Director - Financial Crime Advisory

About the role

Capitex is looking for a Director to lead and grow its Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) Advisory practice in Saudi Arabia, with reach across the wider GCC. This is a senior, client-facing role combining regulatory expertise with hands-on delivery and business development, split 50/50 between growing the practice and delivering client engagements. The successful candidate has a proven track record of winning and delivering significant FCC mandates for banks and financial institutions in the GCC.

Key responsibilities

• Drive end-to-end business development for FCC advisory services in Saudi Arabia, with visibility across the GCC, and build a network of C-suite, CCO and senior compliance contacts at banks, payment firms and financial institutions.
• Pursue and close new mandates covering gap assessments, AML/CFT programme reviews, sanctions and transaction monitoring model validation, KYC/CDD/EDD remediation, risk assessments, monitorships, and technology selection and implementation.
• Develop client proposals, presentations and thought leadership, and commercialise technology-enabled FCC solutions.
• Achieve and exceed annual revenue targets of USD 1 million and above from managed client accounts.
• Represent the firm at industry forums, conferences and regulatory events across the GCC.
• Lead delivery of complex, multi-workstream FCC engagements, acting as senior engagement lead and subject matter expert.
• Guide selection, implementation and configuration of sanctions screening and transaction monitoring platforms, and quality-assure all deliverables.
• Mentor team members, recruit and manage a high-performing FCC advisory team, and foster an inclusive, accountable culture.

Required profile

• 15+ years of total professional experience, including 10+ years in FCC advisory and 5+ years selling FCC projects to banks and financial institutions.
• 10+ years delivering FCC engagements end to end, with proven experience working with local GCC banks.
• Track record of building and managing a team, and of managing client accounts generating USD 1 million+ per annum.
• Deep hands-on expertise across FCC domains, including sanctions screening and transaction monitoring systems, and at least one full system selection and one implementation engagement.
• Knowledge of Saudi Arabia, UAE and GCC AML/CFT regulations, FATF recommendations, and EU AML directives, OFAC and UK sanctions.
• Must have built at least one digital/technology-enabled FCC solution and taken it to market.
• Nice to have: Arabic at professional level, Python for FCC analytics, and a background in a Big 4, management consultancy or FCC advisory firm.

Required skills

• Sanctions screening systems (e.g. Fircosoft/Accuity, Oracle OFAC)
• Transaction monitoring systems (e.g. SAS AML, NICE Actimize, Oracle FCCM, Temenos, FIS MANTAS)
• Data science concepts and tools (Python preferred) applied to FCC analytics