AML Analyst

Role Overview

AML Analyst at Ziina, a fintech platform operating in the Middle East. The role is based in the UAE and focuses on protecting the platform from money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation financing, and financial crime abuse.

Company Overview

Ziina's mission is to bring financial freedom to every person in the Middle East. The company is building MENA's consumer and SMB financial platform, starting with a peer-to-peer and merchant wallet. The team includes backgrounds from Apple, Uber, Stripe, Klarna, Revolut, Yandex, and Nubank. Payments volumes have grown 10x year-over-year for the last two years. The product has a 4.8 star rating in the app store and is a recipient of 8 international design awards, including the Red Dot Award and the UX Design Award. The company raised a $22 million Series A from top-tier investors including Altos Ventures, Fintech Collective, Activant, Long Journey Ventures, and Y Combinator. Angel investors include early employees and executives at Revolut, Stripe, Venmo, Brex, Checkout.com, Notion, and Deel.

Role Purpose

To protect Ziina's platform from money laundering, terrorist financing, proliferation financing, and financial crime abuse by conducting risk-based AML investigations, reviewing transaction monitoring alerts, and continuously improving controls and processes as the platform scales.

Key Responsibilities

AML Case Investigation & Monitoring

• Review and investigate transaction monitoring alerts, unusual activity, and high-risk behaviors across consumer and merchant accounts
• Assess customer activity against expected behavior, KYC/KYB profiles, and known typologies
• Identify AML red flags, emerging typologies, and potential predicate offenses
• Draft high-quality internal Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
• Escalate cases to second line of defense when reporting is required
• Ensure investigations are conducted in line with internal policies, regulatory expectations, and local AML/CFT requirements

Process Improvement & Collaboration

• Identify gaps or inefficiencies in AML workflows and propose improvements
• Partner with Fraud, Product, Engineering, and Operations teams to reduce AML risk upstream
• Contribute to initiatives aimed at automating AML reviews and improving monitoring quality
• Analyse historical cases to identify trends, patterns, and risk drivers
• Maintain clear, structured case notes and investigation summaries suitable for audit and regulatory review
• Support AML reporting and dashboards to provide visibility on risk exposure and operational performance

Qualifications & Experience

• 2+ years of experience in AML, financial crime investigations, and transaction monitoring within fintech, payments, or financial services
• Strong understanding of AML/CFT/CPF concepts, risk-based investigations, and transaction monitoring
• Experience reviewing alerts, investigating unusual activity, and documenting outcomes clearly
• Ability to analyse large datasets and identify patterns, trends, and anomalies
• Experience in high-growth fintech or payments environments
• Knowledge of CBUAE AML/CFT/CPF regulations and regional typologies
• Professional certifications (CAMS, ICA, CFCS)

Skills & Competencies

• Strong written communication skills in English
• Arabic language proficiency
• Ability to work independently and take ownership of cases in a fast-paced environment
• Risk-based thinking and understanding of trade-offs between AML and customer impact
• Experience with data analysis to support investigations (SQL/Python)
• Experience with regulatory reporting tools such as goAML
• Proactive mindset that flags emerging risks before they become incidents
• Comfort operating with ambiguity and building structure as you go
• Ownership mentality without waiting to be told what needs fixing