Financial Crimes Investigations Lead

The Community You Will Join: 

Airbnb Payments is a designated Money Services Business in the US and an Electronic Money Institution in the UK, that is required to report on suspicious activity. Each regulatory body has several key areas of focus which can vary by region, agency and market. The spirit of the regulations are the same across the globe: protect consumers, maintain national security, prevent terrorist financing, and enforce sanctions and compliance regimes.

The Difference You Will Make:

The Financial Crimes Investigation Lead is responsible for detecting, investigating, and preventing financial crimes such as money laundering, fraud, and terrorist financing. The candidate should have a proven track record in financial crimes analysis including the ability to analyze transaction patterns, review customer activity, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. 

The individual will conduct end to end investigations of various complexity and sensitivity through analysis of information gathered internally and externally.  Investigations will require the individual to identify patterns of activity across large data sets that indicate potential exposure to financial crimes, ensuring potential threats are identified and addressed in a timely manner.   

This role requires expertise in AML/Financial Crimes regulations and typologies, strong analytical and communication skills and the ability to manage complex cases independently. The Financial Crimes Investigators will also often mentor more junior analysts, provide feedback on alert rules and collaborate with internal and external partners to improve detection algorithms. 

The individual must have a strong knowledge of Payments products as well as a strong knowledge of criminal investigative techniques and remain current with emerging financial crimes risk, typologies, and investigative best practices.

A Typical Day: 

• Conduct in-depth investigations of high-complexity and sensitive financial activities, analyzing evidence to determine potential financial crimes. 
• Analyze transaction patterns and customer activity to identify anomalies, red flags, and other indicators of money laundering, fraud, or terrorist financing. 
• Prepare and submit detailed Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in accordance with regulatory requirements and internal policies. 
• Provide feedback on the effectiveness of AML alert rules, suggesting improvements and partnering with management to design new rules to detect financial crime. 
• Work effectively with internal departments and external partners (such as law enforcement and other financial institutions) to share information. 
• Establish intelligence priorities for primary focus areas.
• Lead cross-functional working groups including the design, planning and execution of complex projects. 
• Develop new and innovative analytical methodologies. 
• Produce written intelligence products/reports utilizing multiple, disparate sources of information. 
• Brief wide variety of stakeholders, including senior executives, high-level corporate partners, and/or law enforcement representatives.
• Provide guidance, support, and training to junior analysts, sharing expertise and contributing to their development.

Your Expertise:

• Bachelor’s Degree or Technical Equivalent.
• 7+ years work experience in AML/Financial crimes analysis, with demonstrated experience in payments, banking, or e-commerce marketplaces.
• Advanced knowledge of financial crime risks related to payments both in the US and abroad.
• Strong ability to interpret complex data, identify patterns, and make sound judgments to solve problems. 
• Familiarity with Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Rules Based Systems for Suspicious Activity detection.
• Minimum 7 years experience working with and manipulating extremely large, complex data sets using traditional tools such as Alteryx, Tableau and basic SQL concepts
• Minimum 7 years  experience performing open-source research, intelligence, or law enforcement work.
• Demonstrated experience in creating constructed judgments about issues for which there are incomplete or imperfect evidence including establishing and justifying associated confidence levels.
• Mission-driven, enthusiastic to learn and grow within the Airbnb community and embody our Core Values; team-oriented with a positive, can-do attitude.
• Professional certification in compliance or risk management preferred (CAMS/CFE/CFCS certification).
• Demonstrated experience conducting payment corridor reviews to identify potential risks and ensure compliance with regulatory standards across multiple geographies.
• Proven experience analyzing and reviewing event-driven payments or special event transaction flows to identify financial crime risks and ensure regulatory compliance.
• Expert in Host to Host (H2H) payment processes, including risk assessment and monitoring of cross-institutional transactions.
• Experience monitoring market trends corridors to proactively identify emerging financial crime risks and adapt investigative strategies accordingly.

Your Location:

This position is US - Remote Eligible. The role may include occasional work at an Airbnb office or attendance at offsites, as agreed to with your manager. While the position is Remote Eligible, you must live in a state where Airbnb Payments, Inc. (a subsidiary of Airbnb, Inc.) is a registered entity. Approved remote states include: Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. This list is continuously evolving, so please check back with us if the state you live in is excluded. If your position is employed by another Airbnb entity, your recruiter will inform you what states you are eligible to work from.

Our Commitment To Inclusion & Belonging:

Airbnb is committed to working with the broadest talent pool possible. We believe diverse ideas foster innovation and engagement, and allow us to attract creatively-led people, and to develop the best products, services and solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.

We strive to also provide a disability inclusive application and interview process. If you are a candidate with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in order to submit an application, please contact us at: reasonableaccommodations@airbnb.com. Please include your full name, the role you’re applying for and the accommodation necessary to assist you with the recruiting process. 

We ask that you only reach out to us if you are a candidate whose disability prevents you from being able to complete our online application.