VP, Compliance Model Governance & Supplier Management

Overview

Role Summary/

Purpose:

The VP, Compliance Model Governance and Supplier will serve as the business and technical owner of Synchrony’s BSA/AML transaction monitoring and watchlist screening models, critical for combating financial crime and ensuring regulatory compliance. Responsibilities include managing the model governance process across development, vendor management, monitoring, validation, implementation and regulatory responses. The role requires leadership of strategic initiatives to enhance model robustness, effectiveness, and accuracy through oversight and collaboration with Model Risk Management (MRM), Compliance, Data Management, and external vendors.

This position maintains high standards in model performance, regulatory adherence, and supplier management and informs senior leadership decisions and regulatory examinations.

Our Way of Working

We’re proud to offer you choice and flexibility. You may work from home, near one of our hubs, or in one of our offices. Occasionally you may be asked to commute to the nearest office for in-person meetings, training, or culture events.

• Governance & Strategic Model Ownership The full lifecycle governance of AML transaction monitoring and watchlist screening models, including model selection, development, validation, implementation, ongoing monitoring, tuning, and retirement.

• Lead model projects working closely with vendors and/or cross-functionally.

• Work on data collection, data cleansing, methodology evaluation, model assessment, model development, testing and validation.

• Maintain comprehensive model documentation needed to meet regulatory requirements.

• Lead the model monitoring process, including root cause drivers of material shifts in model performance and maintain model change logs.

• Manage audit and validation requests, and develop remediation plans for timely resolution of issues uncovered through those requests.

• Act as the senior escalation point for model-related risks, regulatory inquiries, and audit findings.

• Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement Direct and mentor AML model analysts, fostering cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing.

• Build trusted advisor relationships with Legal, Data Management, Operations, Technology and third-party vendors to drive continuous improvement.

• Present regular model performance and risk reports to senior leadership, regulatory bodies, and risk committees.

• Model Performance & Continuous Improvement Champion ongoing model performance monitoring and tuning initiatives to proactively identify model degradation, false positives/negatives, and emerging risks.

• Lead efforts to innovate and enhance existing models leveraging advanced analytics, AI/ML techniques, and new data sources.

• Third-Party & Vendor Management Own the end-to-end management of third-party model providers, including onboarding, due diligence, performance monitoring, and contract compliance.

• Lead vendor risk assessments, audits, and remediation activities to safeguard the integrity and reliability of outsourced models.

• In collaboration with Sourcing and Legal, negotiate service level agreements and model performance expectations with external partners.

• Regulatory & Audit Readiness Maintain comprehensive, audit-ready documentation of model governance activities, validations, tuning, and issue remediation.

• Proactively engage with examiners and internal auditors, ensuring Synchrony’s AML models meet or exceed regulatory expectations.

• Lead response efforts to regulatory inquiries, internal findings, and industry developments related to AML/OFAC compliance modeling.

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree (MBA, MS in Data Science, Finance, or related field) strongly preferred; in lieu of a degree 11+ years of experience in AML/BSA compliance, model risk management, financial crime, or related regulatory roles within financial services.

• 8+ years of experience in AML/BSA compliance, model risk management, financial crime, or related regulatory roles within financial services.

• 2+ years management experience.

• 6+ years’ hands-on programming skills with proven experience utilizing Python, SAS, SQL,…