Director, Consumer Compliance

Founded in 2018, Bakkt, Inc. is a regulated financial technology company building infrastructure for the future of finance. Bakkt's platform serves financial institutions, fintechs, and consumer finance products — providing the compliance, security, and scale required to deliver trusted financial services at a global level. Through its core business pillars, Bakkt powers institutional-grade trading capabilities, AI-enabled programmable finance, and cross-border payment infrastructure.

As the Director of Consumer Banking & Regulatory Compliance, you will join our Second Line of Defense (2LoD) to build, oversee, and scale the compliance framework for our Neobank rollout. Reporting directly to the Chief Compliance Officer, you will own the regulatory compliance strategy for our consumer banking products, manage partner bank governance, and support our cryptocurrency and brokerage operations.

Additionally, you will be instrumental in designing and overseeing our risk management and fraud prevention frameworks, ensuring safe, secure, and compliant payment operations across the platform. This is a high-impact, cross-functional role requiring deep expertise in US consumer protection regulations, partner bank relationships, and a forward-looking mindset to help scale our fintech and digital asset ecosystems domestically and globally.

• Lead the Neobank Rollout: Own the compliance strategy and execution for the rollout of Bakkt's Neobank initiatives.
• Regulatory Oversight: Manage compliance policies and oversight for US consumer regulations, including UDAAP, Regulation E, and Regulation Z.
• Marketing & Advertising Reviews: Conduct comprehensive compliance reviews and approvals of marketing collateral, advertising, and user-facing communications.

• Sponsor Bank Governance: Serve as the primary compliance interface and manage robust partner bank governance frameworks and relationship management.
• Second Line of Defense Oversight: Monitor and evaluate First Line of Defense operations (such as onboarding, customer service, and fraud operations) to identify gaps, conduct risk assessments, and advise on process improvements.
• Quality Control (QC): Independently test 1LoD processes, including KYC onboarding,  fraud alert clearing, Reg E, etc.

• Payments Risk Oversight: Manage and mitigate risks associated with multiple payment rails (ACH, Wires, Cards), monitoring return rates, chargebacks, and ensuring strict adherence to NACHA and card network rules.
• Fraud Strategy & Prevention: Provide 2LoD oversight of fraud prevention strategies, addressing Account Takeover (ATO), synthetic identity fraud, and transactional fraud to minimize financial losses and protect consumers.
• Comprehensive Risk Assessments: Lead periodic enterprise, operational, and product risk assessments, defining risk tolerances, key risk indicators (KRIs), and mitigation plans for the consumer banking ecosystem.

• Crypto & Brokerage Collaboration: Partner closely with Financial Crimes Compliance, Licensing, and Brokerage teams to align regulatory approaches across crypto and traditional fiat services.
• European Regulatory Alignment (Plus): Support the assessment of European Neobank compliance requirements and design pathways to align with MiCA Conduct of Business and Investor Protection rules.

• Experience: 5+ years of compliance or legal experience within a fintech, neobank, challenger bank, or a sponsor-bank program.
• Regulatory Expertise: Strong operational knowledge of US consumer banking regulations (specifically UDAAP, Reg E, and Reg Z).
• Fraud & Payments Risk Acumen: Deep understanding of payment operations, network rules (e.g., NACHA, Visa/Mastercard), and modern fraud typologies alongside mitigation tools.
• Risk Frameworks: Proven experience conducting operational and enterprise risk assessments within a complex fintech or digital asset environment.
• Partner Bank Relations: Proven experience establishing or managing governance programs with partner/sponsor banks.
• Three Lines of Defense Familiarity: Practical experience operating within a formalized Three Lines of Defense risk management framework.
• EU & Crypto Knowledge (Preferred): Knowledge of digital asset compliance, brokerage environments, or European regulations (such as MiCA and GDPR) is a significant plus to support our global expansion.
• Collaborative Mindset: Superb communication skills and the ability to partner effectively with product, engineering, marketing, and operations teams to build compliance-by-design.

• Shaping the Future: We are at the intersection of traditional finance and the digital asset revolution.
• Impact: You will have a direct hand in building a global consumer banking and crypto ecosystem from the ground up.
• Inclusivity and Flexibility: We support a highly collaborative, remote-friendly culture with competitive benefits, equity, and growth opportunities.

Bakkt is devoted to having diversity in its workforce and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Bakkt does not make any employment decisions based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, veteran status, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by law. Must successfully pass a post-offer background check and drug screen. 

California Candidate Privacy Notice
Before submitting your application, please review Bakkt's California Candidate Privacy Notice and Notice at Collection, which explains how Bakkt collects, uses, retains, and discloses applicant and candidate personal information during the recruiting process. The notice is available here: https://bakkt.com/candidate-privacy/