Head of Fraud and Financial Crime

Fintellect Recruitment; Greater London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000

Job description

Director | Headhunter | Invoice Finance & ABL | Venture Debt & Growth Cap | Women in Business

About the Company

Our client is the UK’s newest credit card provider that will deliver a range of fair, flexible and easy to use financial services products to UK consumers. We help people make smarter decisions with money, so they can get more out of life. Joining at the start of our journey creates a unique opportunity to have a significant impact and influence foundational decisions whilst creating the opportunity for you to grow in your career alongside the growth of the company. We have a solid model framework in place, but are nimble enough to explore innovative ways of working and thinking. This role will have a diverse set of responsibilities, with a focus on leveraging data to drive short term and longer term priorities. Working at a fintech means there is always a lot to do, but you would be part of a wider team that is focused on developing something great for us and our customers.

Role Overview of Head of Fraud and Financial Crime

We are seeking a highly experienced Head of Fraud & Financial Crime to lead our fraud prevention, detection, and response strategies. This role will be responsible for developing and implementing robust financial crime frameworks, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, and protecting the business from fraud-related risks. The ideal candidate will have a deep understanding of fraud trends, payment security, financial crime compliance, and emerging threats in the fintech and credit card industry.

Key Responsibilities of Head of Fraud and Financial Crime

1. Fraud Strategy & Prevention
   • Develop and execute a comprehensive fraud risk management strategy across the customer lifecycle.
   • Design and optimize fraud prevention policies, controls, and detection systems to minimize losses while ensuring a frictionless customer experience.
   • Implement advanced fraud analytics, machine learning models, and transaction monitoring tools to detect suspicious activity.
   • Lead a proactive approach to identifying emerging fraud threats, including account takeover, synthetic identity fraud, and card-not-present (CNP) fraud.
   • Oversee the financial crime framework, including anti-money laundering (AML), counter-terrorist financing (CTF), and sanctions compliance.
   • Ensure compliance with relevant regulations (e.g., FCA, PSD2, AMLD, FinCEN, GDPR) and industry best practices.
   • Collaborate with compliance teams to maintain robust Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) processes.
   • Drive the continuous enhancement of transaction monitoring and suspicious activity reporting (SARs).
   • Establish and lead a fraud operations team to investigate and respond to fraud cases, chargebacks, and disputes.
   • Develop key fraud KPIs and reporting metrics, providing insights to senior leadership on fraud trends and performance.
   • Liaise with external partners, law enforcement, and regulatory bodies to share intelligence and coordinate investigations.
   • Conduct root cause analysis of fraud incidents and recommend enhancements to fraud prevention mechanisms.
2. Technology & Innovation
   • Work closely with product, engineering, and data science teams to integrate fraud prevention measures into digital products and services.
   • Evaluate and implement fraud prevention technologies, including AI-driven fraud detection, biometrics, and behavioral analytics.
   • Stay ahead of industry developments, regulatory changes, and emerging financial crime risks to continuously refine fraud strategies.

Key Requirements of the Head of Fraud and Financial Crime

1. Experience & Skills
   • 8+ years of experience in fraud prevention, financial crime, or risk management, in a fintech, credit card, or payments environment.
   • Strong understanding of fraud typologies, including card fraud, transaction fraud, identity fraud, and social engineering scams.
   • Expertise in financial crime regulations (AML, KYC, CTF, sanctions compliance) within the UK, EU, and/or US.
   • Hands-on experience with fraud detection tools, transaction monitoring systems, and machine learning-based fraud prevention technologies.
   • Proven ability to lead, mentor, and develop high-performing fraud and financial crime teams.
   • Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
   • Strong stakeholder management experience, with the ability to influence and collaborate with cross-functional teams.
2. Preferred Qualifications
   • Professional certifications such as CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist), CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner), or ICA (International Compliance Association) qualifications are a plus.
   • Experience working with regulators, law enforcement, or financial crime networks.

Seniority level

Director

Employment type

Full-time

Job function

Accounting/Auditing, Consulting, and Finance

Industries

Banking and Financial Services