Director - Financial Crime Office (Deputy AML Officer); Head of Regulatory Relations and Testing

About KOHO We’re on a mission to make financial services better for every Canadian. That means no hidden fees, no predatory interest rates

• just financial products designed to help our users spend smart, save more, and build real wealth. We’re a performance organization with a strong heart: we care deeply about outcomes, and everything ties back to our mission
• to financially empower a generation of Canadians. At KOHO, we’re not your average 9-5. We believe real impact comes from people who are trusted, empowered, and supported to do their best work
• without sacrificing their lives to do it. We prioritize work-life integration, not just work-life balance. That means asynchronous collaboration, flexible hours, and a remote-first setup built around autonomy and high trust. KOHO is entering its next chapter
• leaner, smarter, more AI-integrated. We’re building for impact, not bureaucracy. If you thrive in environments that value clarity, ownership, and bold thinking, you’ll fit right in. About The Role We’re looking for an accomplished Director to lead four connected pillars of KOHO’s Compliance function: the Financial Crime Office, Regulatory Relations, Complaints Management, and second-line Compliance Testing. Reporting to the Chief Compliance Officer, you will own how KOHO detects and disrupts financial crime, how we show up in front of our regulators, how we resolve customer complaints fairly, and how we independently test that our compliance controls actually work. It is a broad mandate, and deliberately so — these are the areas where evidence matters most. You will bring the discipline, documentation quality, and executive presence to make KOHO’s control environment demonstrably effective, while keeping the customer experience in view. What You’ll Be Doing Financial Crime Office (Deputy Chief AML Officer)
• Lead KOHO’s AML/ATF and sanctions compliance program in accordance with the PCMLTFA and its regulations, and own the enterprise money laundering, terrorist financing, and sanctions risk assessment.
• Oversee transaction monitoring, alert and case management, enhanced due diligence, sanctions screening, and suspicious transaction reporting , including the quality and timeliness of regulatory reporting to FINTRAC.
• Direct KYC and customer risk rating standards , and partner with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to close typology gaps between fraud and financial crime detection.
• Own the two-year AML effectiveness review , resulting remediation, and financial crime training. Regulatory Relations
• Serve as the central point of coordination for regulators , owning the cadence, quality, and consistency of KOHO’s regulatory correspondence and submissions.
• Lead the end-to-end management of regulatory examinations, reviews, and information requests , including planning, evidence collection, response quality control, and issue tracking.
• Own the regulatory findings and commitments register , driving remediation to validated closure.
• Maintain the inventory of regulatory filings and the record of regulatory engagement, and prepare executives and subject matter experts for regulatory meetings. Complaints Management
• Own KOHO’s enterprise complaints management program , including policy, procedures, escalation pathways, and service standards.
• Oversee handling of escalated and designated complaints , ensuring fair, timely, well-reasoned outcomes and clear written responses to customers.
• Manage case flow with the external complaints body and oversee reporting to the FCAC and other applicable authorities.
• Deliver complaints reporting and root cause analysis , converting complaint themes into product, process, and disclosure improvements that advance fair treatment of customers. Compliance Testing
• Own the design and delivery of KOHO’s independent Compliance Testing Program , including methodology, quality standards, and reporting.
• Develop the annual risk-based testing plan , scoped and prioritized from the regulatory obligations inventory and known risk concentrations; Collaborate with Operational Risk Management (ORM) on the selection of compliance controls.
• Maintain a quality assurance process over testing outputs, including work performed by co-source or business process outsourcing partners, and report results and thematic conclusions into senior management and/or Board-level reporting. Team Leadership and Industry Engagement
• Lead, coach, and develop a multi-disciplinary team across financial crime, testing, and complaints, building bench strength and clear career paths.
• Partner with Compliance Advisory and Privacy, Operational Risk, Internal Audit, Legal, and FIU to ensure integrated risk oversight.
• Represent KOHO externally in industry associations, peer forums, and financial crime intelligence networks, staying ahead of emerging typologies, fraud trends, and regulatory developments.
• Prepare and present decision-ready reporting to senior management and applicable Board-level committees. AI, Automation and Innovation
• Apply AI, machine learning, RPA, and advanced analytics to transaction monitoring tuning, alert triage, complaints classification, and compliance testing.
• Lead the development of automated testing scripts, intelligent workflows, and advanced reporting to increase coverage.
• Evaluate and implement emerging RegTech and financial crime technology , and maintain model governance and tuning documentation for detection systems. Who You Are
• You have 10+ years of experience across AML and financial crime, compliance testing or audit, regulatory relations, or complaints within financial services.
• You have deep working knowledge of Canadian consumer protection, AML, retail banking or payments, and privacy legislation.
• You have direct experience managing regulatory examinations or information requests, and you’re composed under that kind of scrutiny.
• You bring rigour to evidence and documentation — you believe a control that cannot be demonstrated has not been performed — and you deliver unwelcome findings constructively.
• You’ve worked in regulated fintech, neobank, or direct-to-consumer financial institutions, you’re passionate about empowering financial wellness, and a relevant designation (CAMS, CFE, CIA, CPA, CRCM, or equivalent) is an asset. The budgeted salary range for this role is $190,000-230,000 CAD / year. At KOHO, we are dedicated to providing pay transparency to all candidates. Compensation at KOHO is determined through various factors including but not limited to: comparable salary market data within Canada, technical skill assessment, a holistic view of previous work history, and internal pay equity with other KOHO team members. Description de poste en français À propos du poste Nous sommes à la recherche d’une directrice ou d’un directeur chevronné pour diriger quatre piliers interconnectés de la fonction Conformité de KOHO : le Bureau de la criminalité financière, les relations avec les organismes de réglementation, la gestion des plaintes et les tests de conformité de deuxième ligne. Relevant de la cheffe ou du chef de la conformité, vous serez responsable de la façon dont KOHO détecte et perturbe les activités criminelles financières, interagit avec les organismes de réglementation, traite équitablement les plaintes des clients et vérifie de façon indépendante l’efficacité réelle de ses contrôles de conformité. Il s’agit volontairement d’un mandat vaste : ce sont les domaines où les faits et les preuves sont les plus importants. Vous apporterez la rigueur, la qualité documentaire et la présence exécutive nécessaires pour démontrer l’efficacité de l’environnement de contrôle de KOHO, tout en gardant l’expérience client au cœur de vos décisions. Ce que vous ferez Bureau de la criminalité financière
• Diriger le programme de KOHO en matière de lutte contre le blanchiment d’argent et le financement des activités terroristes (LBA/FT), ains