Financial Crime (Complex) Investigations

About this role

AML Financial Crime Investigator: Complex & Escalated Casework

Alexander Barnes have partnered with a high-growth, regulated fintech to hire an AML Financial Crime Investigator. This role sits apart from a standard investigations queue. It's not a generalist casework position. We're looking for someone who gets trusted with the cases that don't fit a playbook, the escalated ones, the ambiguous ones, the cases a first-line team simply can't resolve through a standard process. If your strength is clearing a high-volume alert queue, this probably isn't the right role for you. If your strength is the handful of cases each month that need someone to build the investigative approach from scratch, this one's worth a conversation.

What you'll do

• Take ownership of escalated and unusual cases referred in from first-line teams. These get flagged because they involve layered, multi-entity, or novel criminal structures, not a single suspicious transaction
• Build the investigative approach where no established precedent exists, mapping relationships across accounts, entities, and counterparties to uncover hidden criminal networks
• Use senior-level judgement on genuinely difficult calls, DAML/consent decisions, cross-border complexity, ambiguous typologies, where the right answer isn't obvious from policy alone
• Act as the technical authority that first-line teams and outsourced partners come to when a case exceeds standard triage. This means giving direction, not just reviewing someone else's work
• Spot emerging and niche typologies before they're formally recognised, and feed findings back into detection rules, training, and the wider financial crime framework
• Take the most complex work of the function to senior stakeholders and, where relevant, external bodies, turning intricate casework into clear, decision-ready findings
• Help close the gaps in detection and escalation that let the case slip through in the first place

What you'll bring

• A specific, demonstrable track record leading complex, escalated, or unusual investigations. General AML/transaction monitoring casework on its own won't cut it. Ideally this comes from fintech, payments, or law enforcement.
• Real comfort building an investigative approach where no standard process applies, rather than working through a defined alert-to-disposition workflow
• Depth in at least one or two specific complex typologies (organised crime networks, trade-based laundering, sanctions evasion, mule networks, or similar). We're after depth, not broad but shallow generalist exposure
• A strong track record drafting SARs and consent/DAML reports on genuinely high-risk, high-scrutiny cases, showing sound judgement under ambiguity
• Solid grounding in AML and financial crime regulation applicable to the US and/or EU, including sanctions and PEP frameworks
• The confidence to work independently on cases with no clear precedent, and to be the person first-line teams turn to for the final word, not someone who just escalates further themselves
• CAMS, ICA, or an equivalent AML certification
• Experience giving technical escalation or oversight to outsourced investigation or transaction monitoring teams, rather than sitting within one
• Exposure to complex typologies within crypto, investments, or other emerging financial products
• Proven SOP/QA work where you've fed those findings into transaction monitoring, screening, or case-handling improvements.

If you match the requirements above, hit apply and I'll be in touch.

About fraud prevention roles for ex-police

Fraud investigation, detection and financial-crime roles in banks, insurers and public bodies. Detective and economic-crime backgrounds map straight across, often with hybrid working and clear progression.