AML and Sanctions Compliance Program Advisory - Principal Associate

An opportunity exists for a seasoned financial crime professional to join the AML and Sanctions Compliance function. Reporting directly to the UK MLRO, this role is critical to ensuring safe business growth by designing, co-ordinating, and implementing a robust AML and Sanctions risk management programme. The successful candidate will take ownership of the end-to-end control environment, ensuring the framework is highly effective from initial onboarding through to ongoing transaction monitoring.

• Build the framework:
  Design and implement bespoke, risk-based processes focusing heavily on Customer Due Diligence (CDD), including identifying and verifying legal entities, UBOs, Directors, and PSCs, as well as Sanctions and PEP screening, and Transaction Monitoring (TM).
• Keep the wheels turning:
  Ensure key AML projects, system implementations, and compliance reports are delivered accurately and on time.
• Document and define:
  Take ownership of writing and updating policies, procedures, and annual training so they remain practical and fit for purpose.
• Raise the bar:
  Use Quality Assurance as a coaching tool, providing actionable feedback to improve our overall SAR quality.

• Maintain the standard:
  Keep AML and Sanctions requirements, as well as testing plans, strictly aligned with UK regulatory standards and JMLSG guidance.
• Test the defences:
  Execute 2nd-line assurance to catch vulnerabilities in screening or TM rules before they become regulatory breaches.
• Fix what's broken:
  Take the lead on resolving risk events, tuning monitoring rules, and making sure audit findings are properly closed out.
• Build trust:
  Foster relationships across the business where operational stakeholders proactively reach out when a control isn't working as intended.
• Look at the big picture:
  Dig into first line functions to ensure their frontline AML checks are comprehensive and effective.

• The final set of eyes:
  Provide credible challenge to first-line CDD processes, performing secondary QA checks to maintain exceptionally high compliance standards.
• Provide clarity:
  Step into complex review meetings to help untangle difficult onboarding cases, tricky PEP/Sanctions alerts, or nuanced TM triggers, guiding the business to a confident decision.
• Know the landscape: A deep, practical understanding of the UK financial crime framework, including the MLRs, JMLSG guidance, POCA, and UK/OFSI sanctions regimes.
• Deliver expertise:
  Proven experience conducting end-to-end financial crime reviews in high-volume environments, effectively bridging the gap between first-line operations and second-line compliance.
• Sharpen your edge: A strong appetite for continuous learning and professional development, evidenced by accredited industry qualifications (e.g., ICA, ACAMS).

We're on a mission to be a force for good in lending. Throughout our almost 30-year history, we've consistently been recognised as a great place to work; in 2026, Capital One was officially ranked 9th in the UK's Best Workplaces list. Hear from our team about what it's like working at Capital One UK., At Capital One, we're building a leading information-based technology company.

Still founder-led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Fairbank, Capital One is on a mission to help our customers succeed by bringing ingenuity, simplicity, and humanity to banking. We measure our efforts by the success our customers enjoy and the advocacy they exhibit. We are succeeding because they are succeeding.

Guided by our shared values, we thrive in an environment where collaboration and openness are valued. We believe that innovation is powered by perspective and that teamwork and respect for each other lead to superior results. We elevate each other and obsess about doing the right thing. Our associates serve with humility and a deep respect for their responsibility in helping our customers achieve their goals and realize their dreams.

Together, we are on a quest to change banking for good.

We embrace a hybrid approach to work. You'll spend three days a week in the office (Tuesday-Thursday), with Monday and Friday being dedicated work-from-home days. Our offices are designed to inspire and support you. At our Nottingham head office, you'll find an on-site gym, restaurant and dedicated Learning Loft.

What's in it for you We invest in the growth of our people alongside our business. You will have extensive opportunities to…