Program Manager, Sanctions Compliance

Job description

Job Description: Remitly’s vision is to transform lives with trusted financial services that transcend borders. Since 2011, we have been tirelessly delivering on our promises to people who send money around the world. Today, we are reimagining global financial services and building products that extend beyond traditional barriers to give customers access to more of the services they need, no matter where they call home. Join over 2,900 employees worldwide who are growing their careers with purpose and connection with our customers while having a positive impact on millions of people around the globe. About the Role Remitly is seeking a Program Manager, Sanctions Compliance to serve as a senior operational and subject matter partner to the Global Head of Sanctions Compliance. This role requires knowledge of OFAC regulations, sanctions screening architecture, and the operational mechanics of a global sanctions compliance program at a money services business. The person in this role is expected to exercise independent regulatory judgment, manage high-stakes remediation workstreams, and serve as a point of escalations on sanctions compliance matters across the organization. This role exists at the intersection of sanctions expertise, project execution, and cross-functional influence. The Program Manager will oversee multiple workstreams: from managing lookback exercises and regulatory corrective actions to drafting control intake requests, adjudicating escalated alerts, and building the training and governance infrastructure that keeps Remitly’s sanctions program safe. They will work closely with Legal, Product Compliance, Identity & Trust, regional compliance leads, and Operations and their work product will regularly inform materials reviewed by senior leadership, banking partners, and regulators What You’ll Do Sanctions Program Execution & Strategic Support Serve as the primary execution partner to the Global Head of Sanctions Compliance, translating program strategy into structured workplans with defined milestones, owners, and accountability mechanisms — and driving those workplans to completion across a complex stakeholder environment. Maintain a comprehensive view of open program initiatives, regulatory commitments, and control improvement efforts, and proactively surface risks to the Global Head of Sanctions when timelines, resources, or dependencies threaten delivery. Prepare briefing materials, governance updates, and executive-facing communications that enable the Global Head of Sanctions to represent the program’s status and risk posture to senior leadership, the board, and banking partners with precision and confidence. Serve as an informed and credible stand-in for the Global Head of Sanctions in working-level meetings, bringing sufficient subject matter depth to represent the program’s positions and advance discussions independently. Identify opportunities to improve the efficiency and rigor of program operations — streamlining workflows, closing documentation gaps, and raising the overall maturity of the sanctions compliance function over time. Issue Remediation & Complex Project Management Own the project management of sanctions-related corrective actions arising from regulatory inquiries, internal audits, compliance testing, and self-identified program gaps — building structured remediation plans, assigning accountability, and tracking execution to closure. Lead complex, time-sensitive remediation projects including transaction lookbacks, screening control enhancements, and payout network ownership reviews, coordinating cross-functional teams and maintaining clear audit trails of methodology, findings, and disposition decisions. Maintain the sanctions issues register, ensuring that all open items are documented with precise remediation language, realistic due dates, and clear ownership, and that aging items are escalated promptly with recommended resolution paths. Prepare senior leadership updates on active remediation efforts, providing accurate status reporting that reflects both progress and residual risk — in a format suitable for internal governance forums and, where relevant, external stakeholder consumption. Coordinate with outside counsel on remediation workstreams that carry regulatory or legal exposure, ensuring that privileged work product is handled appropriately and that program documentation is consistent with voluntary self-disclosure or regulatory response positions. Audit & Controls Testing Management Serve as the primary liaison to GCIT and Internal Audit for all sanctions-related testing cycles, coordinating evidence collection, managing submission deadlines, and ensuring that the sanctions program is examination-ready on a continuous basis. Build and maintain sanctions audit workplans that account for document preparation timelines, reviewer availability, and the complexity of evidence required across screening, alert adjudication, policy compliance, and training domains. Track GCIT and audit findings through to closure, ensuring that management action plans are translated into executable remediation steps with appropriate owners and that completion is documented to the standard required for retesting. Identify patterns across testing findings and proactively brief the Global Head of Sanctions