Director - Financial Crime Office (Deputy AML Officer); Head of Regulatory Relations and Testing in Canada Creek, Nova Scotia at Jobgether

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Director - Financial Crime Office (Deputy AML Officer); Head of Regulatory Relations and Testing based in Canada.

This is a senior compliance leadership role overseeing four critical pillars of a regulated financial services environment.
You’ll lead financial crime prevention, regulatory relations, complaints management, and independent second-line compliance testing.
Reporting to the Chief Compliance Officer, you’ll help ensure the organization’s control environment is effective, well documented, and demonstrably resilient.
The role combines strategic oversight with hands-on leadership across AML/ATF, sanctions, regulatory examinations, customer protection, and compliance assurance.
You’ll work closely with senior executives, regulators, risk teams, legal, internal audit, financial intelligence, and other cross-functional stakeholders.
You’ll also drive the use of AI, automation, analytics, and RegTech to improve detection, testing coverage, and operational efficiency.
This opportunity is ideal for an experienced financial services compliance leader who brings strong regulatory judgment, executive presence, and a rigorous evidence-based approach.

• Lead the AML/ATF and sanctions compliance program in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements, including ownership of enterprise-wide money laundering, terrorist financing, and sanctions risk assessments.
• Oversee transaction monitoring, alert and case management, enhanced due diligence, sanctions screening, suspicious transaction reporting, and the quality and timeliness of regulatory submissions to FINTRAC.
• Establish and maintain KYC and customer risk-rating standards, while partnering with Financial Intelligence teams to address gaps between fraud detection and financial crime detection.
• Lead the two-year AML effectiveness review, oversee resulting remediation, and manage financial crime training initiatives.
• Serve as the central coordination point for regulatory relationships, ensuring regulatory correspondence, submissions, and engagement are timely, consistent, and high quality.
• Lead end-to-end regulatory examinations, reviews, and information requests, including planning, evidence collection, response quality control, and issue tracking.
• Maintain the regulatory findings and commitments register and drive remediation through to validated closure.
• Maintain inventories of regulatory filings and regulatory interactions, and prepare executives and subject matter experts for regulatory meetings.
• Own the enterprise complaints management program, including policies, procedures, escalation pathways, and service standards.
• Oversee escalated and designated complaints, ensuring outcomes are fair, timely, well reasoned, and communicated clearly to customers.
• Manage cases involving external complaints bodies and oversee applicable reporting to FCAC and other relevant authorities.
• Deliver complaints reporting and root-cause analysis, translating recurring themes into improvements across products, processes, and customer disclosures.
• Design and deliver the independent second-line Compliance Testing Program, including methodology, quality standards, reporting, and governance.
• Develop the annual risk-based testing plan using regulatory obligations, known risk concentrations, and compliance control priorities, while collaborating with Operational Risk Management.
• Maintain quality assurance over testing outputs, including work performed by co-sourced or outsourced partners, and report results and thematic findings to senior management and applicable Board-level committees.
• Lead, coach, and develop a multidisciplinary team spanning financial crime, compliance testing, and complaints, building capability and clear career paths.
• Partner with Compliance Advisory, Privacy, Operational Risk, Internal Audit, Legal, and Financial Intelligence teams to provide integrated risk oversight.
• Represent the organization in industry associations, peer forums, and financial crime intelligence networks, staying current on emerging typologies, fraud trends, and regulatory developments.
• Prepare and deliver decision-ready reporting for senior management and applicable Board-level committees.
• Apply AI, machine learning, RPA, and advanced analytics to areas such as transaction monitoring, alert triage, complaints classification, and compliance testing.
• Lead automated testing scripts, intelligent workflows, advanced reporting, and the evaluation of emerging RegTech and financial crime technologies, while maintaining appropriate model governance and tuning documentation.

• 10+ years of experience across AML and financial crime, compliance testing or audit, regulatory relations, complaints, or related functions within financial services.
• Deep working knowledge of Canadian consumer protection, AML/ATF, retail banking or payments, and privacy legislation.
• Direct experience managing regulatory examinations, reviews, or information requests, with the composure and judgment to operate effectively under regulatory scrutiny.
• Strong understanding of financial crime controls, regulatory expectations, risk management, testing methodologies, and evidence-based compliance.
• Exceptional attention to documentation quality and control effectiveness, with the ability to identify and communicate unfavorable findings constructively.
• Experience working within a regulated fintech, neobank, direct-to-consumer financial institution, or comparable regulated financial services environment.
• Strong executive presence and communication skills, with the ability to engage regulators, senior leaders, Board-level stakeholders, and cross-functional teams.
• Proven people leadership experience, including coaching multidisciplinary teams and developing senior talent.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities, with the ability to use data and emerging technologies to improve compliance effectiveness.
• Comfortable operating in complex, rapidly evolving environments and balancing regulatory rigor with customer experience and business priorities.
• Experience with AI, machine learning, automation, advanced analytics, or RegTech applied to compliance or financial crime is highly relevant.
• A relevant designation such as CAMS, CFE, CIA, CPA, CRCM, or equivalent is an asset.
• A strong commitment to financial wellness, customer protection, ethical decision-making, and effective risk management.

• Competitive annual salary of CAD $190,000–$230,000.
• Remote-first work environment with a strong emphasis on autonomy and trust.
• Flexible hours and asynchronous collaboration.
• Opportunity to lead four strategically important compliance functions with broad organizational impact.
• Direct exposure to senior leadership, regulatory relationships, and Board-level reporting.
• Opportunity to shape financial crime, regulatory, complaints, and compliance testing practices within a growing financial services environment.
• Ability to drive innovation through AI, automation, analytics, and emerging RegTech solutions.
• Opportunity to lead and develop a multidisciplinary compliance team.