Fincrime Assurance Associate

Job description

ABOUT GRIFFIN Hi, we’re Griffin. We’re a fully regulated UK bank that powers the accounts and payments offerings of product-led fintechs and platforms like Uber, Yonder, Prosper, and Sidekick. By doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes, our customers can focus on what they do best - delivering amazing customer experiences. We’ve grown rapidly since our launch in 2024, and today provide the banking backbone behind products in remittance, payroll, wealth, insurance, proptech, payments, neobanking and more. We’re moving into card issuing, stablecoin infrastructure, and agentic finance next as we continue to support the next generation of product-led companies. Learn more about what we do https://griffin.com OUR CULTURE We believe that smart, motivated, conscientious people thrive in high-trust, high-autonomy environments and have done our best to create such an environment at Griffin. People who thrive here don’t require much hand-holding, and go out of their way to figure out how to contribute in the most valuable way possible. We've been remote-first since we were established in 2017 and we remain so today. Work here is asynchronous and fully flexible - because we want to be a part of your life in a way that helps you to get the most out of both your work and home life. We understand that our culture and ways of working aren’t for everyone, and we’re very intentional about our hiring process as a result. We won't hire people who don’t seem like a strong fit for our core values, even if they're otherwise extremely qualified. Our strong culture has helped us to remain a mission-driven company as we have scaled, and gives our people a clear, explicit operating framework and the space to focus on delivering real value for our customers. Learn more about our culture. https://griffin.com/culture THE TEAM We Service keep things moving: runs the processes that underpin our products, supports our customers when they need us, and connects the dots across the business so nothing falls through the cracks. We spot friction early, fix it quickly, and make sure Griffin delivers on what it promises: consistently and reliably. This role sits within Griffin's first line operations, managing how well our Direct Customers (DCs) meet their financial crime obligations. You'll report directly to our Financial Crime Oversight Manager as part of a small team focused on keeping our oversight function rigorous, proportionate, and trusted. THE OPPORTUNITY With a growing number of DC assurance reviews scheduled for 2026 and beyond, we need someone who can take real ownership of the process end to end. You'll be running your own caseload: scoping reviews, conducting them, and producing findings reports that directly inform risk decisions. You'll engage with a wide range of external stakeholders and have the opportunity to shape how the function develops, including getting involved in projects such as automation. WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE In your first 6 months, you'll have taken ownership of your review caseload, with reports consistently produced to a high standard and recommendations tracked through to closure. The assurance schedule will be on track — no bottlenecks, no overdue reviews. By 12 months, you'll have built genuine, trusted relationships with DCs and internal stakeholders, becoming a credible point of contact that people feel comfortable raising issues with. And you'll be contributing ideas on how to improve and streamline the process, not just running it. TO DO THIS YOU’LL OWN - The assurance review schedule as the DC book grows, keeping risk ratings accurate and ensuring each customer receives the right level of scrutiny. - The review and closing out post-live conditions for newly onboarded DCs where applicable. - Issuing assurance review requests directly to external DC clients including scoping the right questions and sample requests based on entity type, operating model, and risk rating. - In-depth reviews of DC responses, identifying gaps and weaknesses in their financial crime controls and challenging DCs where responses are insufficient or evasive - The production of formal review reports with clear findings and a recommendation on whether a DC's risk rating should be maintained, increased, or decreased. - Drafting and issuing recommendations to DCs, then tracking and following up until full closure is confirmed. - The engagement with external stakeholders, including CEOs, MLROs, Compliance Managers, especially when sharing difficult findings or recommendations. WE EXPECT YOU TO SHAPE THIS ROLE This description reflects what we need today. How you achieve these outcomes, where you focus your energy, how this role evolves—that's for you to