Financial Crime Specialist in Manchester

KYC Financial Crime Specialist responsible for protecting the bank from financial crime by conducting Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), assessing transaction activity, and ensuring onboarding and ongoing customer checks are completed. This hybrid role requires 7.5 hour shifts between 8 am and 8 pm, Monday to Friday, with weekend day remote work every other week and bank holiday work as per policy.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct thorough, risk‑proportionate investigations on customers including medium and high‑risk customers, ensuring all critical due diligence information is obtained and documented to the required standard.
• Assess customers' Source of Wealth (SoW) and Source of Funds (SoF), evaluating whether declared wealth and funds are consistent with their overall risk profile and transactional behaviour.
• Complete EDD reviews for Specially Interested Persons (SIPs), Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs), and customers subject to court orders or law enforcement enquiries.
• Manage a caseload of ongoing and onboarding customer risk review cases efficiently, maintaining high throughput without sacrificing investigative quality.
• Identify and escalate customers whose risk profile has materially changed, applying sound regulatory and commercial judgement.
• Adapt quickly to changing volumes and prioritisation needs, demonstrating resilience and flexibility in a fast‑moving operational environment.
• Conduct onboarding and ongoing name screening checks to accurately identify sanctioned individuals, PEPs, and Relatives and Close Associates (RCAs).
• Assess screening alerts with confidence and precision, escalating appropriately and completing EDD based on positive findings in line with policy and regulatory requirements.
• Maintain a strong understanding of sanctions regimes, including OFSI, OFAC, and UN designations, and their implications for customer relationships.
• Conduct ad‑hoc payment screening on international inbound credits to ensure funds have not originated from a sanctioned entity or individual.
• Make timely, well‑reasoned screening decisions, escalating potential matches in accordance with agreed procedures and required timeframes.
• Handle inbound and outbound phone‑based and chat‑based interactions with customers, engaging with them, addressing inquiries, and providing support or assistance regarding suspended accounts.
• Leverage AI‑enabled monitoring and investigation tools to identify patterns, generate case summaries, and support decision‑making.
• Critically assess AI‑generated outputs—including alerts, recommendations, and investigative summaries—to ensure accuracy, regulatory alignment, and sound case decisions.
• Use insights from AI tools to support risk identification, drive investigation efficiency, and produce high‑quality written summaries and recommendations.
• Contribute observations and feedback on AI tool performance to support the continuous improvement of monitoring systems and financial crime controls.
• Champion a forward‑thinking, technology‑positive approach within the team, helping to embed AI‑assisted ways of working that enhance rather than replace human judgement.

Key Qualifications

• Experience in financial crime risk management, with a focus on EDD, AML, and/or KYC processes, ideally within a fintech, challenger bank, or regulated financial institution.
• Strong command of UK financial crime regulations, including the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), Money Laundering Regulations (MLR 2017), and FCA guidelines on financial crime.
• In‑depth knowledge of financial crime risk typologies, due diligence processes, transaction monitoring methodologies, and name screening best practice.
• Awareness of emerging financial crime trends relevant to the fintech sector, including crypto‑asset risks, APP fraud, and sanctions evasion.
• Demonstrated experience working in a target‑driven or high‑throughput compliance operations environment.
• Strong analytical ability and meticulous attention to detail, with the capacity to assess complex financial transactions and identify potential financial crime typologies.
• Solid understanding of AML/KYC processes including transaction monitoring, adverse media screening, EDD, and PEP/sanctions screening.
• Ability to produce clear, well‑structured written documentation, including investigation summaries, escalation reports, and risk assessments.
• Comfortable working with AI‑powered compliance tools, and able to critically evaluate AI‑generated outputs to support compliant case decisions.
• Thrives in a fast‑paced, high‑volume environment and demonstrates strong personal organisation and time management to meet case SLAs.
• Proactive and solutions‑focused, with the initiative to flag issues early and adapt to changing priorities.
• Collaborative team player who builds effective relationships with internal stakeholders across compliance, operations, and technology teams, as well as external parties where required.
• Demonstrates professionalism and strict confidentiality at all times.

Subject to having the right to work in the country of choice.

Diversity Statement

Zopa is proud to offer a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds leads to better products for our customers and a unique company culture for our people. We are made up of nearly 50 nationalities, have a DE&I forum, and are proud of our culture where everyone can bring their full self to work. Our approach to DE&I is reflected in our hiring process, so please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.