Head of Product Compliance

Company Description

Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move and manage the world’s money. Min fees. Max ease. Full speed.Whether people and businesses are sending money to another country, spending abroad, or making and receiving international payments, Wise is on a mission to make their life easier and save them money.As part of our team, you will be helping us create an entirely new network for the world's money. For everyone, everywhere.More about our mission.

Job Description

Head of Product Compliance - North America 

We’re looking for a Head of Product Compliance to join our growing Product team here in North America, our largest and fastest growing market. This role is a unique opportunity to have a direct impact on the Wise Mission to continue to empower millions of people with instant, boardless money. While also developing your skills as a Product Compliance leader.

Your mission: 

Wise has already pioneered new ways for people to transfer money across borders and currencies. Your mission is to enable our product team in North America to launch new products and grow our presence in the U.S. and Canada through a deep understanding of the regulatory and financial crime requirements while conducting direct communication with Regulators and Auditors to understand the expectations around them. This is a first line Product Compliance lead role, hands-on and embedded in the North America Product Squad. 

You will be leading a team responsible to: 

Product and regulatory change design: 

• empower Product Teams to build compliant by design new products and services by advising them on how to implement regulatory requirements in a customer-oriented way while fully adhering to regulatory requirements;
• ensure that regulatory analysis of new products and services are performed and well-documented, and that related controls are implemented consistently prior to launch; 
• ensure that regulatory change gap analysis are performed and that implementation plans are timely executed;

Audit, risk and remediation (including Fincrime):  

• conduct audit management and, where required, challenge audit findings in collaboration with Compliance second line and Product teams, 
• ensure that remediation plans are agreed upon across lines and executed timely; 
• advise Product and operational teams on how to interpret regulatory requirements or improve processes to avoid regulatory breaches and/or incidents; 
• in collaboration with Risk and Compliance second line and North America Product Squad, drive the quarterly reporting on North America regulatory risks; 
• represent Wise in external meetings with Banking Partners and Regulators; 

Third parties relationships: 

• clearly and effectively articulate our controls and all Wise Products (including Wise Platform, our payment infrastructure offer); 
• provide input on regulatory related agreements and clauses, always representing Wise customer-oriented culture while ensuring compliance. 

This role will give you the opportunity to: 

• grow your hands-on Fintech knowledge at full speed; 
• keep compliance right at the heart of the product development cycle, in a fast-moving environment;
• be empowered to identify regulatory issues or opportunities and take a lead in execution. 

About you: 

• You have the ability to drive business decisions by convincing both internal and external parties such as Regulators, Auditors, and internal Product Teams on product execution 
• Have a deep understanding of our product and service offerings, customers, and company and how they are impacted by regulations (including financial crime)
• ability to prioritize effectively and call-out what are the key areas of improvement and implementation required from a regulatory point of view 
• ability to effectively communicate with Product Managers and Engineers and provide practical, actionable, and value added recommendations 
• a natural owner, that drives and delivers project from inception to completion, timely and with attention to the details 
• A strong people leader with experience building and scaling Product Compliance teams 
• experience (or interest) in working in a fast-growing environment
• previous financial regulation advisory role or experience in a compliance/legal department, risk and control function or in a consultancy environment
• expert of major US Financial Regulation (i.e. Reg E, UDAAP, and FINTRAC)
• ability to analyze and interpret complex regulatory frameworks and apply them effectively 
• ability to deal with multiple regulatory domains (i.e. regulatory permissions, consumer protection both in payments and investment environments, client assets, AML, security, privacy, etc.) and to understand how they interact with one-another 
• willingness to travel, as Wise offices are located across different countries; and
• legally authorized to work in the U.S.

Some extra skills that would be great: 

• experience in building a team from the beginning
• experience with Confluence, Jira 
• experience working with global teams 

Key benefits:

• 🚀 RSU’s in a rapidly growing company 
• 💪 An annual self-development budget
• 🩺 Medical, dental, & vision insurance – including HSA and FSA options
• 💝 Company-paid: Life Insurance, Short & Long-Term Disability, and an EAP program
• 💻 Hybrid working model – a mix of working from home and from the office
• ✈️ Wisers can work remotely for 90 days a year. By ‘remote’ we don’t just mean from home, but from wherever in the world you choose to
• 🌍 Relocation expenses covered
• ☀️ 25 days PTO, 15 sick days, 11 holidays, 5 compassionate leave days, 3 paid “Me” days and a paid volunteer day, annually
• 🏝️ A paid 6-week sabbatical leave after four years 
• 👶🏼 18-weeks of paid parental leave, after a year with us
• 💰 401k with up to a 4% employer match

Additional Information

For everyone, everywhere. We're people building money without borders — without judgement or prejudice, too. We believe teams are strongest when they are diverse, equitable and inclusive.We’re proud to have a truly international team, and we celebrate our differences.Every Wiser should feel that they can be themselves at work.Inclusive teams help us live our values and make sure every Wiser feels respected, empowered to share their contributions towards mission zero and able to progress in their careers.Having diverse teams that reflect our diverse customer base helps us build a better product. We can be more creative and empathetic to our customer’s needs and make sure we leave no-one behind on our journey to mission-zero.

For everyone, everywhere. We're people building money without borders — without judgement or prejudice, too. We believe teams are strongest when they are diverse, equitable and inclusive.

We're proud to have a truly international team, and we celebrate our differences.
Inclusive teams help us live our values and make sure every Wiser feels respected, empowered to contribute towards our mission and able to progress in their careers.

If you want to find out more about what it's like to work at Wise visit Wise.Jobs.

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