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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Assistant Compliance Officer

💰 $ - $

ComplianceRiskLegalOperations

🎯 Role Definition

The Assistant Compliance Officer supports the design, implementation, monitoring and continuous improvement of the firm's compliance program. This role is responsible for day-to-day compliance operations including transaction monitoring, investigations, policy maintenance, regulatory reporting, training delivery, and remediation tracking. The ideal candidate combines strong regulatory knowledge (e.g., AML/BSA, GDPR, SEC/FINRA or local equivalents) with excellent analytical, communication and stakeholder-management skills to help ensure the organization operates within legal and regulatory frameworks.

Key SEO/LLM keywords: Assistant Compliance Officer, compliance analyst, AML analyst, KYC/CDD, BSA, regulatory compliance, policy and procedure, compliance monitoring, internal controls, remediation, regulatory filings, compliance training.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Compliance Analyst / Junior Compliance Analyst
  • AML Analyst / KYC Analyst
  • Paralegal or Regulatory Affairs Coordinator

Advancement To:

  • Compliance Officer / Senior Compliance Officer
  • Compliance Manager / AML Manager
  • Head of Compliance / Director of Compliance

Lateral Moves:

  • Risk Analyst / Operational Risk
  • Internal Audit / Controls Testing
  • Legal Counsel (Regulatory) or Regulatory Affairs

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Assist with development, maintenance and implementation of the enterprise compliance program by drafting, updating and operationalizing policies, procedures and internal controls to ensure alignment with applicable laws, rules and supervisory guidance (AML/BSA, GDPR, FINRA/SEC, FCA, MiFID II, etc.).
  • Conduct ongoing regulatory research to monitor new and evolving legal and regulatory requirements, interpret supervisory guidance, and summarize impacts and recommended actions for business leaders and senior compliance staff.
  • Execute transaction monitoring and surveillance activities using case management and monitoring systems to identify suspicious activity, generate alerts, triage results, and escalate high-risk matters for investigation.
  • Perform KYC, CDD and EDD reviews for customers, counterparties and new business relationships, assessing risk factors, documenting findings, and making remediation recommendations when required.
  • Lead and document investigations of compliance incidents and alerts, compiling evidence, preparing investigation reports, performing risk scoring, and liaising with business owners to implement corrective actions.
  • Support AML and sanctions programs by screening customers and transactions against watchlists (OFAC/SDN, UN, EU, HM Treasury), coordinating false positive remediation, and recommending adjustments to detection rules.
  • Coordinate and prepare regulatory filings, notifications and periodic reports (e.g., SARs/STRs, regulatory returns) ensuring timely, accurate and well-supported submissions to supervisory authorities.
  • Maintain and operate compliance case management and monitoring tools (e.g., Actimize, NICE, Fenergo, ComplyAdvantage, Oracle Mantas), ensuring workflow integrity, documentation standards, and audit readiness.
  • Support licensing, registrations and regulatory approvals for products, services and personnel; prepare applications, renewals and supporting documentation for submission to regulatory bodies.
  • Assist in the design and execution of risk-based compliance monitoring plans and testing programs, including sampling, testing, documentation of findings, and follow-up on remediation activities.
  • Track and manage remediation activities and corrective action plans; maintain remediation trackers, coordinate with stakeholders, and escalate overdue items to appropriate management.
  • Deliver and coordinate compliance training and awareness programs across the organization, produce training materials, track completion, and measure training effectiveness; tailor content for front-line staff, managers and senior leaders.
  • Review and provide compliance input on new product launches, marketing materials, promotional campaigns and customer-facing communications to ensure regulatory and disclosure requirements are met.
  • Conduct third-party and vendor due diligence for compliance risk (AML, sanctions, privacy), review contractual terms for regulatory obligations and coordinate ongoing vendor monitoring activities.
  • Support periodic internal and external regulatory examinations and audits by compiling evidence, preparing responses, coordinating meetings, and implementing examiner-recommended remediation measures.
  • Analyze compliance-related data and metrics to identify emerging trends, areas of elevated risk, program weaknesses and opportunities for process improvement; prepare dashboards and management reports.
  • Draft clear, actionable written communications (e.g., findings memos, policy updates, regulatory responses) for internal stakeholders, senior management and external regulators.
  • Contribute to the development and maintenance of privacy and data protection controls, coordinate incident response for data subject requests and support GDPR/CCPA compliance activities as applicable.
  • Review contractual arrangements, client onboarding documentation and internal workflows to assess regulatory and compliance risk; recommend contract language and process changes to mitigate exposure.
  • Facilitate cross-functional collaboration between compliance, legal, risk, operations and business lines to operationalize regulatory requirements and embed compliance controls into day-to-day processes.
  • Support escalation processes, advise business units on remedial options and assist with implementation of control enhancements resulting from control failures or regulatory change.
  • Maintain accurate and auditable compliance records, logs and evidence repositories to ensure timely access for senior management, internal audit and regulatory examiners.

