Head of Compliance / MLRO (Payments / Acquiring)

About the Company

Unified Finance is a UK-registered acquiring company and a Principal Member of the Visa and Mastercard payment schemes.

We operate at the top layer of the payments ecosystem and own our financial and technological infrastructure, ensuring full operational control, independence, and deep acquiring expertise.

The company operates as a fast-growing fintech scale-up, providing card acquiring services to merchants across multiple risk tiers. As the business scales and prepares for increased regulatory oversight, we are strengthening our Compliance and AML functions.

About the Role

We are looking for a Head of Compliance / MLRO who will take full ownership of the company’s AML/CTF and regulatory compliance framework.

This is a hands-on leadership role for an experienced professional capable of ensuring:

• flawless merchant onboarding,
• robust oversight of merchant activity,
• clean and timely regulatory reporting,
  full compliance with FCA requirements, UK/EU AML regulations, and Visa/Mastercard scheme rules.

Key Responsibilities

The Head of Compliance / MLRO will be accountable for all core elements of the AML/CTF framework, merchant oversight, and regulatory alignment, including:

• Managing end-to-end AML/KYC/KYB onboarding for mid-risk and high-risk merchants.
• Conducting and reviewing CDD / EDD, ownership structures, UBO analysis, sanctions and PEP screening results.
• Ensuring onboarding processes comply with Visa/Mastercard scheme standards and requirements.
• Acting as the primary approver (maker role) for compliance-related onboarding decisions.
• Overseeing ongoing monitoring, including sanctions alerts, adverse media findings, suspicious behaviour indicators, and periodic merchant reviews aligned with defined risk tiers.
• Preparing and submitting SARs / STRs.
• Maintaining and regularly updating AML, CDD, EDD, onboarding, and monitoring policies and procedures.
• Preparing regulatory, internal, and scheme-related compliance reports.
• Ensuring full compliance with UK/EU AML legislation and card scheme requirements.
• Monitoring merchant activity for fraud indicators, unusual transaction patterns, and scheme policy breaches.
  Collaborating closely with Risk and Underwriting teams on risk appetite thresholds, merchant categorisation, and escalations.
• Providing compliance guidance to operational, underwriting, and commercial teams.
• Delivering regular AML/CTF training programmes to internal staff.
• Preparing documentation and evidence for internal and external audits.

Requirements

Must-Have:

• 5+ years of experience in AML / Compliance within payments, acquiring, or fintech.
• Strong understanding of UK and EU AML legislation, as well as Visa/Mastercard scheme rules and requirements.
• Hands-on experience with sanctions and PEP screening, UBO verification, and enhanced due diligence.
  Ability to assess merchant business models and identify behavioural red flags.
• Excellent command of English; Russian language proficiency is a strong advantage.
• High personal integrity, strong ethical standards, and independent judgment.
  Strong communication skills with the ability to collaborate with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• A problem-solving mindset and readiness to build or rebuild processes in environments with low initial maturity.

Nice to Have

• ACAMS / ICA / IMC or similar professional certifications.
• Previous experience working with high-risk merchants.
• Understanding of fraud and chargeback flows.
• Knowledge of GDPR and data-protection principles.

What We Offer

• A key leadership role within a UK-regulated acquiring institution with significant strategic impact.
  Close collaboration with senior leadership and full ownership of the Compliance / AML function.
• A competitive compensation package and long-term growth opportunities.
• A dynamic environment with the opportunity to build compliance processes and frameworks from the ground up.