Money Laundering Reporting Officer
Zeller
About the role
We are seeking an experienced Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) to lead and scale our UK financial crime function. Having recently secured our EMI license from the FCA, we are entering an exciting phase of growth – and this role is central to ensuring our compliance capability keeps pace with our ambitions.
As MLRO, you will own our AML and CTF framework end-to-end: setting strategy, managing regulatory relationships, and building a high-performing team equipped to support a rapidly scaling payments business. You will sit at the heart of our Risk & Compliance Operations function in the UK, acting as the FCA’s primary point of contact.
You will work in close partnership with our Global Risk & Compliance hubs, leveraging world-class regulatory technology and proprietary tooling to stay ahead of evolving financial crime threats — without compromising the customer experience. You will report to our UK Managing Director and provide support to our local Board, while maintaining close organisational connection to our Global COO and UK Senior Fraud Lead
This role would suit financial crime professionals with 6 - 10 years of experience, a deep understanding of the UK AML / CTF regime, and a proven track record of building and scaling compliance functions within fast-growth fintech or paytech environments.
Role responsibilities
- Drive the maturation and scaling of our AML/CTF framework to support rapid business growth, ensuring controls remain robust and proportionate as volumes, products, and geographies expand
- Continuously assess the adequacy of the compliance function and proactively resource it ahead of growth milestones
- Lead the evolution of our financial crime strategy, identifying emerging risks and translating them into practical, scalable controls
- Champion automation and process improvement across AML/CTF, onboarding, and risk operations to build a best-in-class, efficient compliance function
- Lead, develop and retain a high-performing Financial Crime operations team, creating clear career pathways, and building deep institutional expertise
- Engage with audit staff to execute reviews and implement recommendations
- Foster a compliance culture throughout the organisation
- Serve as the FCA’s primary regulatory contact, maintaining a proactive and transparent relationship with our supervisor
- Own our regulatory reporting obligations to the FCA, ensuring timely, accurate, and complete submissions
- Monitor the regulatory horizon — tracking FCA policy developments and industry trends — and design proportionate responses
- Oversee complaints escalated to the Financial Ombudsman Service, ensuring robust and timely resolution
- Own the Business-Wide Risk Assessment, keeping it current and ensuring it accurately reflects our evolving risk profile
- Identify, assess, and mitigate financial crime risks across money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation financing
- Optimise our transaction monitoring strategy for the UK market, with a focus on effective detection and meaningful reduction of false positives
- Provide 2nd line oversight of Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud risk, ensuring industry-aligned controls are implemented and continuously enhanced to reduce merchant and Zeller exposure
- Maintain and strengthen our Know Your Customer and Know Your Business programmes in line with regulatory expectations and business growth
- Work cross-functionally and cross-regionally to design and operate controls, leveraging Global solutions to minimise duplication and local burden
- Act as a trusted advisor to the UK Managing Director and local Board on financial crime risk matters
Scaling the Compliance Function
Team Leadership
Regulatory Oversight & Reporting
Risk Management & Controls
Cross-Functional & Global Collaboration
Qualifications and experience
- Experience in a similar role (MLRO, Head of Compliance, Financial Crime Lead) in a fast growing ‘Fintech’ or ‘Paytech’
- Deep knowledge of UK financial regulations and general legal principles
- Demonstrated success in scaling compliance functions during periods of significant business growth
- Deep knowledge of card acquiring, card issuing and transaction account products and their operation
- Hands-on mindset, solution-oriented mindset with the ability to operate strategically and operationally as the business evolves
- Appetite to collaborate internally with Global Risk & Compliance experts as well as externally with schemes, providers and regulators
- Nice to have: you are CAMS or ICA certified