Head of Compliance & Risk
Location: UK - London
Entity: Viva Wallet.com Ltd, trading as viva.com
Regulatory status: FCA-authorised Electronic money Institution
About Viva.com
Viva.com is Europe’s first acquirer powering merchant payments acceptance across 29 countries and over 1,215 devices. In the UK, Viva.com operates as an E-Money Institution authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), offering an omnichannel payments platform that empowers businesses of all sizes to accept and manage payments — in-store, online, or on the go.
Viva.com leads in Tap on Any Device technology, offers a high-conversion Smart Checkout for online payments, and provides a robust marketplace solution, enabling flexible, scalable, and future-proof payment journeys tailored to every business model. All technology is built in-house on Microsoft Azure, ensuring speed, security, and innovation at scale.
Through its direct connections to local payment schemes and alternative payment methods, Viva.com supports 40+ payment options. Key features include Real-Time Settlement, Offline Payments, acceptance fees as low as 0% with the use of Viva.com’s business debit card, and Merchant Advance.
With a growing ecosystem of 450+ tech partner-innovators, Viva.com is leading the shift to All-in-One business solutions, empowering merchants to adopt cutting-edge technology seamlessly and scale their business with ease.
In the UK, Viva.com operates as an E-Money Institution authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), offering an omnichannel payments platform that empowers businesses of all sizes to accept and manage payments — in-store, online, or on the go.
Learn more at viva.com
About the role:
Are you a senior governance, risk and compliance leader with deep UK payments, e-money or financial services experience, looking for an opportunity to shape the control environment of a fast-growing, regulated business?
We are seeking an experienced and commercially astute Head of Compliance & Risk who can combine regulatory judgement, strategic leadership and practical execution to lead the UK Compliance & Risk function of Viva.com. This is a senior leadership role with responsibility for designing, implementing, overseeing and continuously enhancing the UK entity’s risk management, regulatory compliance and internal governance framework. The role does not include MLRO or AML/Financial Crime compliance responsibilities, which are overseen separately.
You will ensure that the company’s governance, risk and compliance arrangements remain aligned with the nature, scale and complexity of the UK business, the expectations of the FCA and applicable UK regulatory requirements.
As the Head of Compliance & Risk, you will serve as a key advisor to the Executive team and Board, ensuring the organisation maintains the highest standards of regulatory compliance, governance and risk management — while remaining the primary point of contact with the FCA and other relevant authorities and stakeholders.
The role has direct functional access to the Board of Directors and relevant Board Committees.
What You’ll Be Doing
Risk Management & Regulatory Compliance
- Lead and continuously enhance the UK governance, risk and regulatory compliance framework, ensuring it remains appropriate to the entity’s business model, regulatory permissions, operational structure and risk profile.
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Monitor, assess and report on the company’s exposure to regulatory compliance, operational, conduct, governance and enterprise-wide risks, ensuring timely escalation of material issues, breaches, control weaknesses and remediation actions.
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Develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive risk and regulatory compliance framework, with associated policies, procedures, systems and controls that meet FCA expectations.
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Lead the development and execution of the annual risk assessment (RCSA), the annual compliance monitoring plan, as well as ad hoc monitoring testing and thematic reviews on risk-based approach.
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Maintain and embed the Enterprise-Wide Risk Management Framework and Risk Appetite Framework, ensuring they remain fit for purpose and aligned with the company's strategic objectives.
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Establish and report Key Risk Indicators (KRIs) at entity and business-unit level and ensuring material risk events are escalated promptly to the relevant governing bodies.
- Manage the development and the maintenance of the regulatory obligations mapping and legislative changes, assess their impact on the UK business and lead the implementation of required amendments in collaboration with the responsible business units, ensuring that applicable legal and regulatory obligations are promptly identified, allocated, monitored and implemented across the UK entity.
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Lead the development, review and enhancement of risk and compliance policies, procedures, controls and training programmes, ensuring employees and management remain informed of applicable regulatory requirements and internal standards.