on systemic control gaps that warrant program-level remediation rather than issue-by-issue resolution. Maintain documentation repositories that support examination readiness, including evidence libraries, control testing records, and historical finding and remediation logs organized for efficient retrieval. Sanctions Alert Adjudication & Escalation Management Serve as the first and primary compliance point of contact for sanctions alerts escalated from operations, applying independent regulatory judgment to assess potential matches against OFAC, UN, EU, UK, and other applicable sanctions lists. Issue well-reasoned, documented disposition decisions on escalated alerts, drawing on knowledge of OFAC regulations, general license frameworks, and the specific operational context of Remitly’s remittance corridors to support defensible compliance outcomes. Escalate novel, high-risk, or precedent-setting alerts to the Global Head of Sanctions with a clear summary of facts, applicable regulatory authorities, and a recommended disposition, enabling efficient senior review. Maintain a structured log of escalated alerts and disposition outcomes, identifying emerging patterns in alert typologies that may signal screening gaps, list coverage deficiencies, or shifts in corridor-level risk. Contribute to the calibration of screening rules and alert thresholds by surfacing operational intelligence from the adjudication function to the Global Head of Sanctions and the Identity & Trust team. Policy, Procedure & Training Governance Own the sanctions policy lifecycle, conducting annual reviews and ad hoc updates in response to regulatory developments, program changes, or audit findings — ensuring that policy language is precise, current, and traceable to applicable regulatory authority. Liaise with the Operations compliance team to provide clear policy requirements for operational standard operating procedures, and review and approve completed Ops SOPs to confirm alignment with sanctions policy intent and regulatory expectations. Review and approve sanctions-related training content developed for operational roles, ensuring accuracy, regulatory grounding, and appropriate calibration to the risk profile of the functions being trained. Lead the development and periodic refresh of the company-wide sanctions training program, collaborating with Learning & Development and operational stakeholders to produce content that is accessible, scenario-based, and reflective of Remitly’s actual corridor risk exposure. Maintain a policy and procedure review calendar and ensure that upcoming review cycles are resourced and completed within required timeframes, with appropriate stakeholder sign-off documented. Controls Intake, I&T Liaison & Jira Governance Draft and own intake requests for the Identity & Trust team to build or modify sanctions controls, translating compliance requirements and regulatory obligations into clear, technically actionable specifications that enable accurate and efficient implementation. Liaise with regional compliance leads and Product Compliance to identify sanctions control requirements arising from new product launches, corridor expansions, and regulatory developments in new markets — and ensure those requirements are accurately captured and communicated to Identity & Trust. Maintain the sanctions-specific Jira board as the authoritative system of record for all open control intake requests, tracking status, priority, and delivery timelines and escalating blockers to the Global Head of Sanctions and I&T leadership as needed. Coordinate with Product Compliance and regional expansion teams to ensure that sanctions screening and control requirements are integrated into product development timelines before launch, not as a downstream remediation effort. Facilitate regular cadences with Identity & Trust stakeholders to review intake backlogs, align on prioritization, and ensure that control build and modification timelines are consistent with program and regulatory commitments. Sanctions Controls Library Maintain a comprehensive, version-controlled library of sanctions controls covering screening, alert management, payout network governance, policy compliance, and training — serving as the authoritative record of the program’s control inventory. Coordinate with control owners and GCIT to ensure that the controls library remains evergreen, reflecting the current state of implemented controls and incorporating updates triggered by audit findings, regulatory changes, or program enhancements. Map controls library entries to applicable regulatory requirements, maintaining traceability between Remitly’s control posture and the specific regulatory authorities that each control is designed to satisfy. Use the controls library to support examination readiness, issue remediation scoping, and the identification of control gaps — providing the Global Head of Sanctions with a structured, data-driven view of program coverage. Metrics, Reporting & Governance Develop, maintain, and continuously improve KPIs and KRIs for the sanctions program, ensuring that metrics accurately reflect program performance, alert volumes, screening effectiveness, adjudication velocity, and remediation progress. Execute the annual Sanctions RCSA under the direction of the Global Head of Sanctions, coordinating risk and control