Head of CDD and KYC, Americas

Adyen•Chicago, IL

1d•$190,000 - $260,000•Onsite

About The Position

This is Adyen. Adyen provides payments, data, and financial products in a single solution for customers like Meta, Uber, H&M, and Microsoft - making us the financial technology platform of choice. At Adyen, everything we do is engineered for ambition. For our teams, we create an environment with opportunities for our people to succeed, backed by the culture and support to ensure they are enabled to truly own their careers. We are motivated individuals who tackle unique technical challenges at scale and solve them as a team. Together, we deliver innovative and ethical solutions that help businesses achieve their ambitions faster. As part of our regional growth, we are looking for a strategic and experienced leader to serve as our Head of Customer Due Diligence, Americas. You will oversee a team of five people managers and a total of ± 45, spanning onboarding to ongoing reviews, and will play a pivotal role in evolving the CDD function across the region. You will work closely with internal stakeholders - Compliance, Commercial, Product, and Legal - and external stakeholders, including merchants and regulators, to ensure Adyen delivers a risk-aware, efficient, and scalable onboarding and review experience. This role is perfect for a builder, someone excited to drive change management, shape strategy, and create scalable processes as we continue to grow in the Americas.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in Operations (preferably Onboarding, KYC/CDD, Risk) or Compliance within financial services, fintech, banking, investment banking, or consulting.
7+ years of MoM people management experience (leading managers or team leads) and building high-performing teams across regions and functions.
A strategic, operational, and hands-on leader who can translate regulatory and business requirements into actionable, scalable solutions.
Exceptional at influencing and aligning stakeholders across regions, functions, and seniority levels through clear, confident communication.
Growth-oriented, focused on optimizing processes, building scalable solutions, and driving individual and team development.
Comfortable navigating ambiguity and evolving environments, balancing commercial and risk priorities.
Deeply merchant-focused, keeping the merchant experience at the core of every decision, process, and solution.
Willing to travel regionally and globally as required.

Responsibilities

Lead and coach a high-performing CDD team across Sao Paulo, San Francisco and Chicago, including five people managers empowering them to grow in CDD knowledge and leadership skills.
Recruit and expand the function as needed to support regional growth, ensuring consistent coverage and capability across locations.
Track and evaluate team performance against key metrics and global/regional OKRs, driving continuous improvement.
Define and execute the regional CDD strategy, ensuring alignment with global policies while addressing region-specific regulatory and commercial needs.
Serve as a senior escalation point for internal and external stakeholders, providing guidance on complex cases and critical decisions.
Collaborate with Commercial teams to balance risk and business objectives, enabling pragmatic and compliant decision-making.
Partner with Compliance, Operations, and Product teams to improve processes, identify automation opportunities, and implement scalable solutions.
Represent the Americas CDD function in regional and global initiatives, translating customer feedback and operational insights into actionable improvements.