Head of Compliance

About Astra

Astra is building mission-critical infrastructure for moving money  platform processes billions in annual transaction volume with 99.9%+ uptime, powering real-time transfers, bank debits, card disbursements, and complex financial compliance systems. We provide APIs and automation tools that enable businesses to move money programmatically while maintaining strict regulatory requirements.

Astra is on a mission to make payments radically better – faster, more secure, and worthy of the products built on top of them. We’re an instant-payments platform powering developers and product teams across banking, BaaS, payroll, lending, crypto, and other financial-services use cases.

As Astra grows, we’re looking for a Head of Compliance to lead and scale our enterprise compliance program across financial crimes, payments compliance, privacy, security assurance, and governance.

This leader will inherit an established program and team and will be responsible for strengthening its strategy, operating model, controls, and oversight as Astra’s products, payment flows, partnerships, and compliance obligations evolve. The Head of Compliance will serve as Astra’s designated BSA Compliance Officer and oversee the company’s BSA/AML, KYC/KYB, sanctions, payment-network, privacy, SOC 2, PCI DSS, and broader compliance-risk programs.

This is a hands‑on leadership role requiring both strategic judgment and operational depth. You will work closely with Product, Engineering, Security, Legal, Operations, executive leadership, and Astra’s bank partners to translate complex requirements into practical, scalable controls that support responsible growth.

Reporting to the COO, the Head of Compliance will serve as Astra’s senior compliance leader and a key advisor to executive leadership and the Board.

Lead Astra's Enterprise Compliance Program

• Set the strategy for Astra’s enterprise compliance program and continuously improve its policies, procedures, risk assessments, controls, testing, training, and reporting.

• Serve as Astra’s designated BSA/AML Compliance Officer, overseeing KYC/KYB, customer due diligence, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, alert and case management, and financial-crimes risk.

• Provide clear reporting to executive leadership and the Board regarding material compliance risks, program performance, audits, and remediation.

• Lead, develop, and appropriately scale Astra’s existing Compliance and GRC team while remaining directly involved in complex reviews, escalations, and strategic initiatives.

Oversee Payments and Bank Partner Compliance

• Serve as the senior compliance point of contact for Astra’s sponsor-bank partners, supporting ongoing oversight, due diligence, audits, inquiries, and program governance.

• Oversee compliance with applicable ACH/NACHA, card-network, RTP, Fed Now, and other payment‑rail requirements.

• Evaluate new products, payment flows, customers, partnerships, and markets to identify compliance requirements and establish appropriate controls before launch.

• Partner with outside counsel to evaluate regulatory developments and potential licensing or registration requirements arising from changes to Astra’s products or operating model.

• Partner cross‑functionally to build and enhance fraud controls across Astra’s payment flows, including monitoring rules, transaction limits, and escalation processes.

Lead GRC, Audit, and Privacy Programs

• Own the governance and continued maturity of Astra’s SOC 2 and PCI DSS programs, including scoping, control ownership, audit readiness, auditor coordination, findings management, and annual assessments.

• Oversee Astra’s readiness for BSA, NACHA, sponsor-bank, customer, SOC 2, PCI DSS, and other applicable audits and assessments.

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