Compliance Operations Specialist

Conduct investigations into AML, fraud, sanctions, and other violations; monitor merchant activity; perform onboarding and ongoing due diligence reviews; document findings; make risk-based recommendations; and coordinate with payment networks and banking partners. The role requires communication with merchants and stakeholders in Japanese and English and is fully remote based in Japan only.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and investigate compliance-related alerts from transaction monitoring systems and manual reviews.
• Analyze merchant activity, payment flows, customer relationships, and operations to identify unusual or suspicious behavior.
• Investigate AML, fraud, sanctions, prohibited activities, financial crime risks, and policy violations.
• Verify merchant information and conduct onboarding and ongoing due diligence reviews.
• Document investigative findings and make risk-based recommendations regarding account actions and escalations.
• Conduct public record research and open-source intelligence reviews.
• Interact with merchants in Japanese and English to obtain information and communicate compliance requirements.
• Complete operational reviews and investigations within established service-level agreements.
• Coordinate with payment network partners, banking partners, and other stakeholders on compliance monitoring activities.

Requirements

• Professional fluency in Japanese and English, written and spoken.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
• At least 3 years of experience in compliance operations, transaction monitoring, AML investigations, fraud investigations, risk management, or policy implementation in a regulated financial services environment.
• Strong understanding of Japanese financial crime compliance requirements, including CDD, KYC, transaction monitoring, and suspicious activity investigations.
• Knowledge of Japanese payment industry regulations, merchant acquiring requirements, and payment network rules.
• Strong investigative, transaction analysis, judgment, risk assessment, written communication, and case documentation skills.
• Based in Japan.

Benefits

• Remote work
• Medical insurance
• Flexible time off
• Retirement savings plans
• Modern family planning