Deputy Head of Financial Crime

About Pleo Messy spend management is tricky business. And tedious processes are a lose-lose situation for all involved, not just finance. At Pleo, we’re changing that. We build spend solutions that make managing money seamless, empowering, and surprisingly effective for finance teams and employees alike – with a vision to help all businesses ‘go beyond’. The word ‘Pleo’ actually means ‘more than you’d expect’, and living by that mantra has been the secret to our success over the last 10 years. Now, we’re at a pivotal moment in our journey; every move we make has a direct impact on our 40,000+ customers, our business, and our collective success. We need people who take pride in uncovering customer needs, who turn complex problems into simple solutions, challenge the way things are done (respectfully), and always aim high. With great ambitions driving us forward, we can’t say we’ve got this whole thing figured out. And frankly, that’s half the fun! What we can say is that we’re a driven, progressive, and, importantly, a kind bunch of 850+ people from over 100 nationalities, all committed to delivering the future of business spending, together. About the role We’re looking for a Deputy Head of Financial Crime to join our financial Crime Operations team at Pleo. In this role, you’ll help safeguard the firm against financial crime risks, lead critical remediation initiatives, and drive control enhancements as part of our Financial Crime Operations team as we scale our business spend management platform. If you’re excited about building robust, future-proofed compliance frameworks and leading high-performing operational teams and are passionate about financial crime prevention and regulatory excellence, then this is the opportunity for you! Who you’ll be working with and reporting to You’ll report to the Associate Director of Financial Crime Operations and work closely with teams in Compliance, Risk, Legal, Operations, and Product. Our team is highly collaborative and dedicated to mitigating AML, CTF, Sanctions, ABC, and Fraud risks while supporting sustainable business growth. You’ll also have the chance to partner with teams across the wider organisation, external auditors, and regulatory bodies to ensure success. What you’ll be doing As a Deputy Head of Financial Crime, you will: • Drive Compliance oversight and quality assurance: Oversee day to day financial crime reports, disclosures, risk assessments sign-off, and regulatory outputs while monitoring metrics and KPIs to address emerging risks and operational bottlenecks. • Lead Complex Remediation & Projects : Act as the primary lead for financial crime remediation programs, regulatory look-backs, control enhancements, and tech integrations from scoping through to execution and root-cause analysis. • Provide Strategic Leadership Coverage: Deputise for the Associate Director of Financial Crime Operations during absences, representing the function at executive committees, board meetings, and in regulatory engagements. • Direct Team Leadership & Capability Building: Directly lead, coach, and empower the FinCrime Operations team, driving resource planning, talent development, and a high-performing, accountable culture. • Foster Cross-Functional & Regulatory Relationships: Work closely with internal Risk, Legal, and Business units, as well as external auditors and regulators, to embed effective financial crime controls across the business. What you bring You’ll thrive in this role if you have: • Deep Financial Crime Expertise: Comprehensive knowledge of AML, CTF, Sanctions, ABC, and Fraud frameworks within a 1LOD environment. • Strategic & Operational Leadership: Proven track record of direct team management, coaching, resource allocation, and providing trusted counsel to senior stakeholders and boards. • Remediation & Program Management: Hands-on experience leading multi-workstream remediation projects, regulatory look-backs, and complex control improvements. • Regulatory Acumen: Strong understanding of evolving regulatory landscapes and experience engaging directly with regulatory bodies and external auditors. • Data-Driven Problem Solving: Strong analytical mindset to identify root causes, track KPIs, and optimize operational processes. • A background in Financial Services, Fintech, or regulated payment institutions with at least 8+ years in financial crime/compliance, including 3+ years in a formal leadership role. Why is this role a good fit for you This role is a good fit for you if: • You enjoy balancing high-level strategic influence with hands-on operational execution and team leadership. • You thrive in dynamic environments where you can lead complex remediation projects and shape evolving compliance frameworks. • You want high visibility, direct deputising experience, and ownership over key regulatory and board-level interactions. This role is not a good fit for you if: • You prefer a purely advisory role without direct team management or operational execution responsibilities. • You are uncomfortable working in fast-paced environments with shifting priorities or managing regulatory ambiguity. • You prefer maintaining existing processes rather than actively driving process optimization and control overhauls. How you’ll develop in this role In your first 6 months at Pleo, you’ll: • Lead key control enhancement and remediation initiatives to drive impact in our overall risk mitigation and operational efficiency. • Collaborate with Operations, Risk, and Tech teams to improve fin-crime detection systems and workflow processes. • Grow your skills in executive stakeholder management and strategic governance, taking on new challenges as the company continues to scale. We’re committed to helping you develop your career, whether that means taking on bigger projects, stepping into leadership, or acquiring new skills in fintech risk governance The location Please note: We can hire on a remote, hybrid or in-person set-up in any of the locations listed on the advert but you will need to be physically based in the country of your choice with a valid right to work. We are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role in any of the listed locations. Show me the benefits! • Your own Pleo card (no more out-of-pocket spending!) • Lunch is on us for your work days – enjoy catered meals or receive a lunch allowance based on your local office • Comprehensive private healthcare – depending on your location, coverage options include Vitality, Alan or Médis • We offer 25 days of holiday + your public holidays • For our Team, we offer both hybrid and fully remote working options • We use MyndUp to give our employees access to free mental health and well-being support with great success so far • Paid parental leave – we want to make sure that we’re supportive of families and help you feel that you don’t have to compromise your family due to work The interview process We want to ensure you are set-up for success and understand what will be expected of you. If your application is successful, our interview process is as follows: • Intro call: A 30-minute chat with our Talent Partner to discuss the role and your background. • Hiring Manager Interview: A 45-minute deep dive with the Associate Director of Financial Crime Operations focusing on operational experience, leadership, and technical expertise. • Challenge and Panel interview: We will send you a take home assignment to present into a panel interview • Final Interview: A final conversation senior leadership Transparency is important to us so we also wanted to share some insights about what we’re looking for in applications to ensure you can set yourself up for success! Last time we hired for a similar role, we received a total a vast number of applications but only a few were selected for an intro call. With this in mind, we want to help you understand what we really care about when reviewing your application: • CV writing and content: we receive a lot of CVs, and many of them are AI-generated. We love seeing people leverage AI—it’s a big focus for us internally too—but without human intervention, these CVs can sometimes become generic and fail to show a candidate in the best light. What we’re really looking for is the specific details of real impact that only you know from your previous experience. A top tip from us is to use the “Achieved X, as measured by Y, by doing Z” formula (credit: Laszlo Bock, ~2014) to give a really clear picture of what you’ve worked on. A final note: including links to your previous companies’ websites is a huge help and allows us to truly understand your background! • Application care: every single application we receive is reviewed by a human (yes, hundreds of them) because we believe that candidates’ efforts should be matched by an equal level of human care. This means that we expect a similar level of attention put into your application. Read and answer the application questions carefully, they make a huge difference in our decision-making process. • Profile to role fit: highlight most important aspects of the role, points that might get misunderstood, any specific industry requirements etc. About your application • English first. Since it’s our company language, please submit your application in English. You’ll be using it a lot if you join us. • A fair look for everyone. Our talent team reads every single application to ensure the process is fair. To keep things running smoothly, we only accept applications through our system—our support team can’t pass on calls or emails. • Diversity drives us. We can only reach our goals if our team reflects the world around us. That starts with you hitting apply, even if you don’t tick every single box. We encourage people from all backgrounds and experiences to join us. • Interview at your best. We want you to feel comfortable throughout the process. If y