Financial Crime Consulting Director - Riyadh

About This Role

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.

You will be an independent, commercially astute practitioner with a proven track record of winning and delivering significant FCC mandates for banks and financial institutions in the GCC. The role is a 50/50 split between business development and project delivery, with full ownership of practice growth, client outcomes, and team building.

What You'll Do

Business Development & Practice Growth (50%)

• 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, monitorships/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.

Project Delivery & Quality Assurance (50%)

• 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 (see below).
• 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.

Core FCC Domains (Senior Engagement Lead)

• 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

Team Building & Leadership

• 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.

Requirements What You'll Bring

Experience (all mandatory unless stated)

Requirement

Minimum Threshold

Total professional experience

15+ years

FCC advisory / consulting experience

10+ years

FCC advisory sales / BD (selling to banks)

5+ years

FCC project execution

10+ years

GCC market experience

Must have worked with local GCC banks

Team building and management

Must have built and managed a team

Client account management

USD 1m+ revenue per annum from managed accounts

Firm background

Big 4 / Tier 1 consulting / specialist advisory (preferred)

Technical & Domain Expertise

Deep, hands-on expertise required across:

• Gap assessments — AML/CFT, sanctions, anti-bribery, against SAMA, CBUAE, FATF, and global standards
• Sanctions and TM model validation — methodology design, parameter testing, threshold calibration, output quality review, model risk governance
• Sanctions and TM system tuning and optimisation — alert reduction, false-positive management, scenario coverage
• KYC/CDD/EDD remediation — remediation frameworks, look-back design, file review, risk-based segmentation
• Monitorship / Skilled Persons Review delivery
• Financial Crime Risk Assessments — enterprise-wide, product, channel, customer, and geographic
• AML/CFT programme design and implementation — governance, policy, procedures, controls architecture
• Regulatory examination readiness and response

Technology & Systems (hands-on experience required)

• Sanctions screening: Fircosoft (Accuity), Oracle Financial Services, and similar — selection, implementation, configuration, tuning
• Transaction monitoring: SAS AML, NICE Actimize, Oracle FCCM, Temenos FCM, FIS MANTAS, and similar
• Mandatory: hands-on involvement in at least one full system selection and one implementation/configuration engagement

Regulatory Knowledge (deep working knowledge)

• KSA: SAMA AML/CFT Framework, Rules Governing AML/CFT, Sanctions Rules, CDD Requirements
• UAE: CBUAE AML/CFT Regulations, SCA Requirements, UAE Cabinet Decisions on AML/CFT
• Wider GCC: CBB (Bahrain), CBK (Kuwait), CBO (Oman), QCB (Qatar) — working familiarity
• FATF: 40 Recommendations, Mutual Evaluation Reports (KSA, UAE), Guidance Papers
• Global: EU AML Directives, OFAC, UK Sanctions, Wolfsberg Principles

Digital, Innovation & Data Science

• Must have built and taken to market at least one differentiated digital or technology-enabled FCC advisory solution.
• Strong understanding of how RegTech, AI/ML, and automation are reshaping financial crime risk management.
• Familiarity with data science concepts and tools (Python preferred) applied to FCC analytics: network analysis, transaction analytics, model performance testing, alert optimisation.
• Able to articulate, demo, and sell data-driven FCC solutions to C-suite and technical buyers.