Description:
Liquida is seeking a Chief Compliance Officer and MLRO (SMF16 / SMF17 equivalent under the DSS framework). This is a full-time, remote role based in the UK, with regular travel to London for regulator and counterparty meetings (travel and associated expenses covered separately from salary). You must have existing right to work in the UK; we are not able to sponsor visas for this role.
You will build our financial crime function from scratch and own our regulatory posture as we move into live operation. You will set the standards, own the risk appetite, and hold absolute authority to say no. You will report directly to Dewi Perrin, Managing Director - and as our governance structure matures, this role will also have direct, independent reporting access to the Board of Directors.
Your work will include:
- Building the Financial Crime Framework: Authoring risk appetite, BWRA, CDD/EDD standards, transaction monitoring, wallet/sanctions screening, and training under MLR 2017 and JMLSG standards.
- Holding the MLRO Role: Owning SARs, internal escalations, and the direct relationship with the NCA with full personal accountability and independence.
- Leading the Gate 2 Submission: Authoring the line-by-line self-attestation against DSS Gate 2 Rules and collaborating with the technical team to complete the DSS CQUEST (Cyber Resilience) assessment to ensure our DLT operating models will not introduce cyber contagion to the wider financial system.
- Sandbox Limit Monitoring: Designing and owning the internal controls to monitor, manage, and report on Bank of England firm-specific DSS capacity limits to prevent limit breaches during live operations.
- Fronting Institutional Due Diligence: Leading conversations with bank and building society financial crime teams as an institutional peer.
- Representing Liquida: Direct engagement with the FCA, Bank of England, UK Debt Management Office, and Wholesale Digital Markets Champion's taskforce.
Who This Is For
- Background: Experienced MLRO, Deputy MLRO, or Head of Financial Crime in a UK-regulated firm (bank, building society, custodian, asset manager, payment institution, or registered digital asset firm).
- Builder Mindset: You have built a financial crime function or substantial parts of one from scratch, rather than merely operating an inherited system.
- Regulatory Experience: Direct experience engaging regulators as a principal, with deep working knowledge of MLR 2017, POCA 2002, and JMLSG applied to novel financial structures.
- We do not require digital asset experience: Regulatory judgment is what we are searching for to add to our team, that is currently comprised of a mix of institutional traditional finance and tech natives - if you have spent twenty years in institutional bank compliance and never touched a blockchain, you are who we want to hear from.