Financial Crimes Sanctions Screening Coverage Director (AVP)

Morgan Stanley•Dallas, TX

About The Position

We're seeking someone to join our team as a Director, Sanctions Screening Initiatives & Optimization in Global Financial Crimes to lead business analysis and project delivery for screening transformation, optimization, and strategic initiatives across reference data and transaction screening programs. In the Legal & Compliance division, we assist the Firm in achieving its business objectives by facilitating and overseeing the Firm's management of legal, regulatory and franchise risk. This is a Director level position within the Global Financial Crimes Sanctions Screening Controls team, which is responsible for the design, implementation, and ongoing governance of the Firm's sanctions screening control framework across reference data and transaction activity.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Computer Science, Data/Analytics, or a related discipline with 5-8+ years of experience in business analysis, project management, sanctions compliance, AML/financial crime risk, or compliance controls within a regulated financial institutions.
Strong business analysis, requirements management and process design skills, including experience developing functional specifications, user stories, acceptance criteria, and process maps.
Demonstrated project delivery capability, with the ability to manage timelines, dependencies, stakeholder expectations, and multiple concurrent workstreams in a matrixed environment.
Strong analytical skills, including advanced Excel and preferably SQL and/or Python, with experience analyzing screening data, producing management information, and supporting data quality or optimization assessments.
Working knowledge of sanctions screening frameworks, relevant regulations, and transaction screening data, including familiarity with SWIFT MT/MX messaging standards.
Experience with screening platforms or related technologies and, ideally, control tuning, model governance, UAT, and implementation validation activities.
Working knowledge of OFAC and global sanctions regulations and their application to screening frameworks, including familiarity with model risk management practices and screening model governance concepts
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce governance materials, audit-ready documentation, and clear deliverables for cross-functional stakeholders

Nice To Haves

Professional certifications such as CAMS, CFCS, or CFE are a plus.

Responsibilities

Lead business analysis and project management support for cross-program transformation initiatives spanning reference data and transaction screening.
Elicit, document, and manage business requirements for screening enhancements, translating regulatory expectations and control standards into user stories, acceptance criteria, and process documentation.
Develop and maintain project plans, timelines, RAID logs, and implementation records, tracking milestones, risks, dependencies, and remediation actions through closure.
Partner with Compliance, Technology, Operations, and business stakeholders to design solutions that are operationally executable and supported by appropriate runbooks, SLAs, and readiness artifacts.
Support testing and validation activities, including test strategy, UAT coordination, post-deployment verification, and documentation of pre- and post-implementation outcomes.
Drive optimization workstreams involving threshold calibration, fuzzy logic tuning, suppression rules, pre-screening enhancements, and related screening effectiveness initiatives.
Perform data analysis and develop management information to identify tuning opportunities, quantify operational impact, and support governance decisions on screening changes.
Support new product assessments, issue remediation, regulatory and internal audit responses, and data governance activities by producing organized, audit-ready documentation and control evidence.