AVP, BSA/AML Program Office

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We have onsite locations in: Sioux Falls, SD,  Scottsdale, AZ,  Louisville, KY,  Troy, MI,  Franklin, TN,  Easton, PA.

At Pathward, we take tremendous pride in our purpose to create financial inclusion for all™. We are a financial empowerment company that works with innovators to increase financial availability, choice, and opportunity for all.  We strive to remove barriers that traditional institutions put in the way of financial access, and promote economic mobility by providing responsible, secure, high quality financial products.

We are a team of problem solvers and innovators who celebrate our differences and know that our unique perspectives make us stronger and well-positioned for success.  We celebrate, and embrace, our team members through our *HUMBLE*HUNGRY*SMART approach, and we believe that we are strongest when we embrace the voices of our employees, customers, partners, and the communities we serve. 

About the Role:

The AVP, BSA/AML Program Office is responsible for the governance, reporting, and program coordination functions that support the Bank's BSA/AML and Sanctions compliance program. Reporting to the BSA/AML Officer, the AVP leads the BSA/AML Program Office team, including the function responsible for centralizing and coordinating new business and product requests into BSA/AML, and coordinates the BSA/AML Working Group Committee, develops and consolidates management and Board reporting across all BSA/AML functions, supports execution of program strategy and initiatives across the department, consolidates capacity and staffing needs across functional teams, and manages engagement coordination and financial tracking for the department.

The AVP works across all BSA/AML functional teams and partners with Legal, Finance, People & Culture, Internal Audit, Technology, and business line partners. The position requires practitioner-level BSA/AML knowledge sufficient to evaluate the substance of the reporting, analysis, and program activity for which the role is accountable.

What You Will Do:

Committee Governance and Reporting

• Coordinate the BSA/AML Working Group Committee, including charter maintenance, meeting cadence, agenda development, materials preparation, minutes, and tracking of decisions and action items to closure.
• Develop and consolidate periodic management reporting across all BSA/AML functions into an integrated view of program status.
• Prepare Board, Board committee, and executive management reporting, including metrics, trend analysis, and commentary on emerging risks and resource constraints.
• Coordinate BSA/AML reporting and escalations into enterprise risk, management, and Board committees, and confirm consistency of data and message across forums.
• Review reported results for accuracy and resolve discrepancies before distribution.
• Analyze reported data to identify trends, anomalies, and emerging issues, and escalate to the BSA/AML Officer.
• Coordinate program-level materials in response to regulatory examination, internal audit, and independent testing requests.

Program Strategy and Execution

• Coordinate execution of BSA/AML program strategy and initiatives across functional teams, including tracking dependencies and progress against commitments, and escalating matters to the BSA/AML Officer.
• Communicate program strategy, priorities, and initiative status across the BSA/AML Department so that functional teams understand objectives, timing, and their role in delivery.
• Coordinate BSA/AML participation in Bank-level strategic initiatives, and confirm that program activity remains aligned to enterprise strategy and priorities.
• Confirm that initiatives move from decision to operational execution, including identifying owners, confirming handoffs between teams, and following through to completion.
• Oversee centralized intake and coordination of new business, product, and partner requests into BSA/AML across onboarding, ongoing oversight, and change requests, working with Product, Partner Management, and business line program managers on timing and sequencing and with BSA/AML functional teams on second-line involvement.

Capacity and Staffing Coordination

• Work with BSA/AML functional leaders to gather, consolidate, and maintain a department-level view of capacity and staffing needs, including alert and case volumes, and open and planned roles.
• Analyze consolidated inputs for consistency and reasonableness, and work with functional leaders to resolve gaps or conflicting assumptions.
• Prioritize and sequence staffing requests across functions in consultation with the BSA/AML Officer, and support the development of business cases for permanent, contract, and outsourced resourcing.
• Partner with People & Culture and BSA/AML leadership on organizational structure, role definition, job description development, hiring prioritization, and onboarding.
• Track staffing and hiring progress against plan and escalate constraints that place regulatory commitment dates or program deliverables at risk.

Engagement and Financial Management

• Work with the BSA/AML Officer and senior leaders to facilitate the engagement process for external vendors, consultants, and advisors, including intake, internal approvals, and coordination with Vendor Management, Procurement, and Legal.
• Manage and track financials across BSA/AML engagements, including contracted amounts, invoicing, spend to date, and remaining commitments.
• Partner with Finance on budget development, forecasting, accruals, and variance analysis across all BSA/AML Department spend, including headcount and third-party costs.
• Provide the BSA/AML Officer and senior leaders with regular reporting on spend against budget and forecast, and flag variances and funding needs.

