Head of Compliance

Responsibilities

• Lead Astra’s enterprise compliance program, including policies, procedures, risk assessments, controls, testing, training, and reporting.
• Serve as the designated BSA/AML Compliance Officer, overseeing KYC/KYB, customer due diligence, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, alert and case management, and financial-crimes risk.
• Report material compliance risks, program performance, audits, and remediation to executive leadership and the Board.
• Lead and scale the Compliance and GRC team while remaining involved in complex reviews, escalations, and strategic initiatives.
• Oversee sponsor-bank relationships, bank due diligence, audits, inquiries, and program governance.
• Ensure compliance with ACH/NACHA, card-network, RTP, FedNow, and other payment-rail requirements.
• Evaluate new products, payment flows, customers, partnerships, and markets and establish controls before launch.
• Build and enhance fraud controls, including monitoring rules, transaction limits, and escalation processes.
• Own SOC 2 and PCI DSS governance, audit readiness, auditor coordination, findings management, and annual assessments.
• Maintain an enterprise risk and controls framework connecting obligations, risks, controls, testing, evidence, and remediation.
• Lead privacy compliance, including GDPR and U.S. privacy requirements, data-subject requests, retention, privacy notices, and reviews of products, data uses, and vendors.
• Oversee third-party compliance risk, customer assurance, due-diligence responses, and compliance vendors.
• Advise Product, Engineering, Sales, and Integrations on compliance requirements and scalable controls.
• Travel up to approximately 15% annually.

Requirements

• 8+ years of compliance experience in fintech, payments, banking, or financial services, including at least 3 years in a leadership role.
• Experience leading a BSA/AML compliance program at a financial institution, payments company, or fintech.
• Experience overseeing BSA/AML, fraud, privacy, SOC 2, PCI DSS, or payment-network compliance programs.
• Practical expertise in BSA/AML, OFAC, KYC/KYB, customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, suspicious-activity escalation, and financial-crimes risk management.
• Familiarity with ACH, RTP, and debit networks.
• Experience building or scaling compliance programs at a startup or high-growth company.
• Experience managing sponsor-bank relationships and bank program compliance requirements.
• Experience leading and developing a compliance team while remaining involved in execution.
• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Ability to analyze transaction patterns, interpret monitoring outputs, and work with Engineering on technical controls.
• Working knowledge of API-driven payment architecture and translating compliance requirements into product and engineering decisions.
• Understanding of Visa Direct, card-to-card transfers, ACH/NACHA, RTP, and FedNow.

Nice-to-haves

• JD, MBA, or relevant advanced degree.
• CAMS, CRCM, CFE, or equivalent certification.
• Experience at a BaaS company or payments platform managing sponsor-bank obligations and audit readiness.
• Experience with cross-border payments, crypto, payroll, lending, or embedded-finance products.
• Experience presenting compliance strategy to a founding team, board, or investors.
• Familiarity with Alloy, Sardine, Unit21, Socure, or ComplyAdvantage.