Global Head of Sanctions

Block•Bay Area, CA, United States of America, CA

21h•Remote

About The Position

As part of Block’s Global BSA/AML and Sanctions Program, the Global Head of Sanctions Compliance will own the end-to-end sanctions program across the company. You will set the strategic vision, and own the Sanctions program, policies, standards, and oversight of execution. You will serve as the company's senior lead on all Sanctions matters, inclusive of escalations, regulatory reporting, and engagement with external agencies.

Requirements

10+ years of sanctions compliance experience, ideally spanning both a major financial institution and a high-growth fintech or payments company — you understand both how large compliance programs are built and how to move fast in a product-driven environment; Bachelor's required, advanced degree preferred.
Deep, current expertise in OFAC, UN, EU, and OFSI sanctions regimes, including the evolving guidance on virtual assets, DeFi, and blockchain-based value transfer.
A track record of building and leading high-performing sanctions or broader financial crimes teams.
Hands-on experience designing or overhauling sanctions screening programs at scale — vendor selection, threshold calibration, false positive reduction, integration with core transaction infrastructure.
Experience as the senior-most compliance person within regulatory exams, enforcement discussions, and voluntary self-disclosures.
Experience with ML-assisted screening tools and technology enabled solutions, inclusive of AI.

Nice To Haves

CAMS, CGSS, or equivalent certification preferred.

Responsibilities

Own Block's global sanctions compliance program end-to-end — covering real-time payments, peer-to-peer money movement, Bitcoin and digital asset transactions, merchant acquiring, and BNPL — developing a multi-year strategy that keeps pace with both regulatory change and product velocity.
Author and maintain company-wide sanctions policies.
Define the sanctions risk framework across Fiat and digital asset products with support on design and oversight from cross-functional compliance teams.
Build, lead, and scale a team of sanctions compliance professionals setting objectives, delegating work plans, and developing talent into future leaders of the function.
Partner deeply with Product, Engineering, Detections, and Legal to integrate sanctions controls into our systems and architectural design — screening, real-time decisioning engines, and ML-assisted name matching.
Serve as Block's senior-most external voice on sanctions matters: primary point of contact for OFAC, FinCEN, and other regulators; lead on voluntary self-disclosures; and spokesperson in industry forums on sanctions compliance.
Drive the continuous improvement of our sanctions screening infrastructure — evaluating vendors, tuning alert thresholds, and partnering with Detections on tooling — to maintain high-quality controls without creating friction that undermines product experience.
Lead response to escalated sanctions issues, including potential violations, subpoenas, and regulatory inquiries.