Job Description

Our Story

Hello there. We\xe2\x80\x99re Zopa.

We started our journey back in 2005, building the first ever peer-to-peer lending company. Fast forward to 2020 and we launched Zopa Bank. A bank that listens to what our customers don\xe2\x80\x99t like about finance and does the opposite. We\xe2\x80\x99re redefining what it feels like to work in finance. Our vision for a new era of banking puts people front and centre \xe2\x80\x94 we\xe2\x80\x99ve built a business that empowers everyone to aim high, every day, to move finance forward. Find out more about our fantastic offerings at Zopa.com!


We\xe2\x80\x99re incredibly proud of our achievements and none of it would be possible without the amazing team here. It\xe2\x80\x99s not just industry awards we\xe2\x80\x99re winning, we\xe2\x80\x99ve also been named in the top three UK\xe2\x80\x99s Most Loved Workplaces.


If you embrace unconventional challenges, are unafraid to think differently and are driven to make an outsized impact, you\xe2\x80\x99ll thrive here at Zopa, so join us, and make it count. Want to see us in action? Follow us on Instagram @zopalife



Zopa operates a three lines of defence model for managing risks including financial crime.


As the First Line Head of Financial Crime at Zopa you will be responsible for managing financial-crime risk across all the bank\xe2\x80\x99s products and ensuring that the bank has appropriate controls in place.


You will do this by creating and embedding a proactive FC risk management capability, executing core financial crime controls, within the 1st line of defence. You will work closely with all product owners as well as the 2LoD Financial Crime Risk team and the 1LoD Financial Crime operations, to ensure ongoing compliance with the Bank\xe2\x80\x99s policies and minimum standards, in line with obligations to the FCA and other regulators.

A day in the life:

• Support the management of the bank\'s financial crime risks, including money laundering, terrorist financing, and Sanctions as well as developing controls to mitigate these risks.

• Ensuring the application and ongoing monitoring of minimum standards and embedding of related policies set by the 2nd line

• Provide training and raising awareness among bank employees about financial crime risks, prevention measures, and regulatory requirements in conjunction with the 2LoD.

• Ensuring suspicious activities are reported to the relevant authorities, as required by law.

• Implementation and ongoing monitoring of necessary controls to bring products/processes in line with regulatory requirements and Zopa\xe2\x80\x99s financial crime policies/standards

• Leading the execution of a risk-based approach to Financial Crime controls based on the Financial Crime Risk Assessment and risk appetite across the 1st Line of Defence

• Monitoring adherence to the FC risk assessments, and ensure appropriate action plans are defined and tracked in response to assurance reviews and the BWRA owned by the 2nd Line of Defence

• Create a strong culture of financial crime risk awareness and accountability for risk and controls in the 1st Line

• Implement approach to KYC, transaction monitoring, customers screening and customer risk assessment

• Work with product and technology teams to define and implement the architecture for financial crime risk management

About you:

• You\'ll be an experienced Financial Crime leader with a passion for enabling teams to deliver better customer outcomes

• You should be commercial, and outcome orientated, able to quantify risk vs reward for the business to propose the optimal outcomes for customers and Zopa

• Able to design and lead the implementation of smart solutions across multi-functional teams

• A strong communicator, able to well articulate the issues, trade-offs and solutions in order to gain buy in to your proposals

• Passionate about improving the risk environment by taking a holistic approach to assessing and dealing with risk and by consistently improving the control structures and MI which the teams rely on

• Be a source of subject matter expertise and wise counsel for senior business colleagues in your area such as second line risk and first line counter- parts to ensure a coherent approach to Zopa risk appetite and an efficient sharing of best practice

• An experienced coach who can help to improve the quality of thought in the first line teams regarding risk assessment and promote a risk-aware culture across the business.

#LI-LK1


Flexible working? Yes please!


At Zopa we value flexible ways of working. We understand the benefits of face-to-face collaboration and the importance of a good work life balance. Our teams work in a hybrid manner from our open-plan, riverside London Bridge office and the comfort of their own homes at a frequency that suits the team and the work they do.


Not only that \xe2\x80\x93 you\'ll also have the option of working from abroad for up to 120 days a year!* But no matter where you are, we\xe2\x80\x99ll make sure you\xe2\x80\x99ve got everything you need to thrive, both in your work and home life, from day one.

• Subject to having the right to work in the country of choice

Diversity Statement


Zopa is proud to offer a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds leads to better products for our customers and a unique company culture for our people. We are made up of nearly 50 nationalities, have a DE&I forum made up of Zopians wanting to make a difference and we are proud of our culture where everyone can bring their full self to work. Our approach to DE&I is reflected in our hiring process so please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.