Onboarding Manager

Role overview

This is a hands-on onboarding and KYC management role at the centre of how ALT 21 onboards its clients. Reporting to the SVP of Operations, you will own the day-to-day review of new accounts against our onboarding policy and procedures - running screening, risk assessments, KYC and ongoing monitoring to completion - while applying a genuine risk-based approach and your own judgement. You will also manage direct reports, acting as a point of escalation and a coach, and work closely alongside the EU Onboarding Manager to keep our UK and European processes aligned.

What sets this role apart is the technical dimension. ALT 21 is an FX fintech and automation is core to how we scale, so we want an onboarding manager who is comfortable with technology rather than fazed by it - someone who looks at a manual task and asks, "why aren't we automating this?", understands how our systems and third-party vendors talk to each other, and helps enhance those connections. Strong candidates will show some or all of these technical skills; the more you bring, the better. Everyone here is expected to be in the weeds - this is not a role for someone who wants to sit back and simply administer a process.

Company overview

ALT 21 is an innovative, award-winning and dual-regulated FX hedging technology company. We are a fast-growing business with offices in London, Dublin, Portugal and Malta and have undergone significant change over the last year on the back of a large funding round. We build technology that simplifies hedging, providing a full suite of products distributed through our partner channels to SMEs. Our mission is to use technology to bring essential financial risk management products to everyday businesses in a way that is easy for them to understand.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities

Responsibilities include but are not limited to the following.

Onboarding, KYC & financial crime

• Own new client onboarding end to end - reviewing new accounts in line with company policy and procedure and taking them through to a decision using a risk-based approach.
• Screen all new accounts and relevant persons for AML, adverse media, sanctions and PEP matches, and clear or escalate alerts appropriately.
• Complete risk assessments for all new onboardings and contribute to maintaining and improving the firm's AML/KYC risk-assessment framework.
• Apply FCA and JMLSG guidance and internal procedures, using common sense and a proportionate, risk-based lens to get clients onboarded correctly.
• Perform ongoing due diligence and transaction monitoring, investigating alerts and unusual activity and documenting rationale clearly.
• Handle payments to and from third parties, including payment queries from counterparty banks and service providers, and understand the financial-crime considerations these introduce.
• Liaise directly with partners, the sales team and, where needed, clients - requesting information and documentation and keeping cases moving.

Automation, systems & technology

• Challenge and remove manual work - take ownership of automation and vendor connectivity, delivering the improvements rather than just identifying them.
• Maintain and enhance connectivity between our internal systems and third-party vendors (screening, data, payment and monitoring tools), understanding how data flows via APIs, files and integrations.
• Put AI to work alongside automation - apply AI tools and agents to speed up onboarding, monitoring and QA, responsibly and within compliance guidelines

Leadership & collaboration

• Manage and coach direct reports, reviewing their work and helping them develop sound risk judgement.
• Work closely with the EU Onboarding Manager to keep UK and European onboarding aligned and consistent across entities where possible.
• Support the SVP of Operations and wider Compliance team on tasks and projects as they arise.

Person specification

You will be commercially minded and pragmatic, but with genuine respect for the procedures and guidelines set out by Compliance - able to move quickly without cutting corners. You are comfortable in a fast-moving environment where processes and tooling change constantly. You will have strong initiative, judgement and attention to detail, communicate with professionalism and integrity, and have a bias to action: you own problems and see them through without needing to be micromanaged.

Essential

• Extremely strong written and verbal English.
• Solid experience in client onboarding, KYC and CDD/EDD - comfortable running cases independently.
• Hands-on experience with transaction monitoring and financial-crime alert handling.
• Confident navigating the FCA Handbook and JMLSG guidance and applying a risk-based approach in practice.
• Commercially minded, while consistently working within compliance procedures and controls.
• Comfortable managing and coaching direct reports and being a point of escalation.
• Technically comfortable — able to understand how systems talk to each other (APIs, data feeds, file transfers) and keen to automate manual work rather than accept it.
• Based in London and able to be in the office Monday to Thursday.

Desirable - strong candidates will show some or all of the following:

• Experience with payments to and from third parties within a regulated payments or FX business.
• Experience in an FX, payments or fintech environment.
• Familiarity with low-code / automation tooling and with applying AI tools and agents to operational work.

Experience with the following tools is a plus

• Credit Reference Tools
• Screening Tools
• CRMs
• Microsoft
• SQL