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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Verification Program Consultant

💰 $ - $

🎯 Role Definition

The Verification Program Consultant designs, implements, and optimizes identity and verification programs across digital and physical channels to ensure compliance, reduce fraud, and improve customer experience. This role acts as a subject-matter expert for identity proofing, Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) controls, vendor evaluation, and program governance, working cross-functionally with compliance, risk, engineering, product, and operations teams to translate regulatory requirements into pragmatic, scalable verification solutions.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Identity Verification Analyst
  • Compliance Analyst or KYC Analyst
  • Fraud Operations Specialist

Advancement To:

  • Verification Program Manager / Head of Verification
  • Director of Identity & Access Management
  • Head of KYC / Head of AML Operations

Lateral Moves:

  • Vendor Risk Manager
  • Fraud Strategy & Analytics Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop, document, and maintain end-to-end verification program frameworks, policies, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) that meet global regulatory requirements (KYC, AML, CTF) while enabling best-in-class customer onboarding and retention.
  • Lead program design and roadmap prioritization for identity proofing, document verification, biometric checks, and device intelligence, aligning technical requirements with business objectives and risk appetite.
  • Manage vendor sourcing, evaluation, and onboarding for identity verification, biometrics, document OCR, and watchlist screening solutions, including RFPs, technical due diligence, SLA negotiations, and contract reviews.
  • Conduct quantitative and qualitative program performance reviews using KPIs such as verification pass rates, false positive/negative rates, throughput, latency, cost-per-transaction, and onboarding conversion metrics; present findings and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
  • Configure and maintain verification decisioning logic and rules engines (e.g., risk-scoring thresholds, adaptive authentication flows) to optimize fraud detection and minimize friction across user journeys.
  • Design and oversee A/B tests and pilot programs to evaluate new verification technologies and orchestration strategies, ensuring statistically valid measurement and rapid iteration.
  • Partner with legal and compliance teams to interpret evolving regulatory guidance across jurisdictions and translate those requirements into program controls, escalation paths, and audit-ready documentation.
  • Build and maintain governance controls, including exception processes, audit trails, controls testing, and remediation plans to ensure program integrity and readiness for external audits and regulatory exams.
  • Serve as primary contact for incident response related to verification or identity fraud events: lead investigations, coordinate remediation, and implement lessons learned into operational controls.
  • Collaborate with product managers, UX designers, and engineers to integrate verification flows into web and mobile experiences with a focus on accessibility, performance, and privacy-by-design.
  • Lead cross-functional working groups to align verification, fraud, and compliance strategies, ensuring consistent decisioning across onboarding, transactions, account changes, and high-risk workflows.
  • Create and maintain comprehensive training materials, runbooks, and playbooks for operations teams to ensure consistent case handling and escalation of verification exceptions.
  • Develop data pipelines and dashboards (BI tools, SQL queries) that provide near-real-time visibility into verification performance, risk indicators, and operational backlogs.
  • Monitor industry trends, threat intelligence, and emerging verification techniques (e.g., decentralized identity, liveness detection) and recommend adoption strategies with ROI and risk assessments.
  • Manage program budgets and vendor spend, identifying opportunities for consolidation, automation, or cost optimization without degrading verification efficacy.
  • Facilitate privacy impact assessments and data-mapping exercises to ensure PII handling within verification workflows complies with GDPR, CCPA, and other data protection regulations.
  • Define and implement tiered verification strategies and customer segmentation to apply risk-based controls that balance compliance, fraud prevention, and user experience.
  • Provide subject-matter expertise during mergers, acquisitions, or market expansions to harmonize disparate verification programs and accelerate integration plans.
  • Execute continuous improvement initiatives to reduce manual reviews by implementing machine-assisted decisioning, workflow automation, and improved data enrichment.
  • Lead root-cause analysis of false positives and false negatives, partnering with data science and model governance teams to retrain models and refine feature sets.
  • Coordinate with customer support and operations to prioritize backlog items, reduce time-to-resolution for verification cases, and measure impact on NPS and operational cost.
  • Maintain up-to-date program documentation and ensure readiness for external audits, regulatory inquiries, and inspections; support remediation actions and attestations.
  • Establish metrics and SLAs for verification vendors and internal teams, perform regular vendor performance reviews, and drive escalation when contractual obligations are not met.
  • Advocate for inclusive verification practices to reduce bias and ensure equitable access for customers with diverse documentation and accessibility needs.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
  • Provide subject-matter input to marketing and sales for go-to-market messaging around trust and safety features.
  • Assist in drafting board-level and executive summaries on verification risk posture and strategic initiatives.
  • Mentor junior analysts and verification specialists, helping to upskill the team on new tools and industry best practices.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Identity verification technologies (document verification, OCR, MRZ, NFC) — hands-on experience evaluating and integrating third-party providers.
  • Biometric verification and liveness detection knowledge, including facial recognition tradeoffs, anti-spoofing controls, and privacy implications.
  • Regulatory and compliance expertise in KYC, AML, CTF, GDPR, and sanctions screening (OFAC, EU sanctions), with ability to implement programmatic controls.
  • Risk-based decisioning and rules engine configuration experience, including building and tuning risk scores and rule hierarchies.
  • Data analysis and visualization skills (SQL, Python/R, Tableau/Looker/Power BI) to produce dashboards, trend analysis, and KPI reporting.
  • Fraud analytics and model validation experience: interpreting model outputs, tracking performance drift, and partnering with data science teams.
  • Vendor management and procurement skills: RFP creation, vendor selection, SLA drafting, and performance governance.
  • Technical product integration experience with APIs, webhooks, SDKs, and mobile platforms to operationalize verification flows.
  • Strong documentation and process-mapping skills, including SOP creation, audit-ready documentation, and runbook development.
  • Project and program management proficiency: roadmapping, resource planning, risk registers, and cross-functional coordination.
  • Familiarity with privacy engineering concepts and PII data handling, including data minimization, encryption, and retention policies.
  • Experience with case management and ticketing systems used in verification operations (Zendesk, Salesforce, Remedy, custom tooling).

