Financial Crime Consulting Director

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. The role requires an independent, commercially astute practitioner with a proven track record winning and delivering significant FCC mandates for banks and financial institutions in the GCC.

• 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, monitor ships/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.

• 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.
• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 15+ years total professional experience.
• 10+ years FCC advisory/consulting experience.
• 10+ years FCC project execution.
• 5+ years FCC advisory sales/BD (selling to banks).
• GCC market experience; must have worked with local GCC banks.
• Team building and management; must have built and managed a team.
• Client account management with USD 1m+ revenue per annum from managed accounts.
• Firm background:
  Big 4 / Tier 1 consulting / specialist advisory (preferred).
• Deep, hands‑on expertise across FCC domains, including sanctions screening, TM platforms, and technology systems.
• Hands‑on experience with sanctions screening (Fircosoft, Accuity, Oracle Financial Services) and TM platforms (SAS AML, NICE Actimize, Oracle FCCM, Temenos FCM, FIS MANTAS).
• Regulatory knowledge: KSA SAMA AML/CFT framework, UAE CBUAE regulations, broader GCC regulations, FATF recommendations, EU AML directives, OFAC, UK sanctions, Wolfsberg Principles.
• Digital, innovation & data science: built and took to market at least one differentiated digital or technology‑enabled FCC advisory solution; strong understanding of Reg Tech, AI/ML, automation; familiarity with data science concepts and tools (Python preferred) applied to FCC analytics; ability to articulate, demo and sell data‑driven FCC solutions to C‑suite and technical buyers.