self-assessment activities across relevant functions and producing a well-documented output that reflects the program’s current risk posture. Produce recurring governance reporting for internal forums, MBR, board-level deliverables, and banking partner communications, synthesizing program metrics, open issues, and initiative status into clear, executive-ready outputs. Maintain reporting calendars and governance templates that ensure consistent, timely delivery of sanctions program information to all required stakeholders. Regulatory Intelligence & SME Support Monitor regulatory developments across key sanctions authorities — including OFAC, OFSI, the UN Security Council, EU, and jurisdictions relevant to Remitly’s send and receive corridors — and produce timely, actionable intelligence briefings for the Global Head of Sanctions and senior leadership. Analyze newly issued regulations, general licenses, enforcement actions, and advisory guidance and independently assess their implications for Remitly’s screening architecture, payout network controls, and policy framework — flagging items that require proactive program response. Support the Global Head of Sanctions in preparing regulatory change management analyses that translate new requirements into specific, prioritized program actions with assigned ownership and target completion dates. Serve as a knowledgeable internal resource on sanctions matters for cross-functional partners, providing guidance that is grounded in regulatory text and enforcement precedent rather than generalized compliance principles. What We’re Looking For Required 4–6 years of experience in sanctions compliance at a financial institution, money services business, or regulatory body, with demonstrated subject matter expertise in OFAC regulations, sanctions screening operations, and sanctions risk management. Deep working knowledge of OFAC’s sanctions programs (including Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, SDN, and sectoral designations), general license frameworks, and the enforcement spectrum from no-action letters through civil monetary penalties. Proven ability to independently analyze fact patterns against regulatory authority and issue well-reasoned, documented compliance dispositions — including in time-sensitive or novel situations without direct supervision. Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional compliance projects — including remediation workstreams, lookback exercises, or audit responses — with a track record of delivery against regulatory or institutional deadlines. Strong written communication skills, including the ability to draft precise control language, policy documents, regulatory analyses, and executive-facing materials that hold up to legal and regulatory scrutiny. Experience working with controls testing teams, internal audit, or regulatory examiners, including managing evidence production and translating findings into structured remediation plans. Proficiency with project tracking tools (Jira or equivalent) and the ability to maintain complex, multi-workstream governance infrastructure with a high degree of organization and accuracy. Preferred CGSS (Certified Global Sanctions Specialist) or CAMS certification, or active progress toward either credential. Experience at a global remittance company, payments platform, or MSB operating in high-risk corridors, with familiarity with the intersection of OFAC requirements and cross-border payment operations. Familiarity with voluntary self-disclosure procedure, OFAC administrative enforcement processes, and the documentation standards required for regulatory submissions. Experience drafting technical control specifications or working directly with engineering or product teams to translate compliance requirements into system-level controls. Working knowledge of additional sanctions regimes beyond OFAC, including OFSI, UN, and EU frameworks, and experience navigating jurisdictional differences in a multi-entity compliance structure. Experience supporting or executing risk and control self-assessments (RCSAs) in a financial crimes or sanctions compliance context. Our Benefits: In Site Subsidized Meals Transportation Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) Mental Health & Family Forming Benefits Private Life Insurance On site Clinic and Remitly Doctor Continuous learning tools & certification programs Two consecutive days off We are committed to nondiscrimination across our global organization and in all of our business operations. Employment is determined based upon personal capabilities and qualifications without discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, sex, gender identification and expression, marital status, military status or status as an honorably discharge/veteran, pregnancy (including a woman’s potential to get pregnant, pregnancy-related conditions, and childbearing), sexual orientation, age (40 and over), national origin, ancestry, citizenship or immigration status, physical, mental, or sensory disability (including the use of a trained dog guide or service animal), HIV/AIDS or hepatitis C status, genetic information, status as an actual or perceived victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or any other protected class as established by law. Remitly is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.