Financial Crime Operations Manager

iBanFirst is a fast‑growing European fintech that simplifies international payments for SMEs, enabling control over currency conversion, transaction flow, and risk management.

The Role

We are looking for a Manager – Financial Crime Operations to lead our first‑line defense teams (Transaction Monitoring, Fraud Detection, Regulatory Ops) and build quality & operational controls.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop our three teams, set priorities, manage performance, and build a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Oversee daily operations: alert review, case investigation, SAR filing, and escalation processes.
• Manage capacity and workload to maintain SLAs and keep backlogs low.
• Own the fraud detection and prevention framework: typologies, detection rules, investigation workflows, and outcomes tracking.
• Stay current on financial‑crime trends and adapt the detection approach.
• Design and implement a quality‑insurance framework for each team, defining and tracking KPIs such as detection rates, false‑positive ratios, case‑resolution times, and SAR quality.
• Conduct regular calibration and quality reviews to maintain high standards.
• Use data to assess performance of each value chain; work with Product and Engineering to improve systems and integrate automation.
• Identify opportunities to leverage AI/ML to enhance detection and reduce manual effort.
• Ensure compliance with Belgian and EU AML/CFT obligations and produce insight‑driven reporting for senior leadership.
• Lead or support regulatory audits and inspections related to transaction monitoring and fraud; serve as key contact for C‑levels on governance meetings.

Key Priorities by Timeframe

First 3 months: ramp up systems, build trust, map existing processes, and prioritize improvement areas.

First 6 months: deliver initial quality assurance framework, define KPIs, and launch at least one automation initiative.

First 12 months: own the end‑to‑end fraud framework, demonstrate measurable improvement, and build a 12‑month roadmap aligned with growth plans.

Qualifications

Experience

• 5–10 years in similar roles at financial institutions or management consulting (Big 4, MBB, Tier 2).
• Experience in fintech or regulated industry projects is a strong plus.
• Exposure to compliance, risk, or financial‑crime topics through client work or regulatory projects.

Skills

• Natural leadership and proven management experience.
• Exceptional structuring and problem‑solving skills.
• Strong data analytics capabilities; comfortable building dashboards and deriving insights.
• Proven ability to design processes and quality frameworks from scratch.
• Project‑management instincts: sequence work, track delivery, hold people accountable.
• High proficiency in AI and automation concepts and enthusiasm to apply them operationally.
• Fluent in French and English; confident communicating with senior stakeholders.

Nice to Have

• Hands‑on experience with a transaction monitoring platform (ComplyAdvantage, Actimize, Napier, or equivalent).
• Familiarity with French or Belgian regulatory environment (NBB, CTIF, ACPR, Tracfin, LCB‑FT).

What Makes You Stand Out

• Led a transformation or process redesign project end‑to‑end.
• Energized by owning an operational function and optimizing it with technology.
• Curious about financial crime and sees it as intellectually demanding.

Benefits

• Permanent contract (CDI).
• Office location: Paris; hybrid work policy: 2 days remote per week.
• Competitive salary: €75,000 – €110,000 gross annual, depending on experience.
• Benefits: Swile meal card, AXA health insurance, commuter benefits, RTT (extra paid days off), Gymlib subscription, paid parental leave.
• Participation in company‑wide events, team offsites, parties, and regular social activities.