Senior Manager, KYC Risk & Assurance

Personal Attributes

• Acts with integrity and consistently demonstrates high professional and ethical standards.

• Combines operational delivery with strategic thinking, and is pragmatic and commercial in how they enable growth while protecting the firm.

• Exercises senior judgement with credibility and gravitas, and provides confident, effective challenge.

• A strong people leader who builds, develops and motivates high-performing teams.

• Communicates clearly and influences effectively at senior levels.

• Comfortable operating across the first and second line boundary while keeping the roles distinct.

• Demonstrates resilience and a strong sense of delivery and accountability.

• Comfortable working from IG's London office a minimum of three days per week.

Outcomes, not activity

• Robust, risk-based quality assurance over onboarding that gives senior management genuine confidence in control effectiveness.

• Complex EDD and escalations decisioned confidently and at pace in first line, with reduced routine reliance on second line.

• KYC Standards, CRA methodology and the refresh process operationalised and embedded in day-to-day practice.

• High-risk client remediation delivered on a clear, risk-based basis.

• Clear, decision-useful AML MI and governance reporting.

• A capable, well-developed and high-performing KYC Risk & Assurance team.

Quality oversight and assurance

• Design, own and run a risk-based quality assurance framework over onboarding and EDD, assessing the quality and accuracy of risk assessments and decisions rather than only the completeness of files.

• Provide credible, independent first-line assurance to the Head of KYC and senior management on how effectively onboarding controls are operating.

• Own AML-focused management information and quality reporting into governance committees, giving senior management a clear, evidenced view of financial crime risk and control effectiveness.

Experience & Education

• 10 or more years of financial crime and AML experience in financial services, with deep expertise across KYC, CDD and EDD and strong knowledge of the UK MLRs and JMLSG Guidance.

• Proven leadership of financial crime operations, KYC, or quality and assurance teams, including developing people and building capability.

• Demonstrable experience designing and running quality assurance or assurance frameworks over KYC and onboarding.

• Experience operationalising KYC standards, CRA methodologies and refresh processes into day-to-day practice.

• A track record of building AML management information and engaging governance committees and senior stakeholders.

• Good working understanding of the FCA regulatory environment. Bachelor's degree in Law, Business, Finance, Economics or a related field, and a recognised AML qualification (for example the ICA Diploma or ACAMS) is desirable.

EDD leadership and risk decisioning

• Lead the two EDD Specialists in delivering holistic due diligence and approvals on Prime and other high-risk clients to a consistently high standard.

• Act as the empowered senior first-line decision-maker on complex, novel or borderline cases, making well-documented risk decisions at pace and escalating to second line only where genuinely warranted.

• Own clear escalation pathways and turnaround standards for complex onboarding queries, so that decisions are timely and the client experience is protected.

Senior Manager, KYC Risk & Assurance

• Translate the KYC Standards and CRA methodology set by second-line Compliance into effective first-line procedures, checklists, training and business-as-usual practice.

• Lead the rollout and embedding of the KYC refresh process, covering both periodic and event-driven reviews.

• Oversee the risk-based remediation of the existing high-risk client population, prioritising the highest-risk clients first.

Leadership and stakeholder management

• Lead, develop and grow a high-performing team of three across the UK and Poland.

• Build strong, collaborative relationships with the institutional onboarding team, Prime sales, second-line Compliance and Financial Crime, and senior stakeholders across the business.

• Partner with second-line Compliance on the design of KYC Standards and CRA methodology, contributing first-line operational insight while keeping ownership of the standards with second line.

Process excellence and governance

• Own KYC process excellence and governance across the onboarding lifecycle, supported by the KYC Excellence Manager, driving efficiency and consistency alongside quality.

• Maintain strong standards for document and control governance, record keeping, and the minuting of key forums and committees, so that a clear and auditable trail of decisions is kept.

• Identify and lead improvements to onboarding processes, systems and controls as the business grows and regulation evolves.