Head of Escalations

About us:

BVNK provides modern payment infrastructure for businesses. We unify banks and blockchains in a single platform. With BVNK, businesses can send and receive stablecoin payments, convert between currencies, and add stablecoin payments to their checkout. Using our flexible platform and robust global licensing and compliance expertise, innovators can launch new payment products quickly and compliantly.

We are a diverse team spread across EMEA, North America, and APAC, with a shared belief that all payment flows will interact with crypto in the coming decade, and BVNK will be at the forefront of this transformation of the financial system.

We recently secured a strategic investment from Visa through their Visa Ventures arm. This follows our $50 million Series B in December, led by Haun Ventures with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Scribble Ventures, DRW Venture Capital, Avenir, and Tiger Global. The continued confidence from these leading investors has enabled us to accelerate our growth trajectory, and we’re looking for smart, ambitious people to help us build the next generation of payments.

We’re incredibly honored to have made Newsweek’s list of The Top 100 Global Most Loved Workplaces two years running (2023 and 2024) and to have been recognised by LinkedIn as one of the Top 20 Startups in the UK in 2024.

About this role in the team:

We are seeking a highly experienced and detail-oriented High-Risk Escalations Specialist to join our Financial Crime Compliance Operations team as part of the first line of defence. Reporting to the VP of Financial Crime Operations, you’ll play a key role in delivering a seamless onboarding experience for new BVNK clients — across both fiat and crypto payment products.

In this role, you will be responsible for handling escalated customer onboarding cases that present heightened risk, including those associated with complex structures, sensitive jurisdictions, or higher-risk verticals such as crypto, CFDs, and gaming.

This is a pivotal role bridging compliance expertise and operational efficiency. We are looking for a team player; someone who is adaptable and enjoys solving complex problems in a constantly changing environment. You must be able to think strategically, prioritise appropriately, manage numerous concurring priorities, and work well under stress. You will be comfortable managing senior stakeholders, unpacking complex issues, and distilling key learnings across the teams

Your key stakeholders are MLROs, VP of Financial Crime, VP of Business Operations, VP of Financial Crime Operations and Onboarding Leads.

Key Areas of Responsibilities:

• Serve as the first-line decision-maker for onboarding high-risk customers, ensuring thorough due diligence and risk assessments are performed before approvals.
• Assess escalated cases across a range of high-risk verticals and geographies and complex corporate structures.
• Advising on escalations by the Onboarding team, including prospective and existing customer portfolio risks, sanctions, adverse media, politically exposed persons, and transaction monitoring.
• Working closely with the VP of Financial Crime, ensuring feedback loops are established when weaknesses are detected, and bespoke awareness sessions, or any other appropriate action, are quickly completed.
• Act as a subject matter expert on KYC, CDD, EDD, and source of wealth/funds reviews, especially for high-risk entities and individuals.
• Review and interpret information from various screening tools, open-source intelligence (OSINT), UBO structures, and documentation to make risk-aligned onboarding decisions.
• Collaborate closely with the second line of defence (Compliance Advisory/MLRO) and escalate further where necessary (e.g., potential PEPs, sanctions exposure, adverse media concerns).
• Maintain strong awareness of regulatory frameworks relevant to the UK, EU, and US, including evolving AML/CTF obligations.
• Liaise with onboarding analysts to coach, upskill and guide the appropriate handling of complex cases.
• Identify patterns, gaps, or weaknesses in first-line onboarding processes and propose enhancements or controls.
• Contribute to policy and procedure updates based on case trends and regulatory developments.
• Participate in and support internal and external audits, banking partner audits/reviews, and client calls

Qualifications & Skills:

• 10+ years of experience in compliance, onboarding or financial crime operations within a regulated financial services environment, preferably in fintech, neobanking, crypto, or payments.
• Hands-on experience reviewing high-risk customer files and applying relevant onboarding standards and regulatory guidance (e.g. JMLSG, FATF, FinCEN, FCA/ESMA).
• Strong working knowledge of risks associated with cryptoassets, CFDs, online gambling/gaming, and the ability to differentiate nuanced risk profiles across business models.
• Familiarity with UK, EU and US regulatory expectations related to AML, CDD/EDD, and onboarding best practices.
• Comfortable working with a high degree of autonomy and managing evolving priorities while managing stakeholder expectations.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret complex structures, flag unusual patterns, and take risk-based decisions under pressure.
• Familiarity with tools like, Salesforce, Worldcheck, Sumsub or any other onboarding platforms is a plus
• Strong communication skills and comfort presenting cases and recommendations to senior stakeholders including MLROs, Risk Committees, or external partners.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, cross-functional team, and balancing operational throughput with regulatory scrutiny.

What you can expect from us:

• Fair and competitive salary at every stage of your growth
• Meaningful ownership in the business through our employee option scheme
• Flexible working hours, with hybrid working at its heart
• A culture built on passionate, growth-minded people
• A flexible approach to holiday
• Opportunities to travel to our offices around the world
• An open and creative environment where you can help us define the future of BVNK, its culture, and its opportunity sets

At BVNK, we are focused on building a diverse and inclusive team. While you may not meet all of our requirements, we’d encourage you to apply if you meet the majority of our expectations. You may be a great fit for this role or another role in our team.