Hybrid Head of Compliance – Financial Crime

at Aave Labs

• Job title: Head of Compliance – Financial Crime
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Lead
• Salary: Not specified
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Dublin, Ireland

About the role

• Head of Compliance and Financial Crime leading compliance frameworks for Aave Labs, regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Ensuring adherence to regulatory obligations across jurisdictions.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the approved PCF-12 (Head of Compliance) and PCF-52 (Head of AML/CTF).
• Maintain overall responsibility for the firm’s compliance and AML/CTF frameworks.
• Ensure the firm complies with all applicable Irish and EU regulatory obligations.
• Provide formal Compliance and Financial Crime reporting to the Irish Board.
• Act as primary regulatory liaison with the Central Bank of Ireland in respect of compliance and financial crime matters.
• Ensure robust implementation of AML/CTF controls, including business-wide and customer risk assessments; CDD/EDD frameworks; ongoing monitoring and transaction monitoring; suspicious activity reporting; and sanctions compliance.
• Contribute towards the design, implementation, and continuous enhancement of a Group-wide compliance and financial crime framework, ensuring alignment with applicable regulatory requirements in Ireland, the UK, and the US.
• Promote consistent standards, governance principles, and control frameworks across jurisdictions, while accommodating local legal and regulatory nuances.
• Oversee the Group Compliance Plan, including regulatory reporting obligations, monitoring and testing programmes, and remediation tracking.
• Provide consolidated management information and thematic reporting to Group leadership and relevant Boards.
• Act as an escalation point for first line teams across jurisdictions, including the Financial Crime and Support teams.
• Support regulatory engagement and examinations across all jurisdictions, including coordination of responses and remediation activities.
• Partner with Product, Operations, Engineering, and Legal teams to ensure regulatory requirements are embedded into new products, market expansion initiatives, and operational processes.
• Support global expansion efforts by assessing regulatory implications and building scalable control frameworks.
• Monitor and assess global regulatory developments ensuring proactive implementation of new requirements.
• Foster a strong culture of compliance, integrity, and financial crime awareness across the organisation.
• Lead Compliance and Financial Crime training programmes across jurisdictions.
• Maintain strong working relationships with regulators, law enforcement, auditors, and external advisors across Ireland, the UK, and the US.
• Mentor and develop members of the Compliance and Financial Crime teams.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in law, finance, business, or related field (professional certifications such as ACAMS, ICA, or equivalent highly desirable).
• Minimum 10 years’ experience in senior compliance and/or financial crime roles within regulated financial services.
• Demonstrable experience in payments and/or cryptoasset businesses across multiple jurisdictions.
• Experience interacting directly with regulators and Boards.
• Strong knowledge of Irish, EU, UK, and US regulatory frameworks applicable to payments and/or cryptoasset service providers.
• Experience performing a PCF or equivalent senior regulatory control function is highly desirable.
• Strong leadership capability, with the ability to operate both strategically and hands-on.
• Excellent analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• A pragmatic, commercially aware problem-solver with a builder mindset.

Benefits

• Equal opportunities employer
• Diverse workforce
• Safe and valued environment