Financial Crime Consulting Director

Open 47d

Description

A specialist FCC advisory firm is hiring a director to lead and scale its financial crime advisory practice in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with secondary reach across the wider GCC. This is a senior, client-facing, revenue-generating position at the intersection of regulatory expertise, hands-on delivery, and entrepreneurial business development.

You will be an independent, commercially astute practitioner with a proven track record of winning and delivering significant FCC mandates for banks and financial institutions in the GCC. The role is a 50/50 split between business development and project delivery, with full ownership of practice growth, client outcomes, and team building.

What you'll do

Business development & practice growth (50%)

Own the end-to-end BD lifecycle for FCC advisory services across KSA, with visibility across the wider GCC.
Build and expand relationships with C-suite, CCOs, MLROs, and senior compliance leaders at local and international banks, payment firms, and financial institutions.
Originate, pursue, and close new advisory mandates across the full FCC spectrum: gap assessments, AML/CFT programme reviews, sanctions and transaction monitoring (TM) model validation, KYC/CDD/EDD remediation, financial crime risk assessments, monitorships/Skilled Persons Reviews, and technology selection and implementation.
Develop compelling proposals, presentations, and thought leadership aligned to SAMA, CBUAE, and FATF priorities.
Build and commercialise differentiated FCC advisory solutions, including digital and technology-enabled propositions.
Achieve and exceed annual revenue targets of USD 1m+ from managed accounts.
Represent the firm at industry forums, conferences, and regulatory engagement events.

Project delivery & quality assurance (50%)

Lead delivery of complex, multi-workstream FCC engagements across KSA and the GCC — on time, on budget, on quality.
Serve as senior engagement lead and SME across core FCC domains (see below).
Provide hands-on expert guidance on selection, implementation, and tuning of leading sanctions screening and TM platforms (Fircosoft/Accuity, SAS AML, Actimize, Oracle FCCM, and similar).
Review and quality-assure all deliverables prior to client submission.
Mentor and develop junior and mid-level team members.

Core FCC domains (senior engagement lead)

Gap assessments against SAMA, CBUAE, FATF, and internal standards
AML/CFT programme design, remediation, and framework transformation
Sanctions and TM model validation (methodology, parameters, thresholds, output quality)
Sanctions and TM system tuning and optimisation
KYC/CDD/EDD remediation and look-back programmes
Monitorship / Skilled Persons Review (SPR) support
Enterprise-wide, product, channel, and customer-segment financial crime risk assessments
Regulatory examination readiness and response

Team building & leadership

Recruit, build, and manage a high-performing FCC advisory team in KSA.
Set clear performance expectations and development pathways.
Foster an inclusive, accountable, high-energy culture aligned to the firm's values and ethical standards.

Requirements

What you'll bring

Experience (all mandatory unless stated)

Requirement	Minimum threshold
Total professional experience	15+ years
FCC advisory / consulting experience	10+ years
FCC advisory sales / BD (selling to banks)	5+ years
FCC project execution	10+ years
GCC market experience	Must have worked with local GCC banks
Team building and management	Must have built and managed a team
Client account management	USD 1m+ revenue per annum from managed accounts
Firm background	Big 4 / Tier 1 consulting / specialist advisory (preferred)

Technical & domain expertise

Deep, hands-on expertise required across:

Gap assessments — AML/CFT, sanctions, anti-bribery, against SAMA, CBUAE, FATF, and global standards
Sanctions and TM model validation — methodology design, parameter testing, threshold calibration, output quality review, model risk governance
Sanctions and TM system tuning and optimisation — alert reduction, false-positive management, scenario coverage
KYC/CDD/EDD remediation — remediation frameworks, look-back design, file review, risk-based segmentation
Monitorship / Skilled Persons Review delivery
Financial crime risk assessments — enterprise-wide, product, channel, customer, and geographic
AML/CFT programme design and implementation — governance, policy, procedures, controls architecture
Regulatory examination readiness and response

Technology & systems (hands-on experience required)

Sanctions screening: Fircosoft (Accuity), Oracle Financial Services, and similar — selection, implementation, configuration, tuning
Transaction monitoring: SAS AML, NICE Actimize, Oracle FCCM, Temenos FCM, FIS MANTAS, and similar
Mandatory: hands-on involvement in at least one full system selection and one implementation/configuration engagement

Regulatory knowledge (deep working knowledge)

KSA: SAMA AML/CFT Framework, Rules Governing AML/CFT, Sanctions Rules, CDD Requirements
UAE: CBUAE AML/CFT Regulations, SCA Requirements, UAE Cabinet Decisions on AML/CFT
Wider GCC: CBB (Bahrain), CBK (Kuwait), CBO (Oman), QCB (Qatar) — working familiarity
FATF: 40 Recommendations, Mutual Evaluation Reports (KSA, UAE), Guidance Papers
Global: EU AML Directives, OFAC, UK Sanctions, Wolfsberg Principles

Digital, innovation & data science

Must have built and taken to market at least one differentiated digital or technology-enabled FCC advisory solution.
Strong understanding of how RegTech, AI/ML, and automation are reshaping financial crime risk management.
Familiarity with data science concepts and tools (Python preferred) applied to FCC analytics: network analysis, transaction analytics, model performance testing, alert optimisation.
Able to articulate, demo, and sell data-driven FCC solutions to C-suite and technical buyers.

Show