Soft Skills

  • Strategic thinking with the ability to translate regulatory objectives into practical operational controls and product features.
  • Strong stakeholder management and communication skills — able to influence senior leadership and collaborate with technical teams.
  • Problem-solving mindset with meticulous attention to detail and a bias for actionable outcomes.
  • Effective coaching and mentoring capabilities to develop frontline verification and operations teams.
  • Adaptability and resilience in fast-changing regulatory and threat landscapes.
  • Customer-centric orientation focused on reducing friction while maintaining security and compliance.
  • Analytical curiosity and data-driven decision making; comfortable interrogating metrics to drive continuous improvement.
  • Clear written communication for policy documents, executive reports, and external audit responses.
  • Negotiation skills for vendor contracts and cross-functional prioritization.
  • Ethical judgment and integrity when managing sensitive identity and PII data.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (Business, Computer Science, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, Criminal Justice, Finance, or related).

Preferred Education:

  • Master's degree or advanced certification in Compliance, Information Security, Data Science, or Business Administration (MBA).
  • Professional certifications such as CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist), CIPP/US or CIPP/E (privacy), or relevant project management certifications (PMP, Scrum).

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Information Security / Cybersecurity
  • Data Science / Analytics
  • Finance / Accounting / Risk Management
  • Legal / Compliance / Criminal Justice

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 4–10+ years in identity verification, fraud, compliance, or related operational roles.

Preferred:

  • 5+ years designing and operating verification programs in regulated industries (financial services, fintech, healthcare, marketplace platforms).
  • Demonstrated track record leading vendor integrations, rule-based decisioning, and metrics-driven program improvements.
  • Experience operating in multi-jurisdictional environments with cross-border regulatory considerations.
  • Hands-on experience with identity verification vendors, biometric providers, and fraud analytics platforms.
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