Team Leadership and Function Build-Out

• Lead and develop the BSA/AML Program Office team, including staff responsible for new business and product request coordination, with additional analyst roles expected as the function grows.
• Define the structure, roles, and operating procedures of the Program Office as it is built out, including allocation of work and coverage across governance, reporting, planning, and engagement activities.
• Set objectives, manage performance, and support the professional development of direct and indirect reports.

What You Will Need:

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree (JD, MBA, or master’s in a related field) preferred.
• CAMS, CFCS, or equivalent financial crimes certification required.
• Project/program management certification (PMP or equivalent) a plus.
• 8+ years of progressive experience in BSA/AML, sanctions, or financial crimes compliance at a bank, credit union, or other regulated financial institution.
• 4+ years supporting BSA/AML program governance, program management, or comparable capacity.
• Experience preparing Board, Board committee, and executive management reporting on a compliance or risk program, including metric selection, trend analysis, and narrative development.
• Working knowledge of BSA/AML regulatory requirements, the FFIEC BSA/AML Examination Manual, and the regulatory examination process.
• Experience coordinating external vendors, consultants, or advisory engagements, including engagement intake, internal approvals, and financial tracking.
• People leadership experience, including managing professional staff, setting objectives, and developing a team.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint, including building and maintaining models and executive-level presentations.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including materials prepared for Board, regulatory, and audit audiences.
• Direct experience performing or supervising core BSA/AML work — transaction monitoring and case investigation, SAR decisioning and filing, sanctions screening, KYC/CDD/EDD, or BSA/AML risk assessment.
• Experience consolidating and analyzing capacity, staffing, or resource data across multiple teams, and preparing resourcing recommendations for senior leadership.
• Experience tracking program or departmental financials, including budget, forecast, and third-party spend.

Preferred:

• Experience in a Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), fintech partnership, or payments environment, including second-line involvement in third-party or partner oversight.
• Change management experience, including assessing readiness and driving adoption of new processes and standards.

Competencies 

• Technical knowledge of financial crimes sufficient to evaluate the substance of the reporting, analysis, and program activity for which the role is accountable.
• Written and verbal communication, including the ability to condense complex, multi-team detail into clear material for senior audiences.
• Analytical and quantitative skills, particularly in metric design, financial tracking, and reconciling data across sources.
• Governance and program administration, including the ability to build structured, repeatable, and defensible processes.
• Stakeholder management and the ability to influence outcomes and hold peers to commitments without direct authority.
• Planning and prioritization, including translating regulatory and business priorities into governance routines and resource decisions.
• Attention to detail and organizational skills in managing complex, multi-workstream initiatives and documentation.
• Adaptability, resilience, and sound judgment in fast-paced and evolving regulatory environments.
• People leadership, including building a team, allocating work, and developing staff in a growing function.
• Discretion in handling confidential personnel, regulatory, and investigative matters.

The responsibilities listed above are not all inclusive and may be changed at any time.

Salary range: $104,000– $174,000

The salary range reflects the minimum and maximum target for a new hire in this role. Individual pay within the range will be determined by multiple factors which can include but are not limited to a candidate’s experience, qualifications, skills, and location. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary for your location during the hiring process. Ranges may be modified in the future.
This role is also eligible for an annual performance-based incentive opportunity.  Pathward offers a comprehensive benefits package for eligible employees, including health insurance, 401(k) retirement benefits, life insurance, disability benefits, paid time off, and more.

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Don’t have everything listed under qualifications? If you’re excited about this role but your experiences don’t match exactly to everything in the posting, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other Pathward roles. Pathward is an equal employment opportunity employer and considers candidates for roles without regard to their race, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability or any other category protected by law.

Who we are: 

Our commitment to inclusion is woven into our DNA. We believe that we are strongest when we embrace the voices of our employees, customers, partners, and the communities we serve. 

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, pregnancy, national origin, age (age 40 and over), disability, genetic information, marital status, hair texture or hairstyle, ancestry, service in the uniformed services, protected veteran status, status as a victim of domestic violence or any other class protected by federal, state and local laws.

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