Requirements
Candidates must have over twelve years of financial services compliance and MLRO experience, with a proven ability to build frameworks or manage startup licensing. Direct experience with regulatory bodies like FSRA, DFSA, FCA, or MAS is essential. Key technical skills include AML/CFT expertise, transaction monitoring, and overseeing outsourced compliance vendors. A commercially astute mindset is required to advise the executive board.
Description
Job description / Role
Job Type
Full Time
Job Location
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Nationality
Any Nationality
Salary
Not Specified
Gender
Not Specified
Arabic Fluency
Not Specified
Job Function
Legal
Company Industry
Finance, Investment & Asset Management
About the company
An institutional digital-asset financing and treasury platform, backed by a tier-1 global bank and a leading hedge fund manager, is seeking a Head of Compliance and MLRO for its founding team in Abu Dhabi. Operating within the ADGM jurisdiction, this tech-first business provides regulated USD and stablecoin lending against digital-asset collateral alongside curated tokenized investment opportunities.
Role overview
Reporting directly to the CEO, the successful candidate will build the compliance and financial crime functions from the ground up, serving as a critical voice in securing and maintaining the platform's FSRA Category 3C and 4 permissions, including Virtual Asset endorsements.
Key responsibilities
The primary mandate focuses on driving the remaining workstreams of the FSRA authorization process in coordination with external counsel and senior leadership. Upon receiving licensing, the role transitions to designing and implementing a comprehensive, institutional-grade AML/CFT, sanctions, and transaction monitoring framework.
A key commercial challenge involves taking group-standard policies from the shareholder bank and adapting them into a proportionate, nimble framework optimized for a deal-by-deal SPV lending model. This requires balancing absolute regulatory rigor with the operational velocity of a startup, establishing controls that safely facilitate business growth without compromising institutional credibility.
Additionally, the mandate includes selecting, onboarding, and managing external vendors for screening, KYC/KYB, and outsourced compliance support, while maintaining ultimate accountability within the firm.
Candidate requirements
Candidates must possess twelve-plus years of financial services compliance and MLRO experience, with a proven track record of managing build-from-scratch frameworks or startup licensing regimes. Direct experience navigating authorization processes with major regulatory bodies such as the FSRA, DFSA, FCA, or MAS is required.
Essential technical skills include robust AML/CFT expertise, practical knowledge of transaction monitoring, and experience overseeing outsourced compliance vendors. The ideal professional exhibits a commercially astute mindset, capable of acting as a trusted advisor to the executive board on regulatory strategy and product expansion.
Prior experience within the ADGM ecosystem, exposure to blockchain analytics tools like Chainalysis or TRM, and a background in bank-sponsored joint ventures are highly advantageous.
Compensation and benefits
The position offers a competitive base salary, performance bonuses, meaningful equity, and full relocation support to Abu Dhabi.
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