Head of Compliance

Capital markets are undergoing a fundamental shift. Assets that live in fragmented systems and manual workflows are moving onto blockchains, systems designed to move and store value more transparently and efficiently. While this unlocks more open and programmable financial systems, it also introduces significant complexity, and for most people, moving money into this new world is still far too hard. Our client builds the infrastructure that powers consumer facing fintech applications, handling onboarding, account access and money movement so users can interact with blockchain based systems as seamlessly as they do with traditional finance. For fintech builders, they provide a best in class onboarding and deposit stack that drives conversion and unlocks growth. They operate at the intersection of financial infrastructure, complex engineering and product experience. They are looking for a Head of Compliance to build and own the compliance function behind that infrastructure: the standards, controls, tooling and judgment that let the platform orchestrate money movement globally without ever being the reason a partner, a bank or a regulator hesitates. This is a first hire, build role. Compliance here is a design input, not a checklist bolted onto a finished product. The architecture is non custodial, the rails span fiat and crypto, and the mandate is global, which means the compliance posture has to be reasoned from first principles rather than copied from a bank or an exchange. You will work closely with the General Counsel to help set that posture. The role reports directly to the General Counsel and works closely with the CEO, Finance and Operations, Engineering, Partnerships and Customer Support. You will start with sanctions and the crypto side of the business, and grow into ownership of the full programme, including the fiat side as those rails expand. What You Will Own The sanctions programme. Screening standards, escalation and decisioning, recordkeeping and reporting, end to end, with a clear and documented rationale for every design choice. Policies, procedures and risk assessment. The written foundation of the programme, built for a DeFi rails architecture rather than inherited from a template. You will be able to explain that architecture, and what it does and does not implicate, to counterparties who have never seen one. Vendors and tooling. Selection, implementation and ongoing management of blockchain analytics and screening providers, held to measurable performance rather than to their sales decks. Compliance by design. Working with Engineering, Product and Customer Success early enough that controls live inside the product, not around it. You will be in the room when rails are designed, offering critical insight and guidance. Outside advisors. Directing compliance support and specialist advisors, setting the questions, owning the answers, and deciding what gets built in house versus bought. What We Are Looking For • Eight or more years in compliance, including meaningful time at a leading crypto or DeFi company, a digital asset exchange, or a financial institution with a serious digital assets practice • Working command of OFAC sanctions requirements as applied to on chain activity, practical and current rather than theoretical • Direct experience with non custodial or self custody product architectures, and a clear point of view on how compliance obligations attach to them. This is a requirement, not a preference • Fluency with blockchain analytics tooling and on chain investigation. You can work a chain of transactions yourself rather than waiting on a vendor's report • A policy mindset. You can write the standard, defend it under pressure, and tell the difference between a rule, a norm and a vendor's default setting • Excellent written communication. The output of this job is largely documents that other people act on • Comfort as the first and only compliance hire, with the ambition to build a function rather than maintain one Nice to Have • Experience standing up a compliance programme from zero at an early stage company • Exposure to money transmission, MSB registration or state licensing frameworks • Regulatory, enforcement or policy experience, at an agency, a trade association or in private practice • Familiarity with card scheme rules and the compliance surface of fiat payment rails Why Join • Own the compliance posture of infrastructure at the centre of a fast growing business. Your judgment ships to every application built on the platform at once • Work at the intersection of hard engineering, real payment economics and product craft • Ship consequential work quickly, alongside leading applications, protocols and financial infrastructure providers Location and Work Environment Primarily in person at the company's New York headquarters. The team works together Monday to Thursday for fast, iterative collaboration, with optional work from home on Fridays.