We are looking for a candidate ready to leverage their UAE regulatory and fincrime  legal experience in a dynamic, fintech environment. This is an exciting, hands-on opportunity working directly with product managers, analysts and engineers to launch and manage compliant products. 

Your mission: 

Wise has already pioneered new ways for people to transfer money across borders and currencies. Your mission is to enable our UAE Product team to launch new products, grow our presence and manage compliance risks in the UAE through a deep understanding of FinCrime and other regulatory requirements and regulator expectations around them. 

You will exhibit a high degree of ownership in ensuring our products are compliant and have a structured approach to mitigating local risks, all while balancing this with an excellent customer experience.

This is a first line of defense, hands-on role, embedded in the MEA Product Squad.

You, together with the team in UAE, will be responsible for:  

Creating and improving our products in a compliant and scalable way: 

• By deeply understanding both the Wise product and regulatory needs in the UAE, support Product and other teams on interpreting regulatory requirements, including fincrime ones, and improving processes, controls and our product accordingly;

• Perform Risk assessments of new products and services, and ensure that related controls are implemented consistently prior to launch; and

• Enable Product teams to adopt a risk-based approach in developing products, processes, and controls.

Regulatory change and remediation:  

• Conduct regulatory gap analyses, define and scope required actions to remediate gaps, and take ownership over ensuring implementation plans are executed in a timely manner; and

• In collaboration with global teams, identify opportunities to maximise synergies and drive consistency and scalability by leveraging programs of work already executed or in flight across the Wise Group.

Manage and Mitigate Regulatory Risks and the Control Environment: 

• Oversee the control environment for the UAE, designing effective, creative and targeted controls and evaluating the residual risk exposure;

• Collaborate with Compliance colleagues, to ensure Wise Product Teams are constantly aware of the most recent regulations and guidance; and

• Work with Product Teams and the wider Risk & Compliance Team to implement and maintain Management Information that enables Wise to make informed decisions at the regional and Global levels. 

Audit, issue management and remediation: 

• Manage audits, and (where required) challenge audit findings in collaboration with Product and second line of defence Risk and Compliance teams; and

• Develop remediation plans, and ensure they are agreed upon and executed promptly.

• Represent Wise in meetings with Banking Partners and Central Banks, being able to clearly and effectively articulate Wise’s products and compliance framework.

This role will give you the opportunity to: 

• Grow your hands-on Fintech knowledge at full speed; 

• Build state-of-the-art products that are compliant for our customers and regulators; 

• Work together with all our amazing teams both locally and globally; and

• Play a key role in owning and shaping Wise’s  compliance program in the UAE 

About you: 

• You have a strong compliance background with expertise in and knowledge of applicable regulations in the UAE, specifically for entities regulated by the Central bank  

• A natural owner, that drives and delivers project from inception to completion, timely and with attention to detail; 

• Strong communicator, with the ability to effectively interact with different audiences (from Product & Engineering teams to external auditors and regulators such as CBUAE);

• Problem solving attitude, with the ability analyse and interpret complex regulatory and risk management frameworks and apply them effectively with data to drive practical, actionable and value-adding business decisions; 

• A team player with a collaborative spirit and the ability to work effectively with different stakeholders such as Product, Risk and Compliance; 

• Ability to prioritise effectively and call-out key areas of improvement.

Further information: 

• We’re people without borders — without judgment or prejudice, too. We want to work with the best people, no matter their background. So if you’re passionate about learning new things and keen to join our mission, you’ll fit right in.

• Also, qualifications aren’t that important to us. If you’ve got great experience, and you’re great at articulating your thinking, we’d like to hear from you.

• And because we believe that diverse teams build better products, we’d especially love to hear from you if you’re from an under-represented demographic.

Additional Information

For everyone, everywhere. We're people building money without borders  — without judgement or prejudice, too. We believe teams are strongest when they are diverse, equitable and inclusive.

We're proud to have a truly international team, and we celebrate our differences.
Inclusive teams help us live our values and make sure every Wiser feels respected, empowered to contribute towards our mission and able to progress in their careers.

If you want to find out more about what it's like to work at Wise visit Wise.Jobs.

Keep up to date with life at Wise by following us on LinkedIn and Instagram.