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Provide second-line oversight and advisory support over fraud risk management activities, working closely with the responsible AFC/AML Compliance Officer, as well as the Head of the disputes management function.
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Advise on new products, services, procedures, business initiatives and material change projects, ensuring that regulatory, compliance, risk and customer outcome considerations are assessed and addressed from design through implementation.
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Oversee the identification, tracking and closure of regulatory compliance findings, audit findings, regulatory actions, incidents, breaches and corrective action plans.
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Manage regulatory reporting and communication, ensuring timely and accurate submissions to the FCA and other relevant authorities.
- Oversee the complaints management process by the responsible business unit.
Leadership & Governance Culture
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Develop and implement a strategic vision for the risk and compliance function, aligned with Viva.com's overall business objectives.
- Lead the development of compliance and risk management information (MI), leveraging data insights to drive business-wide compliance and risk strategies.
- Provide regular updates and reports to senior management and the Board on compliance matters, regulatory changes, and key metrics.
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Manage the overall relationship with the FCA, including the flow of information requests, supervisory engagement, and ongoing regulatory dialogue.
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Project-manage regulatory change initiatives (e.g. APP scams, Consumer Duty), ensuring good governance and timely delivery of required business changes.
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Manage direct reports, providing mentorship and coaching to foster professional growth and enhance team capabilities.
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Cultivate a supportive environment that encourages knowledge sharing, continuous improvement and a strong compliance culture across the organisation.
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Work collaboratively with business departments and other critical functions to embed governance and controls into business decisions, new initiatives and day-to-day processes.
Operational Efficiency & Process Management
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Drive operational efficiency initiatives to streamline regulatory compliance and risk management processes.
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Manage and support the ongoing implementation of Consumer Duty framework across the organisation, ensuring it remains continually aligned with FCA expectations.
- Maintain close collaboration and open communication with group entities, ensuring risk and compliance matters are handled responsively and constructively.
Requirements
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Bachelor’s degree in Law, Finance, Business Administration, Economics, Risk Management or a related field. A postgraduate degree or relevant professional qualification, such as ICA, CRCM, CISI, CISA or equivalent, would be an advantage.
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Extensive senior-level experience in risk and regulatory compliance within a UK-regulated financial services environment, ideally within payments, e-money, acquiring or banking.
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Strong working knowledge of FCA requirements and deep understanding of the UK regulatory framework applicable to FCA-authorised Electronic Money Institutions and payment services firms, as indicatively Consumer Duty, Safeguarding, Operational Resilience, Operational Risk Management etc.
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Demonstrable experience in operating under the Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SMCR).
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Proven track record of direct engagement with the Financial Conduct Authority.
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Prior experience as an FCA-approved Senior Manager, including SMF16, or in an equivalent senior compliance/risk leadership role, would be advantageous.
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Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, high-growth environment with a pragmatic, solutions-oriented mindset.
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Able to balance independent regulatory challenge with commercial awareness and pragmatic problem-solving.
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Collaborative and team-oriented, while maintaining the independence and objectivity required of a second line control function.
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Proactive and hands-on, with the ability to take ownership, identify issues early and drive matters through to resolution.
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Comfortable engaging with Board members, senior executives, regulators, auditors, external advisers and business stakeholders at all levels.
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Highly organised and detail-oriented, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, regulatory deadlines and strategic initiatives in a fast-paced environment.
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Committed to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct.
Benefits
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Competitive compensation package commensurate with the seniority and scope of the role.
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The opportunity to shape and enhance the UK governance, risk and compliance framework of a growing fintech business.
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Direct exposure to senior management, and Board-level governance body.
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A collaborative, ambitious and international working environment with a strong focus on innovation, accountability and continuous improvement.
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The opportunity to join one of Europe's leading payment technology companies and contribute meaningfully to viva.com’s continued growth, regulatory & risk maturity and long-term success in the UK market.
