We are recruiting a Financial Crime Operations Manager to support the Head of Financial Crime Operations in delivering both the day-to-day management and the strategic direction of first-line Financial Crime teams. This role is critical in ensuring that effective controls are in place to mitigate risks related to money laundering, terrorist financing, tax evasion, and sanctions breaches across the organisation.

You will lead teams responsible for core financial crime activities, ensuring that operations are efficient, compliant, and aligned with regulatory expectations and internal risk appetite. This position combines operational leadership, strategic delivery, and stakeholder engagement, with a strong focus on risk management, performance, and continuous improvement.

In this role, you will support the leadership of Financial Crime Operations teams, ensuring the business complies with all financial crime legal and regulatory obligations, as well as internal policies and technical standards. You will lead a team of Financial Crime Team Managers, overseeing key operational processes, including transaction monitoring, client screening, customer risk assessments, and payment filtering.

You will play a key role in executing the financial crime strategy, ensuring that process changes and improvements are effectively embedded in a compliant and risk-proportionate manner. You will also support the day-to-day running of the function, ensuring strong operational performance, efficient processes, and consistent delivery against agreed service levels.

Workforce planning and resource management will be a core element of the role. You will collaborate closely with team managers and central planning functions to ensure demand is understood, forecast, and appropriately resourced. You will identify and escalate capacity gaps or emerging demand requirements to ensure the function remains resilient. In addition, you will ensure training requirements are clearly defined and that teams are equipped with the necessary skills to perform effectively, including coordinating budget requirements where appropriate.

You will contribute to building a high-performing leadership team by helping define clear roles, responsibilities, and objectives, while promoting a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, and accountability. You will also support colleague engagement across both office-based and remote environments, ensuring effective communication, knowledge sharing, and development.

In addition, you will coordinate investment cases to drive process improvements and technology enhancements aimed at strengthening financial crime controls and improving customer outcomes. This will involve working cross-functionally to deliver meaningful and sustainable change. You will also ensure that licensing requirements are clearly understood and incorporated into financial planning.

The role includes responsibility for supporting the performance management of Financial Crime teams, ensuring service levels are achieved while maintaining strong risk management and delivering a positive customer experience. You will also maintain oversight of all customer contact channels, ensuring that interactions are handled in line with regulatory standards and organisational expectations.

We are happy to consider flexible working approaches to help you perform at your best.
The working hours (per week) for this role can be between 28 and 35 hours.

At Nationwide, we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK-wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected.

For this job, you'll be assigned to our nearest regional hub. There will be a need to regularly connect with colleagues for collaboration events in one of our office sites. This is anticipated to be quarterly in Glasgow or Gosforth. If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works.

Nationwide is committed to the redeployment of our employees impacted by change, as such applications for redeployment candidates will be prioritised in this recruitment process.

If you’re a colleague on long-term absence (for example, on parental leave) or a temporary worker, please use your personal email address to submit an application.

What you’ll be doing

You will be leading Financial Crime prevention activities by partnering closely with first- and second-line Economic Crime teams to ensure robust regulatory compliance, effective coordination, and clear escalation of risks and impacts. Act as a delegate to the Head of Financial Crime Operations, representing the function across internal and external forums, and overseeing operational performance, management information, quality frameworks, and system optimisation to drive effective, compliant, and customer-focused outcomes. Provide both strategic and operational leadership across Financial Crime Operations, including resource planning, process improvement, risk management, stakeholder engagement, and the coaching and development of Financial Crime Managers to enhance capability and continuously improve performance.

About you

You will need to have:

• Proven experience working within the domain of anti‑money laundering and counter‑terrorist financing, preferably in an operational context

• Strong knowledge of relevant UK legislation, including the Proceeds of Crime Act, Money Laundering Regulations, the Terrorism Act, and JMLSG guidance

• High level of integrity and professionalism

• Holds an International Compliance Association (ICA) AML Diploma or an equivalent qualification

• Proactive, with the ability to work autonomously and bring forward ideas and solutions

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

• Technical competence in systems and controls related to anti‑money laundering, client screening, and counter‑terrorist financing

• Knowledge of, or experience in, large-scale recruitment and training coordination

• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to drive effective outcomes with senior stakeholders and deliver constructive challenge in a straightforward manner

Our customer first behaviours put customers and members at the heart of how we work together. They are the set of behaviours that every colleague needs to display, in every role:

• Feel what customers feel - We step into our customers’ shoes, using their feedback and insights to empathise with them and to understand their needs, so that every decision we make starts and finishes with our customers in mind

• Say it straight - We are brave in speaking out and saying what we think – we’re honest and direct with good intent, openly sharing diverse perspectives to reach the best conclusions and using language everyone can understand

• Push for better - We don’t settle for mediocrity, we challenge the status quo, taking responsibility for continuous improvement and personal development

• Get it done - We prioritise what will have the greatest impact, we are decisive, and we take accountability for delivering brilliant customer outcomes

You can strengthen your application by showing how our customer first behaviours resonate with you, and where you may have already demonstrated these.

The extras you’ll get

There are all sorts of employee benefits available at Nationwide, including:

• 25 days holiday, pro rata

• Access to private medical insurance

• A highly competitive pension to help you build a strong foundation for retirement

• Access to an annual performance-related bonus

• Training and development to help you progress your career

• A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme

• Life assurance to provide peace of mind for you and your loved ones in the event of your death

• Wellhub – access to a range of free and paid options for health and wellness

• Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year

Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society

We forge our own path at Nationwide.

As a mutual, we’re owned by our members - those customers who bank, save or have a mortgage with us. We challenge the financial sector status quo. We don’t see customers as the engine of our own profit. We share our profits with them and put their needs first. Always there when they need us. Supporting them and their lives.

If you’re inspired by fairer finances, passionate about making a meaningful impact, and truly care about our customers, you’re one of us.

At Nationwide, you are challenged to grow and rewarded for doing so. Valued. Recognised. Inspired to be your best. As a community, we want our working lives to count. As a team, we celebrate what we achieve. As a standard-setter, we work for the good of customers, communities, and broader society.

We are purpose-driven. Uncompromisingly customer. Unstoppably Nationwide.

What to do next

If this role is for you, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button. You’ll need to attach your up-to-date CV and answer a few quick questions for us.

We respond to everyone, so we will be in contact shortly after the closing date to let you know the outcome of your application.

The hiring manager for this role is Michelle Begley and the main recruitment contact is Sameena Rehman.