Senior Risk Investigator - Sanctions

Mercury is building a complete finance stack for startups. We work hard to create the easiest and safest banking* experience possible to simplify entrepreneurs' and business owners’ financial lives. The challenge is to do so while ensuring we protect Mercury, customers and the broader financial ecosystem from bad actors and harmful, illegal or unauthorized activities. 

At Mercury, we’re taking Financial Crimes extremely seriously. The Sanctions team conducts investigations, develops procedures and builds controls with cross-functional partners to prevent, detect and report sanctioned and out of policy activities. We’re growing and seeking a Senior Risk Investigator - Sanctions to lead complex investigations, drive program improvements (including building our export controls process), and support daily operations across watchlist screening, transaction monitoring, and alerts for PEPs and adverse media. You’ll balance an eagle eye for risk with an excellent user experience.

*Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group, Column N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC..

As part of the journey, we would expect you to:

• Lead and execute high-complexity investigations end-to-end - spanning onboarding, transaction monitoring, sanctions, PEP/adverse media, and export control risk.
• Develop and mature program controls for sanctions and export controls (e.g., dual-use identification, escalation standards, documentation, runbooks).
• Drive high-impact quality initiatives and process redesigns that improve speed, accuracy, and customer experience across sanctions operations.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Legal, Compliance, Product, Engineering, and Data to deliver system and control improvements that scale.
• Serve as a subject-matter expert, advising on new product flows, edge cases, and control design to ensure end-to-end coverage.
• Mentor and elevate teammates, provide quality assurance feedback, and partner with leadership to raise the bar for analytical rigor and communication.
• Deliver regulatory-ready documentation (case notes, decision rationales, memos) that withstand audit, exam, and internal review.
• Contribute to reporting and compliance obligations, including sanctions reporting (e.g., blocked property) and internal risk memos.

Some things that might make you successful in a role like this:

• 6+ years in financial crimes, sanctions, or related investigative roles (8-10 years total professional experience).
• Deep familiarity with OFAC and international sanctions regimes; exposure to export control frameworks (EAR, ITAR).
• Strong investigative and analytical toolkit (open-source research, link analysis, adverse media, beneficial ownership tracing).
• Exceptional writing and documentation skills - can synthesize complex information into clear, defensible decisions.
• Track record of driving cross-functional improvements that balance compliance rigor with customer experience.
• ACAMS, CFCS, or ACSS/CGSS certification preferred.

• Familiarity with payment and funds-transfer systems (ACH, wire, SWIFT, card, P2P, etc.) preferred. 

The total rewards package at Mercury includes base salary, equity, and benefits.

Our salary and equity ranges are highly competitive within the SaaS and fintech industry and are updated regularly using the most reliable compensation survey data for our industry. New hire offers are made based on a candidate’s experience, expertise, geographic location, and internal pay equity relative to peers.

Our target new hire base salary ranges for this role are the following:

• US employees in the New York City or San Francisco Bay Area: $151,000 - $188,700 USD
• US employees outside of the New York City or San Francisco Bay Area: $135,900 - $169,800 USD

Mercury values diversity & belonging and is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All individuals seeking employment at Mercury are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected characteristic. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process for applicants with disabilities or special needs. If you need assistance, or an accommodation, please let your recruiter know once you are contacted about a role.

We use Covey as part of our hiring and / or promotional process for jobs in NYC and certain features may qualify it as an AEDT. As part of the evaluation process we provide Covey with job requirements and candidate submitted applications. We began using Covey Scout for Inbound on January 22, 2024. Please see the independent bias audit report covering our use of Covey here.

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