Job Description

About Lead Bank

Lead is a banking infrastructure platform trusted by the most innovative companies to power complex financial products. We enable fintechs to offer compliant, programmable services like payments, lending, and digital assets at scale. Banking has moved beyond traditional institutions and is now embedded directly into everyday experiences, meaning companies need modern infrastructure that is safe, secure, and operationally sound.

Today, Lead is one of the only API-first, developer-focused partner banks with the financial, regulatory, and legal expertise required to help fintechs succeed. We operate offices in San Francisco, Sunnyvale, and New York City, and an FDIC-insured bank in Kansas City.

Financial Crimes Team at Lead

The Financial Crimes team safeguards Lead, its partners, and the broader financial system from illicit activity. They own Lead’s BSA/AML, sanctions, and fraud programs, collaborate with the Legal, Risk, and Compliance teams to detect threats and strengthen controls, and interface with regulators. Ensuring that all parties involved meet the highest standards of financial integrity is foundational to the company’s success. Their essential work is what enables Lead to say "yes" to the most innovative fintech partners. This is a collaborative, growth-mindset, and deadline-driven environment that requires the confidence to navigate constantly evolving challenges with autonomy and analytical precision.

Role Description:

The Financial Crimes Intelligence Manager reports to the Senior Financial Crimes Manager / Head of FIU and leads the FIU’s investigators and analysts. The role manages investigative workload and quality, supports complex investigations and SAR decisioning, and develops intelligence to identify and mitigate financial-crime risk.

The Manager assists the Head of FIU with operating priorities, reporting, examinations, audits, risk assessments, and remediation. The role partners across Financial Crimes and the Bank to strengthen monitoring, controls, investigations, and reporting. The Director of Financial Crimes / BSA Officer retains overall regulatory accountability for the program.

In this role you will:

• Lead the FIU team by assigning work, managing queues, reviewing casework, monitoring quality, and providing training to investigators and analysts.
• Oversee complex alerts, investigations, unusual-activity referrals, and relationship decisions; escalate material issues as needed.
• Ensures the FIU team collects, analyzes, and identifies meaningful investigation trends in addition to emerging threats and new typologies.
• Support investigative and SAR decisions using permitted sources and clearly distinguishing facts, analysis, and information gaps.
• Translate intelligence findings into recommendations for monitoring, controls, procedures, training, and partner or product risk decisions.
• Maintain effective governance, confidentiality, documentation, and regulatory knowledge while supporting the Head of FIU and cross-functional partners.
• Provide day to day oversight of a diverse investigations team.
• Partner with internal stakeholders to optimize automated transaction monitoring systems.
• Design, test, and deploy new scenario rules and detection models to capture emerging financial crime trends (e.g., crypto-mixers, trade-based money laundering, shell company networks).
• Leverage internal tools to analyze transactional data, and reduce false-positive rates,
• Perform all other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• 5 - 7 years of experience in financial-crimes intelligence, AML investigations, fraud, sanctions, law enforcement, regulatory compliance, or a related financial-services field.
• 2 - 5 years of management experience leading, mentoring, and overseeing investigators or analysts.
• Experience with complex investigations, intelligence products, typology development, network analysis, or financial-crimes risk assessments.
• Experience managing high-volume workloads, queues, case reviews, competing priorities, and operational or investigative escalations.
• Preferred experience with BaaS, payments, fintech, digital assets, correspondent banking, or other complex financial products.
• Preferred experience with OSINT, adverse-media research, link analysis, blockchain analytics, investigative tools, or a relevant certification such as CAMS, CFE, CFCS, or CAFP.
• Strong analytical judgment, including the ability to evaluate incomplete information and distinguish fact, inference, and unresolved gaps.
• Clear communication, sound confidentiality judgment, collaboration, adaptability, and the ability to work independently in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.

What we offer:

• At Lead, we design our benefits to support company culture and principles, to foster an efficient and inspiring work environment, and to create the conditions for our team to give their best in both work and life
• Competitive compensation, including opportunities for equity grants and cash bonus, based on experience, geographic location, and role
• Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, 401k Matching, and other wellness benefits, including FSA, HSA and HRA
• Paid parental leave
• Flexible vacation policy, including PTO and paid holidays
• A fun and challenging team environment in a dynamic industry with ample opportunities for career growth

*Lead Bank is proud to have an inclusive culture committed to ensuring equal employment opportunity in all employment decisions regardless of race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, veteran status or any other legally protected status.

*Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

*Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

*Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

**Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several US geographic markets. Pay is based on a number of factors and may vary depending on geographical market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. These ranges may be modified in the future.

Zone 1: $104,000 - $126,000 (SF/Bay Area, NYC, Seattle)

Zone 2: $93,000 - $113,000 (Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, Denver, Boston, Washington DC, San Diego, Philadelphia, Portland, Sacramento)

Zone 3: $98,000 - $112,000 (Other US Metros)