AML First Line of Defense Specialist

Staff AML First Line of Defense Specialist

Business Units: NC - Charlotte; CA - San Francisco; NY - New York City.

Shape a brighter financial future with us. Together with our members, we’re changing the way people think about and interact with personal finance. We’re a next-generation financial services company and national bank using innovative, mobile-first technology to help our millions of members reach their goals. The industry is going through an unprecedented transformation, and we’re at the forefront. We’re proud to come to work every day knowing that what we do has a direct impact on people’s lives, with our core values guiding us every step of the way.

Join us to invest in yourself, your career, and the financial world.

The role: The Staff Anti-Money Laundering Line of Defense Specialist will play a crucial role in safeguarding SoFi by ensuring effective implementation of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Sanctions policies across the business. This dynamic position sits within the Member Business Unit reporting to the AML First Line of Defense Lead, and offers the opportunity to collaborate with teams across SoFi, driving both compliance and innovation to ensure each business meets regulatory requirements.

• Direct the alignment and enhancement of SoFi’s AML program implementation into the first line of defense across SoFi’s businesses.
• Owning the controls for collection and verification of customer information in line with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) requirements, including Customer Due Diligence (CDD).
• Owning the controls for collecting and validating relevant updates to customer information in accordance with SoFi’s procedures.
• Supporting the growth of Commercial Payments Services (Banking as a Service) to ensure effective implementation of customer and transaction monitoring systems and escalation processes.
• Support the creation, iteration, and execution of AML-related policies, making appropriate risk tradeoffs.
• Driving the remediation of AML-related issues impacting SoFi’s business, customers, and clients.
• Lead the process enhancements across frontline facing staff including operations.
• Cross-Functional Partnership & Influence: Act as a key liaison between Compliance, Risk, Engineering, and Operations to drive front line AML program enhancements, focusing on accurate and complete capturing of customer data, business strategies to mitigate AML risk, and prioritization of innovative technology-driven compliance solutions.
• Support the development and implementation of AML-related controls and process improvements.
• Take ownership of issues that span across business lines which have a common solution.
• Strategic Leadership & Oversight: Support SoFi’s businesses to effectively implement AML policies, embedding compliance into business processes and technology.
• Align with stakeholders to develop and implement quarterly and annual objectives, as well as reporting to measure and improve performance.
• Support leadership on emerging AML technology and industry best practices to proactively shape SoFi’s compliance strategy.
• Foster a strong risk culture by educating senior business leaders and product teams on AML priorities, ensuring adherence to compliance requirements across all business initiatives.
• Contributes to development of company objectives. Solves problems and drives results related to those objectives in creative and effective ways.
• Run at problems and identify operational pain points and opportunities to improve processes and our member experience.

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Economics, Finance, or related field.
• 8+ years of experience in risk management, business operations, technology, strategy, consulting, or similar roles.
• Experience working with or within a regulated financial institution, with specific experience developing and implementing an AML program.
• Experience working with technical teams.
• Data-driven, able to analyze data with strong attention to detail and accuracy, and passionate about telling the story behind the numbers.
• Strong management, organizational, and evaluative process skills; ability to analyze complex…