Job Description
About Us
Longbridge is an AI-Powered online brokerage that serves global investors with optimal trading experiences through building worldwide trading infrastructure and networks. Established in March 2019, Longbridge holds 22 financial licenses and qualifications across the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand and other regions, having secured over US $150 million in strategic investments from major financial and investment institutions. Its subsidiary, Longbridge Securities (Hong Kong) Limited (CE No.: BPX066), holds Type 1, 2, 4, and 9 licenses issued by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)
About the Role
As the Group Head of AML/CFT & Sanctions Compliance, you will serve as both the strategic architect of the Group’s financial crime framework and the hands-on leader for its cross-border execution. Reporting directly to the Group Head of Legal, you will oversee AML/CFT and sanctions compliance across all licensed entities globally, spanning multiple expanding jurisdictions across APAC and North America.Crucially, a substantial majority of the core focus will be dedicated to managing the AML/CFT regimes of the Group’s primary operating market and its licensed corporations in Hong Kong. This role requires an authoritative expert capable of balancing high-level regulatory governance with a deep dive into systems, data, and daily transaction monitoring typologies
Key Responsibilities
1. Core Market Regulatory Leadership & Oversight
- Regulatory Alignment: Serve as the primary lead for the AML/CFT and sanctions compliance of the Group's core licensed corporations (LCs). Ensure absolute alignment with local regulatory regimes, overseeing CDD/EDD, ongoing monitoring, and robust record-keeping.
- Framework Ownership: Own the end-to-end design, implementation, and maintenance of the core AML policies and controls.
- Operational Oversight & Escalation: Supervise alert handling, ensure the quality and velocity of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) to relevant Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), and manage PEP/sanctions screening workflows.
- Regulator Engagement: Support and oversee the local MLRO function. Act as the primary point of contact for local regulatory bodies regarding queries, audits, onsite inspections, and remediation roadmaps.
2. Group Governance & Framework Architecture
- Target Operating Model: Establish and maintain a robust Three Lines of Defense (3LoD) governance structure. Own the global AML/CFT policy suite using a “Group Master + Local Annex” model, ensuring rigorous annual and event-triggered updates.
- Risk Assessment & Reporting: Design and execute the Enterprise-Wide Risk Assessment (EWRA). Define the Group’s risk appetite, establish Key Risk Indicators (KRIs), and deliver high-impact reporting to the Group Head of Legal, Compliance Committee, and the Board.
- Growth Enablement: Lead pre-launch AML risk assessments for new products, business lines, and corporate expansions into new jurisdictions. Drive the swift, closed-loop remediation of all internal/external audit and regulatory examination findings.
3. AML Technology, Systems & Data Governance
- Tech Roadmap Strategy: Drive the selection, configuration, and optimization of core AML systems, including KYC/CDD onboarding, risk scoring, transaction monitoring (TM), sanctions/adverse media screening, and case management.
- Model Tuning & Validation: Govern the logic, thresholds, and clear rationale for all rules. Partner with IT, Data, and Product teams to run periodic model validation, tune algorithms to minimize false positives, and safeguard customer data quality across all entities.
4. Advanced Transaction Monitoring & Typology Design
- Scenario Calibration: Design a sophisticated transaction monitoring framework embedded with brokerage-specific typologies (e.g., structuring, pass-through activity, wash/manipulative trading, and complex sanctions evasions).
- Workflow Optimization: Manage a tiered alert-disposition workflow backed by strict SLAs and airtight audit trails. Direct the end-to-end SAR/STR process across all applicable jurisdictions.
- Performance Metrics: Continuously monitor operations via key operational metrics (backlog volumes, turnaround times, SAR conversion rates) and maintain pristine documentation for regulatory scrutiny.
5. Cross-Border Oversight & Capability Building
- International Alignment: Set baseline financial crime standards and partner with local MLROs/compliance leads to ensure strict compliance with relevant regional regulations across APAC and western markets.
- Culture & Training: Design and deliver the Group’s AML/CFT training curriculum for all staff tiers, including the Board of Directors. Mentor and upscale localized compliance talent across the Group.
Job Requirements
- Academic & Professional Credentials: Bachelor’s degree or above in Law, Finance, Accounting, or a related discipline. Professional certification (e.g., ACAMS/CAMS, ICA Diploma) is highly preferred.
- Tenure: 12+ years of progressive experience within AML/CFT, financial crime, or regulatory compliance, with a minimum of 5 years in a definitive leadership/headship role.
- Industry Pedigree: Proven background within licensed corporations (securities/brokerage), tier-1/2 banks, a Big Four advisory firm, or a financial regulatory body.
- Subject Matter Expertise: Deep, practical knowledge of the local financial regulatory frameworks (specifically Hong Kong SFC or equivalent). Proven track record of either building or comprehensively restructuring an AML compliance framework and driving large-scale AML system migrations/implementations.
- Geographic Scope: Prior experience acting as an MLRO or handling intensive regulatory examinations is highly desirable. Regional compliance management experience across multiple APAC or international regimes is a distinct advantage.
Key Skills & Competencies
- Technical Execution: The unique ability to translate complex regulatory requirements into highly practical, executable policies and crisp system logic configurations.
- Leadership & Influence: Strong cross-functional and cross-jurisdictional leadership presence; able to influence senior stakeholders, tech developers, and local entity leads alike.
- Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills in both English and Chinese (or relevant regional business language).
- Judgment: Impeccable risk judgment, intellectual independence, and a solutions-oriented mindset.
- Data Literacy: Comfort working with data analytics, automation tools, and complex system logic.
- Mobility: Willingness to travel regionally as required to support group entities.