Secondary Functions

  • Provide ad-hoc compliance analysis and respond to internal and external information requests, including preparation of executive summaries and supporting exhibits.
  • Support periodic policy awareness campaigns, internal Q&A sessions and drop-in clinics to help business teams interpret and apply compliance requirements in their daily activities.
  • Assist with maintaining the compliance intranet, FAQs, checklists and playbooks to increase staff self-service and reduce preventable compliance incidents.
  • Participate in project teams for process automation, system enhancements and regulatory change implementations; test controls and document user acceptance testing (UAT) results.
  • Help maintain and enhance key risk and control matrices (RACM) and ensure controls are mapped to regulatory requirements and tested on schedule.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Strong knowledge of AML/BSA frameworks, KYC/CDD/EDD processes, transaction monitoring, sanctions screening and suspicious activity reporting (SAR/STR).
  • Familiarity with key regulatory regimes and supervisory bodies (e.g., SEC, FINRA, OCC, FCA, EBA, MiFID II, GDPR, local regulators) and ability to translate guidance into operational controls.
  • Experience using compliance and case management platforms such as Actimize, NICE, Fenergo, ComplyAdvantage, LexisNexis, or similar surveillance and screening tools.
  • Proficiency with Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, data cleaning) and PowerPoint for reporting and presentations; basic SQL or data query skills a strong plus.
  • Ability to conduct risk assessments, develop sampling strategies, perform control testing and document results in a repeatable, audit-ready manner.
  • Experience preparing regulatory filings and responses, supporting exams, and managing documentation for internal and external stakeholders.
  • Knowledge of privacy and data protection requirements (GDPR, CCPA) and how they intersect with compliance monitoring and investigations.
  • Familiarity with third-party risk management processes and vendor due diligence standards.
  • Experience drafting policies, procedures, training materials and formal communications that are clear, actionable and defensible.
  • Competence in using case tracking and workflow automation tools and maintaining evidence repositories for auditability.

Soft Skills

  • Strong verbal and written communication skills; able to explain complex regulatory concepts in plain language for business audiences and senior leaders.
  • Excellent analytical and investigative mindset with high attention to detail and ability to synthesize multiple information sources into a single risk assessment.
  • Effective stakeholder management and collaboration skills; comfortable working cross-functionally and influencing business partners.
  • High integrity, ethical judgment and professional discretion handling confidential information and sensitive investigations.
  • Time management and prioritization skills with the ability to handle multiple assignments in a fast-paced regulatory environment.
  • Problem-solving orientation with a continuous improvement mindset; proactively identifies gaps and proposes practical remediation.
  • Resilience and adaptability to respond to changing regulatory expectations and business priorities.
  • Customer-service orientation when partnering with business units to resolve compliance questions while protecting the firm’s regulatory posture.
  • Project management skills to support implementation of remediation, regulatory change and system enhancements.
  • Strong organizational skills and the ability to maintain accurate documentation and audit-ready evidence.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Finance, Business, Law, Economics, Accounting, Criminal Justice, or related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Master's degree in Compliance, Law, Business Administration (MBA), or graduate studies in a related discipline.
  • Juris Doctor (JD) or equivalent for roles with substantial regulatory contracting or legal interpretation responsibilities.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Finance
  • Law / Legal Studies
  • Business Administration
  • Economics
  • Criminal Justice / Forensic Accounting
  • Information Security / Data Privacy

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 1 to 4 years in compliance, AML, KYC, risk, internal audit or regulatory operations roles. Prior experience in financial services, banking, payments, or regulated industries is highly preferred.

Preferred:

  • 3+ years of hands-on experience in compliance program execution (AML/KYC/transaction monitoring), dealing with regulatory examinations, and supporting remediation initiatives.
  • Professional certifications such as CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist), CRCM (Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager), or CIPP/CP (privacy) are strongly preferred and will enhance candidacy.
  • Demonstrated experience with compliance technology platforms, case management systems and an ability to translate data into compliance insights.
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