define as you learn what our customers need and where our technical gaps are. YOUR BACKGROUND To ensure this, we're looking for people who have: - Experience working in financial crime compliance — ideally in an audit, assurance, oversight, or monitoring capacity, with hands-on review experience rather than purely advisory or policy work. - Experience conducting financial crime audit or assurance reviews on external clients or counterparties — hands-on review work, not purely advisory or policy. - A track record of challenging external parties on control weaknesses, including reviewing frameworks, identifying gaps, and forming independent judgements on the adequacy of their financial crime controls. - Experience with writing reports and recommendations on the back of audit or assurance reviews. - A solid understanding of financial crime controls: AML, sanctions, KYC, transaction monitoring, SARs, QA/QC and end-to-end onboarding and ongoing customer journeys. - Confidence managing external relationships at a senior level — including CEOs, MLROs, and Compliance Managers — and holding your ground when delivering findings that may be challenged or unwelcome. - Strong organisational skills and an analytical mindset — you'll be juggling reviews at different stages and spotting issues that aren't always obvious. - A love of writing - we have a major amount of written documentation that you will be contributing to, and we place a high degree of importance on clarity and readability (you can find out more here about how we write https://griffin.com/how-we-write ) Ideally, you would also: - Have familiarity with the different onboarding models within embedded finance a DC can use (managed, reliance, or outsourced) and how they affect the scope and depth of review. - Hold a relevant financial crime qualification such as an ICA diploma, or have experience presenting findings to senior stakeholders. WHAT CAN WE OFFER YOU? We are an early stage startup and we're working hard to expand our benefits package. We're planning to add to this list in the future. - Remote-first flexibility: Work from anywhere in the UK - Work from abroad: Up to 20 days a year - Time off: 25 days’ holiday, bank holidays and a winter break (we shut down between Christmas and New Year) - Share options: Own a part of what we’re building together - Pension: Auto-enrolment into our Penfold scheme - Insurance: Private medical with Bupa (including family cover) and life insurance with AIG - Wellbeing: 1:1 coaching and therapy session available through Oliva - Family leave: Enhanced parental leave with up to 6 months on full pay after two years’ service - AI tools: Everyone has a Claude subscription on us and access to other premium tools - Your setup: We’ll support you in creating a comfortable and effective WFH environment. As a bank, we’re committed to maintaining the highest standards of security. This means that the successful candidate will need to complete background screening, and our offer will be conditional upon satisfactory review of these checks. This would include verification of right to work, criminal record, credit history, social media and professional reference checks HOW DO I APPLY? Are we your next move? Apply via the link below, if there's a match our Talent team will reach out to schedule an initial conversation and talk you through what happens next. WE’RE REMOTE-FIRST We trust people to do great work wherever they are. We hire across the UK and most of our team works remotely full-time. We have a small London office in Moorgate for those who want it, and about a third of the company is close enough to use it occasionally, but there's no expectation to be there. What matters is the work, not where you do it. UNDER REPRESENTATION At Griffin, we’re looking for people who instinctively vibe with our values, behaviours and mission. You’re encouraged to apply, even if your experience doesn’t tick every box. Careers, like life, can take many twists and turns. Your technical expertise and path to where you are today will stand out. We're committed to creating a place where everyone belongs and we welcome diverse perspectives, backgrounds and people who are ready to build a global platform for programmable finance GRIFFIN BANK LTD REQUEST THAT RECRUITMENT AGENCIES DO NOT SPECULATIVELY SUBMIT CVS TO ANY EMPLOYEE OR ASSOCIATE OF OUR COMPANY UNLESS EXPLICITLY ASKED TO DO SO BY A MEMBER OF OUR TALENT TEAM. ANY CVS SENT TO ANY MEMBER OF OUR TEAM ON A SPECULATIVE BASIS WILL NOT BE RECOGNISED AND WE WILL NOT ACCEPT LIABILITY FOR ANY FEE OR COMMISSION SHOULD WE SUBSEQUENTLY EMPLOY A CANDIDATE WHO APPLIED TO US DIRECTLY OR WAS INTRODUCED BY AN INSTRUCTED AGENCY THAT MAY ALSO HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED SPECULATIVELY BY AN UNINSTRUCTED AGENCY.