Transaction Monitoring Lead

Job description

Lean is expanding our footprint by opening an office in Egypt this summer, and the Transaction Monitoring Lead role is one of our first hires in the market. We’re a Series B fintech (General Catalyst and Sequoia backed), and over the last few years, we have grown from a category-defining open banking company into a multi-rail infrastructure layer powering payments, data, and lending across MENA. Cairo is a long-term play on a market we believe in, and the people who join now will shape what Lean looks like there for years to come. You will be working alongside a very diverse team of 30+ nationalities, with backgrounds from some of the best fintechs in the region and globally. The work is hard, the standards are high, and the ownership is real. If you are a builder who wants to set the standard, this is the right moment to join. About the Job We are seeking a Transaction Monitoring Lead to own and build the transaction monitoring framework for a strategic new offering focused on stablecoin-based payments infrastructure. Reporting to the MLRO, you will play a critical role in ensuring the product is developed and scaled in line with regulatory standards across multiple jurisdictions. This is a hands-on and strategic role where you will partner closely with leadership, legal, product, and commercial teams to embed compliance into every stage of development and rollout. About Lean Lean is the leading financial infrastructure provider in the Middle East. We power some of the region’s largest companies with APIs that enable payments, account verification, financial data access, and other critical financial infrastructure. What started as the region’s pioneering Open Banking platform and quickly became the de facto leader in account aggregation and payment initiation in the region is now becoming something bigger: a multi-product infrastructure company powering payments, data, and lending across MENA. We’ve processed billions of dollars in transactions. We’re trusted by 350+ clients - from Binance and Careem to Etisalat - and backed by General Catalyst, Sequoia, and Shorooq. Our $67.5M Series B was just the beginning. We’re expanding into new markets, opening offices, acquiring businesses, and building capabilities that didn’t exist here before. Responsibilities - Design and operate Lean's transaction monitoring framework for cross-border payment/remittance flows,including stablecoin-based transfers, in line with ADGM FSRA and CBUAE AML/CFT regulatory requirements - Own end-to-end sanctions and PEP screening across all UAE transaction flows, ensuring coverage against OFAC, UN, EU, and UAE Local Terrorist Designations lists - Own the AI-first triage layer: work with our technology team to scope, prioritize, and QA the agentic tooling that handles first-pass screening, and define what good output looks like - Handle manual review of escalated cases the AI layer cannot resolve with confidence, with documented decisions and clear audit trails for every disposition - Establish and maintain the transaction monitoring policy, calibrated to our client base and risk profile - Build coverage models and flag rate analysis from historical transaction data including pre-live calibration of thresholds and rules Prepare and submit Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) to the MLRO to submit it to the UAE Financial Intelligence Unit (UAEFIU) via the goAML platform where required - Ensure effective 24/7 coverage through tool-first design, with human judgment reserved for genuine ambiguity - Act as the subject matter expert for transaction monitoring in regulatory examinations , MLRO-led reviews, client due diligence requests, and internal risk reviews - Support the MLRO in periodic reporting obligations to ADGM FSRA and CBUAE, including AML/CFT annual reports and risk assessments What we’re looking for - Has owned transaction monitoring, not contributed to it. 5+ years in AML, financial crime compliance, or payments operations with direct hands-on experience in sanctions - Prior exposure to remittance corridors, virtual asset transactions, or VASP compliance frameworks is a strong differentiator - Has used compliance tooling beyond spreadsheets and can assess AI-assisted review tools critically: where they fail, what needs to change, and what the escalation logic should be - Makes risk-based decisions under ambiguity with documented rationale. Understands the difference between a calibrated risk approach and blanket escalation - Clear written communication. Can brief a regulator, a senior compliance officer, and an engineer in the same week without changing what you mean - CAMS or equivalent certification preferred NB. While we think the above experience could be important, we’re keen to hear from people that believe they have valuable experience to bring to the role. If you identify with the team and mission, but not all of our requirements, then please still apply!! WHY JOIN US? We’re building the financial infrastructure for MENA. Not as a slogan, as a fact. Since 2019, we’ve become the first regulated Open Banking and Open Finance company operating across the UAE and Saudi Arabia. We’ve processed billions of dollars. We connect millions of accounts. We enable companies like Binance, Careem, and Etisalat to build products that were previously impossible in this region. Our recent $67.5M Series B from General Catalyst and Sequoia isn’t just validation: it’s fuel. We’re expanding into new markets, launching new products, and setting the pace for what financial innovation looks like in MENA. We solve hard problems. We move fast. We hold ourselves to a high standard. And we’re looking for people who’ve done this before to help us do it right. If you’re motivated by building something that lasts, not just something that scales, Lean is where you need to be. Not only do we offer competitive salaries, private healthcare, and flexible office hours, but we also insist that every member of the team hold a meaningful equity stake in the business to ensure long-term alignment. We'd love you to join us for this journey! Lean is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. When applying for a job at Lean Technologies, we will need to collect, use and share Personal Data about you with different members of our team during the application process. This may mean transferring your data to members of the team in one of our office locations worldwide outside of the country you are in. Please refer to our Privacy Notice on our website for more information about how we may use and store your Personal Data