Compliance Officer (Regulatory Focus), E-Money & Payments

Our client is a global fintech operating at the intersection of crypto and traditional payments. It builds products that help people and businesses buy, sell, and exchange cryptocurrency, serving millions of customers across 180+ countries. It is self-funded, with a distributed team across Europe, Ukraine and the US.

It holds a MiCA CASP authorisation and a Payment Institution (PSD2) licence in the EU, one of a small group in Europe holding both, alongside US and Canadian registrations. Two EMI authorisations are now in flight.

This role owns the e-money and payments side of the regulatory pipeline: live EMI regulatory workstreams in the EEA and the UK (FCA), the safeguarding framework at the centre of both, and the post-authorisation obligations.

You report to the Global Chief of Compliance. The core of the work is regulatory drafting and analysis: governance and safeguarding narratives, internal control system descriptions, policies and procedures, regulatory gap analyses and responses to regulators, written independently and defensible under regulatory challenge. This is not an MLRO or transaction-monitoring role; day-to-day AML operations sit with the MLRO and the analyst team.

• EEA EMI regulatory workstream with the national regulator: governance and internal control system descriptions, policies and procedures, own funds and wind-down documentation, regulator correspondence and RFI cycles

• UK EMI regulatory workstream with the FCA: governance, safeguarding under the FCA’s current safeguarding rules, and the AML governance narrative for the file

• The safeguarding framework across both perimeters: method, segregation, reconciliation and evidence, breach reporting, audit readiness

• Post-authorisation implementation and evidencing of the EU Payment Institution (PSD2) licence and its obligations

• Regulatory assessment of payment products, payment-flow changes, agent and distributor arrangements, and outsourcing

• Gap analyses, thematic reviews, remediation plans, and verification that approved controls operate in practice

• 5+ years in regulatory compliance (authorisation, licensing, policy and governance drafting), including 3+ years inside an EEA or UK e-money or payment institution authorised by a national competent authority. Operational AML or transaction-monitoring experience alone does not meet this requirement

• Hands-on experience of an e-money or payments authorisation framework (EEA EMI/PI under EMD2/PSD2, or UK EMRs/PSRs), taken through submission and regulator review

• You have personally drafted governance/ICS narratives, policies or safeguarding documentation for an authorisation file, and can name the regulator and what it pushed back on

• Safeguarding: you have drafted or owned a safeguarding framework and can explain method, reconciliation and evidence

• Working knowledge of EMD2/PSD2 and the UK e-money and payments regime: authorisation conditions, own funds, agents and distributors, outsourcing, wind-down

• Working knowledge of DORA, AMLD/FATF standards, sanctions, outsourcing and governance requirements

• Ability to navigate primary legislation and guidance independently, and to tell mandatory requirements apart from risk appetite

• Fluent professional English with excellent written drafting

• European engagement location with a minimum four-hour overlap with the European working day

• An authorisation granted on a file you drafted

• Safeguarding audit experience, including remediation of a qualified opinion

• Payment-system access or SEPA scheme adherence handled from the compliance side

• Genuine crypto exposure alongside payments (MiCA/CASP)

• Awareness of PSD3/PSR and the AMLA/AMLR transition

• ICA Diploma in GRC, CAMS or comparable