Head of Compliance & Risk

Oritain is the global leader in product origin verification, with locations in Auckland, Dunedin, London, Singapore and Washington D.C.

Our organisation sits at the intersection of forensic science and supply chain technology. We harness science and services to verify the genuine origin of materials, building an interconnected community of verified buyers and suppliers. Our mission is critical: to protect people and the planet by ensuring transparency and integrity in global supply chains.

As supply chain transparency becomes increasingly important worldwide, the demand for our work continues to grow.

We are now seeking aHead of Compliance & Risk to establish and lead Oritain’s global risk and compliance capability, supporting the organisation as it scales internationally.

The Head of Compliance & Risk is a newly created senior role responsible for building and embedding Oritain’s enterprise-wide risk and compliance capability.

Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, this role will play a critical part in helping the organisation move from an informal and reactive approach to risk and compliance toward a structured, proactive, and proportionate framework suited to a fast-growing global business.

The role will focus on building practical frameworks that enable the business to operate confidently and responsibly, without introducing unnecessary bureaucracy. You’ll work closely with leaders across the organisation to ensure compliance and risk management are embedded in day‑to‑day decision‑making and support Oritain’s commercial ambitions.

A key early priority will be ensuring the organisation is well positioned to meet compliance requirements associated with US government contracting, supporting the business as it develops opportunities within this market.

For someone who enjoys building capability from the ground up and partnering closely with senior stakeholders, this role offers a rare opportunity to shape risk and compliance within a growing international organisation.

You’ll establish and lead Oritain’s global risk and compliance capability, assessing regulatory obligations across the UK, US, and other key jurisdictions and building scalable frameworks that support growth while maintaining strong governance. Acting as the internal owner for US regulatory compliance, you’ll ensure the business is well positioned to pursue commercial and government opportunities by embedding compliance early in bids, contracts, and delivery.

You’ll design and implement the organisation’s enterprise risk management framework, maintaining the corporate risk register and leading risk assessments for strategic initiatives such as US expansion, government contracts, and new partnerships. Alongside this, you’ll oversee compliance monitoring and reporting, identify and close gaps, and provide clear risk insights to the CFO, Executive Leadership Team, and Board.

Working closely with teams across the business, you’ll embed compliance and risk thinking into everyday decision‑making, support new initiatives and market entry, and ensure policies and processes remain active, understood, and effective. As the organisation’s subject matter expert for risk and compliance, you’ll also lead training, provide trusted guidance to stakeholders, and manage investigations or regulatory engagement where required.

You bring strong experience in risk, compliance, or governance roles, ideally within complex or international environments. Importantly, you’ve built or designed risk and compliance frameworks yourself, not simply maintained existing ones.

You’re comfortable working in hands‑on roles within growing organisations, where introducing structure needs to be balanced with commercial pragmatism. A strong understanding of both UK and US regulatory environments will be important, particularly across areas such as data protection, ethics, anti‑bribery, and contracting standards. Experience supporting US government contracting readiness or working within regulated US markets is also essential.

You’re confident engaging with senior…