Financial Crime Quality Assurance Manager

ABOUT PLEO

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.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We're looking for a Financial Crime Quality Assurance Manager to join our Voice of the Customer team at Pleo. In this role, you'll lead our quality assurance function across Customer Due Diligence (CDD), Ongoing Due Diligence (ODD), and Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), ensuring we maintain strong, consistent controls that protect both Pleo and our customers, and support the delivery of a robust AML/CTF control framework across the customer lifecycle.

This is a leadership role that sits at the intersection of operational control, people management, and AI-driven transformation. You'll be responsible for owning and evolving the QA framework that underpins how we review, assess, and improve financial crime decisions, ensuring alignment with Pleo’s Financial Crime Risk Appetite and regulatory expectations.

At the same time, you'll play a key role in transforming QA into a more intelligent, AI-enabled function — using automation and data-driven insights to improve consistency, reduce risk, and continuously enhance quality at scale.

While the initial focus will be on CDD, ODD, and EDD, the scope of the role could also expand into broader financial crime QA and control areas over time.

WHO YOU'LL BE WORKING WITH AND REPORTING TO

You'll report to the Voice of the Customer team Manager and work closely with leaders across KYC Knowledge, Operational teams, Product, Financial Crime teams, 2 line of defense, and Data.

You'll lead a team of Quality Assurance Specialists who are responsible for reviewing financial crime cases and ensuring decisions meet internal standards, regulatory expectations, and customer protection requirements.

This role operates as a key first-line control assurance function, working closely with second-line Fincrime Compliance and the MLRO to ensure effective oversight, escalation, and governance of financial crime risks.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING

As a Financial Crime Quality Assurance Manager, you will:

• Own the Financial Crime QA Framework – Define, maintain, and evolve the end-to-end QA framework across CDD, ODD, and EDD, ensuring robust controls that protect Pleo and our customers, and support AML/CTF compliance obligations in line with regulatory expectations.

• Lead Case Review and Control Assurance Activities – Oversee the structured review of financial crime cases, ensuring consistency, quality, and compliance across all due diligence processes, with clear audit trails and defensible decisioning standards.

• Build and Lead a High-Performing Team – Manage, coach, and develop a team of QA specialists, creating clarity, accountability, and high standards in how quality reviews are performed.

• Strengthen Operational Controls – Ensure QA acts as a key control function by identifying process weaknesses, escalating risks, and reinforcing robust decision-making standards, including escalation of potential suspicious activity trends or systemic control issues.

• Drive AI-Enabled QA Transformation – Introduce and scale AI-driven capabilities to improve how quality is assessed, including automated sampling, anomaly detection, decision consistency analysis, and intelligent quality insights, ensuring all AI outputs are explainable, auditable, and governed with appropriate oversight and human accountability.

• Turn QA Insights into Continuous Improvement – Use QA findings and AI-generated insights to identify root causes of issues and drive meaningful, sustainable improvements across operations, training, and tooling.

• Ensure Consistent and Defensible Decisions – Safeguard the integrity of financial crime decision-making by ensuring QA outputs are consistent, auditable, and aligned with regulatory expectations, supporting regulatory engagement, internal audit readiness, and ongoing control assurance reviews.

• Own QA Management Information (MI) and Governance Reporting – Develop and maintain QA MI, including key metrics, trend analysis, and risk indicators, and produce monthly governance reports for Financial Crime forums, supporting MLRO-level oversight and risk-based decision-making.

• Partner Across the Business – Work closely with Product, Engineering, Data, and Financial Crime Operations to improve systems, embed controls, and ensure QA insights directly shape how we operate.

To put things into context, we're evolving our QA function from a largely manual review-based model into a modern control and intelligence system — combining strong operational governance with AI-driven insight and automation.

WHAT YOU BRING

You'll thrive in this role if you have:

• Financial Crime Experience – Strong background in CDD, ODD, and EDD, with a solid understanding of financial crime risk and regulatory expectations.

• Quality Assurance or Control Function Experience – Proven experience leading QA, audit, compliance monitoring, or control functions in a regulated environment.

• People Leadership Skills – Experience managing and developing teams, with a focus on performance, accountability, and continuous improvement.

• Strong Control Mindset – Deep understanding of operational risk, control frameworks, and the importance of consistent, defensible decision-making.

• AI and Data Curiosity – A strong interest in how AI and data can improve control functions, with the ability to translate ideas into practical operational improvements.

• Analytical Thinking – Ability to interpret QA data, identify trends, and translate findings into actionable improvements.

