Sanctions Compliance Officer

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Take ownership of and continuously improve the sanctions compliance framework for Polymarket US, which encompasses policies, procedures, governance, risk assessments, screening controls, escalation standards, and documentation.

• Act as the primary expert on sanctions, converting OFAC requirements, sanctions programs, regulatory changes, and emerging risks into actionable controls.

• Manage comprehensive sanctions screening for customers, transactions, counterparties, beneficial owners, and other related parties.

• Build and lead the sanctions team, defining staffing needs, workflows, procedures, escalation criteria, service levels, quality standards, and performance expectations.

• Oversee the investigation and resolution of sanctions screening alerts and potential sanctions matches.

• Develop and maintain frameworks for escalation and decision-making regarding potentially blocked or prohibited activities.

• Provide guidance to Legal, Compliance, Product, and business teams on sanctions-related risks.

• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Data teams to integrate sanctions controls into onboarding and transaction processes.

• Establish quality assurance and testing frameworks for sanctions controls.

• Implement opportunities for AI and automation while ensuring human oversight, controls, testing, and governance are maintained.

• Integrate the sanctions function with KYC, AML Investigations, Fraud, and other Financial Crimes teams.

⛳️ Requirements

• Minimum of 8 years of experience in sanctions, financial crimes, AML, or related compliance fields, with substantial direct responsibility for U.S. economic sanctions.

• Extensive subject matter expertise in OFAC regulations, sanctions programs, and related guidance.

• Proven experience in building or leading both a sanctions program and sanctions/financial crime screening operations within a regulated financial institution, FinTech, broker-dealer, derivatives firm, payments company, or similarly sophisticated environment.

• A blend of sanctions advisory and operational leadership experience.

• Experience utilizing AI, automation, and emerging technologies to enhance sanctions screening, alert review, investigations, or other financial crime processes, with appropriate governance, testing, and human oversight in place.

• Practical experience with sanctions screening, alert investigations, escalation, disposition, and analysis of blocked or rejected transactions.

• Background in designing or overseeing sanctions screening systems, including matching logic, tuning, testing, list management, QA/QC, and false-positive reduction.

• Experience in establishing operational metrics, productivity expectations, quality programs, escalation frameworks, and queue management processes.

• Knowledge of sanctions risks related to customers, counterparties, jurisdictions, transactions, products, and new business initiatives.

• Ability to translate intricate regulatory requirements into practical guidance and operational controls.

• Experience in drafting sanctions policies, procedures, risk assessments, escalation standards, and operational documentation.

• Familiarity with supporting regulatory exams, audits, investigations, or independent testing.

• Strong judgment and the ability to independently evaluate and escalate complex sanctions issues.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Capability to operate effectively in a fast-paced environment and develop a program and operations function while the business scales.

• Prior experience with OFAC, CFTC- or NFA-registered entities, digital assets/blockchain, sanctions technology, or building screening operations is advantageous.

🏝️ Benefits

• Competitive salary & equity.

• Unlimited PTO.

• Comprehensive Health, Vision, & Dental coverage.

• 401k matching.

• Hardware setup: new MacBook Pro, large display, & accessories.