancements to policies, systems, and governance.
• Work with the advisory team during the launch of new monetization features to build "Compliance by Design."
• Provide authoritative AML/CFT advice to Senior Management, product, operations, technology, and legal teams on EU and UK regulatory requirements and financial-crime risk.
• Act as a key stakeholder in new product approvals, market expansions, and significant change initiatives, ensuring AML/CFT risks are assessed and mitigated in line with local regulator expectations.
• Build strong working relationships across the business to promote AML/CFT ownership, awareness, and timely issue escalation.
• Oversee the development and delivery of AML/CFT training and awareness programs tailored to UK and EU role-based responsibilities.
• Maintain a strong understanding of UK and EU AML/CFT legislative and regulatory developments, including payments-specific requirements, and ensure timely implementation across the business.
• Use regulatory feedback, audit outcomes, and internal quality-assurance results to continuously strengthen the AML/CFT program.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• 10+ years of AML/CFT compliance experience, with a strong preference for experience in the payments, e-money, or fintech sector.
• Proven experience serving as a designated MLRO or equivalent senior AML function, with direct accountability to regulators.
• Demonstrated experience engaging with UK and/or EU regulators and law-enforcement authorities, including managing regulatory examinations and audits.
• Strong understanding of the payments ecosystem, including payment products, transaction flows, and associated financial-crime risks.
• Experience conducting enterprise-wide AML/CFT risk assessments and developing or enhancing AML/CFT policies, procedures, and control frameworks.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior experience working within a regulatory authority or regulated payment institution is advantageous.
• Strong leadership, decision-making, and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to operate independently and exercise sound regulatory judgment in a complex environment.