Senior Financial Crime Investigator

Klarna•New York, NY

3d•$130,267 - $145,898

About The Position

Klarna operates as a licensed bank, and every transaction that moves through the platform is a potential financial crime signal. You'll join Klarna's Financial Crime Intelligence team, an in-house group handling everything from routine reviews to the most complex, high-risk investigations in fintech. Whether your background is in fast-moving fintech, the regulatory rigor of traditional banking, or investigative work in law enforcement, you'll bring that experience to bear on real, high-stakes cases and the calls you make will reshape how Klarna detects and prevents financial crime at scale. This isn't a position where your best work gets buried in a closed case file. You'll be expected to change the system, not just clear the queue: closing a coverage gap nobody else had seen, writing a SAR that changes how a typology gets monitored, or turning a single messy case into an insight that protects thousands of others.

Requirements

Built real depth in AML or financial crime investigations within fintech, banking, payments, or a regulatory/investigative body, or as an investigator in law enforcement.
A track record of real, demonstrable impact: cases you've resolved, gaps you've closed, or frameworks you've shaped that changed outcomes beyond a single case.
Strong hands-on experience conducting end-to-end transaction monitoring, event-driven investigations, and complex case escalations.
Proven ability to assess suspicious activity and draft clear, well-supported Suspicious Activity Reports in line with regulatory expectations.
Solid understanding of AML and financial crime regulations applicable to the US and/or EU, including sanctions and PEP frameworks, and EU AML Directives/MLRO responsibilities.
Comfortable with ambiguity and complex judgement calls — high-risk cases rarely come with a clean playbook, and you're willing to make and defend a reasoned call rather than waiting for certainty.
Think beyond the case in front of you — spotting connections, patterns, and systemic gaps a narrower investigation would miss, and you share what you find rather than leaving it in your own case notes.
Strong written and verbal communication skills in English, with the ability to document and explain investigative decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Comfort operating in a fast-paced environment with evolving financial crime risks and shifting operational priorities.
A bias toward influence, not just execution — you'd rather fix the rule than keep catching the same exception by hand.
Comfort working with transaction monitoring or screening systems at a level where you can meaningfully inform tuning, testing, or rule design — not just work the alerts they generate.
An analytical mindset, comfortable working with large datasets to spot patterns.

Nice To Haves

Candidates coming from a law enforcement investigative background, or with experience across both fintech and traditional banking, are especially encouraged to apply.
Familiarity with SQL is a plus.
CAMS, ICA, or equivalent AML certification.
A university degree in Finance, Law, Business, Criminology, Criminal Justice, or a related field — or equivalent practical experience (including law enforcement or investigative service).
Experience supporting or overseeing outsourced investigation or transaction monitoring teams.
Exposure to a range of product types — from traditional banking products (lending, deposits, credit) to emerging products like crypto and investments — and/or AML regulatory reporting experience in the EU/UK.
Additional languages (German, Swedish, and/or French).
Genuine enthusiasm for AI-powered tooling in an investigative or compliance context — comfort adopting new tools and using AI-assisted analysis (e.g., case triage, summarization, pattern/typology detection) to work smarter across case volumes.
A specific example of impact you're proud of — a case, a rule change, a gap you closed — that we can dig into together in conversation.

Responsibilities

Own complex investigations that are too nuanced, layered, or novel for standard processes to resolve, and document why, helping the team build a shared understanding of where the remit begins and ends.
Spot emerging typologies, translate signals into actionable insight, and help the team stay ahead of new fraud and financial crime patterns rather than just reacting to them.
Turn intelligence into action: influencing transaction monitoring configuration, closing coverage gaps, and ensuring what investigations uncover actually changes the detection infrastructure, not just the individual case outcome.
Help build and refine Klarna's broader Financial Crime framework — shaping policy, process, and documentation to meet regulatory requirements while staying ahead of emerging risks.
Work closely with internal stakeholders to maintain strong investigative controls, support transaction monitoring quality, and ensure the framework scales responsibly as Klarna continues to grow across global markets.
Depending on your background, this may also include mentoring and upskilling more junior investigators, contributing to quality calibration across the team, and representing Financial Crime in cross-functional forums where investigative judgement needs a seat at the table.