A specialist FCC advisory firm is hiring a Director to lead and scale its Financial Crime Advisory practice in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with secondary reach across the wider GCC. This is a senior, client-facing, revenue-generating position at the intersection of regulatory expertise, hands-on delivery, and entrepreneurial business development.



You will be an independent, commercially astute practitioner with a proven track record of winning and delivering significant FCC mandates for banks and financial institutions in the GCC. The role is a 50/50 split between business development and project delivery, with full ownership of practice growth, client outcomes, and team building.




What You'll Do




Business Development & Practice Growth (50%)

• Own the end-to-end BD lifecycle for FCC advisory services across KSA, with visibility across the wider GCC.


• Build and expand relationships with C-suite, CCOs, MLROs, and senior compliance leaders at local and international banks, payment firms, and financial institutions.


• Originate, pursue, and close new advisory mandates across the full FCC spectrum: gap assessments, AML/CFT programme reviews, sanctions and transaction monitoring (TM) model validation, KYC/CDD/EDD remediation, financial crime risk assessments, monitorships/Skilled Persons Reviews, and technology selection and implementation.


• Develop compelling proposals, presentations, and thought leadership aligned to SAMA, CBUAE, and FATF priorities.


• Build and commercialise differentiated FCC advisory solutions, including digital and technology-enabled propositions.


• Achieve and exceed annual revenue targets of USD 1m+ from managed accounts.


• Represent the firm at industry forums, conferences, and regulatory engagement events.

Project Delivery & Quality Assurance (50%)

• Lead delivery of complex, multi-workstream FCC engagements across KSA and the GCC - on time, on budget, on quality.


• Serve as senior engagement lead and SME across core FCC domains (see below).


• Provide hands-on expert guidance on selection, implementation, and tuning of leading sanctions screening and TM platforms (Fircosoft/Accuity, SAS AML, Actimize, Oracle FCCM, and similar).


• Review and quality-assure all deliverables prior to client submission.


• Mentor and develop junior and mid-level team members.

Core FCC Domains (Senior Engagement Lead)

• Gap assessments against SAMA, CBUAE, FATF, and internal standards


• AML/CFT programme design, remediation, and framework transformation


• Sanctions and TM model validation (methodology, parameters, thresholds, output quality)


• Sanctions and TM system tuning and optimisation


• KYC/CDD/EDD remediation and look-back programmes


• Monitorship / Skilled Persons Review (SPR) support


• Enterprise-wide, product, channel, and customer-segment financial crime risk assessments


• Regulatory examination readiness and response

Team Building & Leadership

• Recruit, build, and manage a high-performing FCC advisory team in KSA.


• Set clear performance expectations and development pathways.


• Foster an inclusive, accountable, high-energy culture aligned to the firm's values and ethical standards.

Requirements




What You'll Bring




Experience (all mandatory unless stated)



Requirement



Minimum Threshold



Total professional experience



15+ years



FCC advisory / consulting experience



10+ years



FCC advisory sales / BD (selling to banks)



5+ years



FCC project execution



10+ years



GCC market experience



Must have worked with local GCC banks



Team building and management



Must have built and managed a team



Client account management



USD 1m+ revenue per annum from managed accounts



Firm background



Big 4 / Tier 1 consulting / specialist advisory (preferred)




Technical & Domain Expertise



Deep, hands-on expertise required across:

• Gap assessments - AML/CFT, sanctions, anti-bribery, against SAMA, CBUAE, FATF, and global standards


• Sanctions and TM model validation - methodology design, parameter testing, threshold calibration, output quality review, model risk governance


• Sanctions and TM system tuning and optimisation - alert reduction, false-positive management, scenario coverage


• KYC/CDD/EDD remediation - remediation frameworks, look-back design, file review, risk-based segmentation


• Monitorship / Skilled Persons Review delivery


• Financial Crime Risk Assessments - enterprise-wide, product, channel, customer, and geographic


• AML/CFT programme design and implementation - governance, policy, procedures, controls architecture


• Regulatory examination readiness and response

Technology & Systems (hands-on experience required)

• Sanctions screening: Fircosoft (Accuity), Oracle Financial Services, and similar - selection, implementation, configuration, tuning


• Transaction monitoring: SAS AML, NICE Actimize, Oracle FCCM, Temenos FCM, FIS MANTAS, and similar


• Mandatory: hands-on involvement in at least one full system selection and one implementation/configuration engagement

Regulatory Knowledge (deep working knowledge)

• KSA: SAMA AML/CFT Framework, Rules Governing AML/CFT, Sanctions Rules, CDD Requirements


• UAE: CBUAE AML/CFT Regulations, SCA Requirements, UAE Cabinet Decisions on AML/CFT


• Wider GCC: CBB (Bahrain), CBK (Kuwait), CBO (Oman), QCB (Qatar) - working familiarity


• FATF: 40 Recommendations, Mutual Evaluation Reports (KSA, UAE), Guidance Papers


• Global: EU AML Directives, OFAC, UK Sanctions, Wolfsberg Principles

Digital, Innovation & Data Science

• Must have built and taken to market at least one differentiated digital or technology-enabled FCC advisory solution.


• Strong understanding of how RegTech, AI/ML, and automation are reshaping financial crime risk management.


• Familiarity with data science concepts and tools (Python preferred) applied to FCC analytics: network analysis, transaction analytics, model performance testing, alert optimisation.


• Able to articulate, demo, and sell data-driven FCC solutions to C-suite and technical buyers.