Messy spend management is tricky business. And tedious processes are a lose-lose situation for all involved, not just finance. At Pleo, we're changing that. We build spend solutions that make managing money seamless, empowering, and surprisingly effective for finance teams and employees alike—with a vision to help all businesses ‘go beyond’.
The word ‘Pleo’ actually means ‘more than you’d expect’, and living by that mantra has been the secret to our success over the last 10 years.
Now, we’re at a pivotal moment in our journey; every move we make has a direct impact on our 40,000+ customers, our business, and our collective success. We need people who take pride in uncovering customer needs, who turn complex problems into simple solutions, challenge the way things are done (respectfully), and always aim high. With great ambitions driving us forward, we can’t say we’ve got this whole thing figured out. And frankly, that’s half the fun! What we can say is that we’re a driven, progressive, and, importantly, a kind bunch of 850+ people from over 100 nationalities, all committed to delivering the future of business spending, together.
We're looking for a Senior Financial Crime Compliance Officer to join our Risk & Compliance (2nd Line of Defense) team at Pleo. In this role, you'll help architect our scalable financial crime framework and be part of a dedicated team ensuring regulatory safety as we scale our operations across Europe through strong oversight and advisory. If you're excited about navigating the complexity of the 2026 EU AML package and are passionate about ensuring compliance-by-design in a high-growth Fintech, then this is the opportunity for you!
What you’ll be doing
As a Senior Financial Crime Compliance Officer, your ownership may entail:
- Lead core Group-wide Financial Crime Framework initiatives: Maintain and evolve our Enterprise-Wide Risk Assessment (EWRA) and Policy suite, ensuring they remain dynamic and aligned with EBA guidelines and local regulations.
- Execute 2nd Line Monitoring: Design and conduct thematic reviews of 1st Line processes (Onboarding, Transaction Monitoring, CDD) to test control effectiveness and identify gaps before they become risks.
- Advise on High-Risk Decisions: Act as the primary escalation point for complex cases and provide "check and challenge" on new product launches to ensure we balance commercial goals with regulatory obligations.
- Drive Regulatory Horizon Scanning: Monitor the shifting EMI regulatory landscape (including UK MLRs and EU Directives), translating complex legal changes into actionable business requirements.
- Mentor and Elevate Standards: Provide technical guidance to junior team members, fostering a culture of confidence and regulatory rigour within the FCC function.
What you bring
You’ll thrive in this role if you have:
- A minimum of 6 years in Financial Crime Compliance, with at least 3 years specifically within a 2nd Line of Defense role where you held an oversight capacity.
- A solid understanding of EMI business models, automated transaction monitoring logic, and API-led onboarding flows.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate with 1st Line, Product and Ops teams, comfortably delivering constructive challenges to stakeholders when risks exceed our appetite.
- A background holding an ICA Diploma (or equivalent) or ACAMS certification is a plus.
- A passion for solving problems in creative ways, but also the willingness to "roll up your sleeves" and dive into data reconciliation or documentation when the team needs support.
Who you’ll be working with and reporting to
You’ll report to our Group Head of Financial Crime Compliance and work closely with teams in 1st Line Framework, Operations, Product, Engineering and Legal. Our team three in Financial Crime Compliance is highly collaborative and dedicated to protecting Pleo from financial crime risks and ensuring regulatory soundness. You’ll also have the chance to partner with teams across many other departments to ensure success.
How you’ll develop in this role
In your first 12 months at Pleo, you’ll:
- Lead the gap analysis and implementation of the upcoming EU AML Package to drive impact in our cross-border compliance strategy.
- Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams to provide critical oversight and advisory on transaction monitoring thresholds, ensuring our controls remain effective without stifling growth.
- Grow your skills in Strategic Financial Crime Risk Management, moving beyond day-to-day compliance to become a key advisor on long-term regulatory resilience and framework maturity.
Show me the benefits!
- Your own Pleo card (no more out-of-pocket spending!)
- Lunch is on us for your work days - enjoy catered meals or receive a lunch allowance based on your local office 🍜
- Comprehensive private healthcare
- We offer 25 days of holiday + your public holidays
- For our Team, we offer both hybrid and fully remote working options
- Option to purchase 5 additional days of holiday through a salary sacrifice
- We use MyndUp to give our employees access to free mental health and well-being support with great success so far ❤️🩹
- Paid parental leave - we want to make sure that we're supportive of families and help you feel that you don't have to compromise your family due to work 👶
About your application
- Please submit your application in English; it’s our company language so you’ll be speaking lots of it if you join 💕
- We treat all candidates equally: If you are interested please apply through our application system - any correspondence should come from there! Our lovely support team isn't able to pass on any calls/ emails our way - and this makes sure that the candidate experience is smooth and fair to everyone 😊
- We can only achieve our goals if our team reflects the diversity of the world around us - and that starts with you, hitting apply, even if you are worried you might not tick all the boxes. We embrace and encourage people from all backgrounds to apply - regardless of race/ethnicity, colour, religion, nationality, gender, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, neurodiversity, socio-economic status, culture or beliefs.
- When you submit an application we process your personal data as a data processor. Find out more about how your data is used in the FAQs section at the bottom of our jobs page.
