Financial Crimes Investigations Lead

Airbnb was born in 2007 when two hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home, and has since grown to over 5 million hosts who have welcomed over 2 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Every day, hosts offer unique stays and experiences that make it possible for guests to connect with communities in a more authentic way.

The Community You Will Join: 

Airbnb Payments is a designated Money Services Business in the US and an Electronic Money Institution in the UK, that is required to report on suspicious activity. Each regulatory body has several key areas of focus which can vary by region, agency and market. The spirit of the regulations are the same across the globe: protect consumers, maintain national security, prevent terrorist financing, and enforce sanctions and compliance regimes.

The Difference You Will Make:

The Financial Crimes Investigation Lead is responsible for detecting, investigating, and preventing financial crimes such as money laundering, fraud, and terrorist financing. The candidate should have a proven track record in financial crimes analysis including the ability to analyze transaction patterns, review customer activity, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. 

The individual will conduct end to end investigations of various complexity and sensitivity through analysis of information gathered internally and externally.  Investigations will require the individual to identify patterns of activity across large data sets that indicate potential exposure to financial crimes, ensuring potential threats are identified and addressed in a timely manner.   

This role requires expertise in AML/Financial Crimes regulations and typologies, strong analytical and communication skills and the ability to manage complex cases independently. The Financial Crimes Investigators will also often mentor more junior analysts, provide feedback on alert rules and collaborate with internal and external partners to improve detection algorithms. 

The individual must have a strong knowledge of Payments products as well as a strong knowledge of criminal investigative techniques and remain current with emerging financial crimes risk, typologies, and investigative best practices.

A Typical Day: 

• Conduct in-depth investigations of high-complexity and sensitive financial activities, analyzing evidence to determine potential financial crimes. 
• Analyze transaction patterns and customer activity to identify anomalies, red flags, and other indicators of money laundering, fraud, or terrorist financing. 
• Prepare and submit detailed Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in accordance with regulatory requirements and internal policies. 
• Provide feedback on the effectiveness of AML alert rules, suggesting improvements and partnering with management to design new rules to detect financial crime. 
• Work effectively with internal departments and external partners (such as law enforcement and other financial institutions) to share information. 
• Establish intelligence priorities for primary focus areas.
• Lead cross-functional working groups including the design, planning and execution of complex projects. 
• Develop new and innovative analytical methodologies. 
• Produce written intelligence products/reports utilizing multiple, disparate sources of information. 
• Brief wide variety of stakeholders, including senior executives, high-level corporate partners, and/or law enforcement representatives.
• Provide guidance, support, and training to junior analysts, sharing expertise and contributing to their development.

Your Expertise:

• Bachelor’s Degree or Technical Equivalent.
• 7+ years work experience in AML/Financial crimes analysis, with demonstrated experience in payments, banking, or e-commerce marketplaces.
• Advanced knowledge of financial crime risks related to payments both in the US and abroad.
• Strong ability to interpret complex data, identify patterns, and make sound judgments to solve problems. 
• Familiarity with Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Rules Based Systems for Suspicious Activity detection.
• Minimum 7 years experience working with and manipulating extremely large, complex data sets using traditional tools such as Alteryx, Tableau and basic SQL concepts
• Minimum 7 years  experience performing open-source research, intelligence, or law enforcement work.
• Demonstrated experience in creating constructed judgments about issues for which there are incomplete or imperfect evidence including establishing and justifying associated confidence levels.
• Mission-driven, enthusiastic to learn