• Stakeholder Management – Strong communication skills and ability to influence across operational, technical, and compliance stakeholders.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience implementing or scaling QA or control frameworks in fast-growing organisations.

• Exposure to AI/automation in operational or compliance environments.

• FinTech or regulated financial services experience.

WHY IS THIS ROLE A GOOD FIT FOR YOU

This role is a good fit for you if:

• You want to own a critical control function that directly protects both customers and the business.

• You enjoy leading people and building high-performing operational teams.

• You are excited by the opportunity to modernise QA through AI and automation.

• You want to improve not just processes, but the quality and integrity of decision-making itself.

This role is not a good fit for you if:

• You prefer purely technical AI work without operational or people leadership responsibility.

• You are uncomfortable owning control frameworks or making accountability-driven decisions.

• You prefer static environments where QA processes are already fully mature and unchanging.

HOW YOU'LL DEVELOP IN THIS ROLE

In your first few months at Pleo, you'll:

• Take ownership of the existing QA framework across CDD, ODD, and EDD.

• Build strong oversight of case review processes and quality standards across the team.

• Identify gaps in current controls and strengthen consistency in financial crime decision-making.

• Begin introducing AI-driven QA capabilities to improve insight, efficiency, and scalability.

• Develop a roadmap for evolving QA into a modern, intelligence-led control function.

We’re committed to supporting your development as a leader in financial crime quality and control — whether that means scaling the function, leading broader financial crime oversight initiatives, or shaping how AI transforms compliance assurance.

THE LOCATION

Please note: We can hire on a hybrid or in-person set-up in any of the locations listed on the advert but you will need to be physically based in the country of your choice with a valid right to work. We are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role in any of the listed locations.

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 - depending on your location, coverage options include Vitality, Alan or Médis

• We offer 25 days of holiday + your public holidays

• 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

THE INTERVIEW PROCESS

We want to ensure you are set-up for success and understand what will be expected of you. If your application is successful, our interview process is as follows:

1. Intro call: A 30-minute chat with our Talent Partner to discuss the role and your background.

2. Hiring Manager: A 45-minute chat with our Senior Manager VOC

3. Pleo Panel interview: A 60-minute chat with peers and/or stakeholders to check how you would think and act in the role. Expect some real life examples as well as on the spot challenges.

4. Final: A30-minute chat with a senior Stakeholder for a final alignment and any last minute questions

Transparency is important to us so we also wanted to share some insights about what we’re looking for in applications to ensure you can set yourself up for success!

Last time we hired this role, we received a total of 96 applications but only 7 were selected for an intro call. Some of the key reasons why previous candidates didn’t make it past the application screening stage include:

• CV writing and content: we receive a lot of CVs, and many of them are AI-generated. We love seeing people leverage AI—it’s a big focus for us internally too—but without human intervention, these CVs can sometimes become generic and fail to show a candidate in the best light. What we're really looking for is the specific details of real impact that only you know from your previous experience. A top tip from us is to use the “Achieved X, as measured by Y, by doing Z” formula (credit: Laszlo Bock, ~2014) to give a really clear picture of what you’ve worked on. A final note: including links to your previous companies' websites is a huge help and allows us to truly understand your background!

• Application care: every single application we receive is reviewed by a human (yes, hundreds of them) because we believe that candidates' efforts should be matched by an equal level of human care. This means that we expect a similar level of attention put into your application. Read and answer the application questions carefully, they make a huge difference in our decision-making process.

• Profile to role fit: highlight most important aspects of the role, points that might get misunderstood, any specific industry requirements etc.

ABOUT YOUR APPLICATION

• English first. Since it's our company language, please submit your application in English. You’ll be using it a lot if you join us.

• A fair look for everyone. Our talent team reads every single application to ensure the process is fair. To keep things running smoothly, we only accept applications through our system—our support team can’t pass on calls or emails.

• Diversity drives us. We can only reach our goals if our team reflects the world around us. That starts with you hitting apply, even if you don't tick every single box. We encourage people from all backgrounds and experiences to join us.

• Interview at your best. We want you to feel comfortable throughout the process. If you have any accessibility requirements or need a specific format, email belonging@pleo.io. We’ll design a process that works for you.

• Your data is safe. When you apply, we process your personal data as a data processor. For more information on how Pleo processes personal data, read our Privacy Policy here https://www.pleo.io/en/legal.

• Applying for multiple roles? Nothing is stopping you, and we assess every role independently. However, we do look for alignment, so make sure you can explain why your interest and experience are right for each specific role.

• Reapplying. If you’re applying for the same role again, please wait six months from your last decision before hitting submit.