Senior Manager - Financial Crimes - Payments

Royal Bank of Canada•Toronto, ON

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Manager, Financial Crimes – Payments provides analytical, operational and strategic support. Working in close partnership with the Payments Financial Crimes Lead, this role is responsible for coordinating initiatives, conducting research and impact assessments, preparing materials, and supporting the delivery of regulatory, governance, and modernization projects and activities across the Bank's global payments ecosystem. The Senior Manager acts as a trusted partner in advancing the team's mandate by helping translate complex regulatory and payments developments into actionable insights, facilitating cross-functional collaboration with our business teams to ensure we have a clear understanding of payment flows including detailed formats, to ensure high-quality execution of key priorities by understanding and delivering on global requirements and expectations. The role contributes to strengthening the Bank's Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Anti-Terrorist Financing (ATF), and Sanctions risk management framework as it relates to global payment products, services, and modernization initiatives. Success in this role will be demonstrated by: Delivering high-quality analytical support enables informed strategic decision-making. Effectively coordinating multiple concurrent initiatives while meeting deadlines. Building strong collaborative relationships across business and control functions. Demonstrating sound judgment, initiative, and ownership in managing complex assignments. Contributing to continuous improvement and operational excellence across the Payments Financial Crimes Advisory function. Supporting the Bank's regulatory compliance objectives while supporting the business to enable innovation in payments.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in Financial Crimes Compliance, AML, Sanctions, Payments, Risk Management, and/or Regulatory Compliance.
Strong understanding of payments systems and payment modernization initiatives is considered an asset.
Excellent analytical, organizational, and communication skills.
Ability to synthesize complex regulatory or technical information into practical business recommendations.
Proven ability to manage competing priorities and operate effectively in a fast-paced, evolving environment.
Demonstrated curiosity, initiative, and a continuous improvement mindset.
Strong relationship management skills with the ability to collaborate and influence across diverse stakeholder groups.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly PowerPoint and Excel, with experience preparing executive-level materials.
Strong organizational skills with the ability to oversee and/or be involved in multiple work streams concurrently
Self-starter with the ability to think through problems and assignments in a self-directed manner.
Able to “think outside the box”, challenge constructively the status quo, hierarchy and drive creative solutions
Comfortable with ambiguity & uncertainty, takes ownership to figure things out

Nice To Haves

Strong understanding of payments systems and payment modernization initiatives

Responsibilities

Support the Payments Financial Crimes Lead in providing advice and guidance to business lines, Advisory teams, Global Economic Sanctions (GES), Money Laundering Reporting Officers (MLROs), and other stakeholders on global Financial Crimes implications relating to payment initiatives and modernization.
Research emerging payment trends, regulatory developments, and industry guidance to identify potential impacts on global Financial Crimes risk management.
Assist in developing regulatory interpretations, issue summaries, and discussion papers to support advisory decisions.
Prepare briefing notes and recommendations for senior leadership on emerging risks and strategic initiatives.
Conduct preliminary financial crimes payment assessments of new or amended AML, ATF, sanctions, and payments regulations across Canada, the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, and other applicable jurisdictions.
Support impact assessments relating to payment modernization initiatives, new products, acquisitions, and strategic business initiatives.
Maintain inventories of regulatory developments and track implementation activities.
Assist in identifying potential control gaps and documenting recommended mitigation strategies.
Coordinate governance activities across multiple initiatives and maintain oversight of deliverables, action items, and key milestones where applicable.
Prepare presentations, committee materials, dashboards, briefing documents, and status reports.
Support responses to regulatory inquiries, internal audit requests, and external examinations by coordinating documentation and drafting responses.
Develop materials to support senior leadership decision-making.
Coordinate activities across Financial Crimes Advisory, AML Investigations, AML Intelligence & Analytics, Global Economic Sanctions, Product, Payments, Technology, Compliance, Risk, and Legal teams.
Support stakeholder meetings by preparing agendas, documenting decisions, tracking actions, and following through on deliverables.
Foster collaboration across multiple business partners to facilitate timely execution of strategic initiatives.
Identify and leverage opportunities to share and disseminate payments knowledge with the Financial Crimes team, delivering education and guidance that builds capability, enhances understanding of payment processes and risks, and promotes broader enterprise-wide awareness through collaboration, knowledge-sharing sessions, and the development of educational resources.
Assist in coordinating Financial Crimes participation in enterprise payment modernization programs and initiaves.
Track emerging payment technologies, industry standards (e.g., ISO 20022), market infrastructure changes, and regulatory expectations.
Support the development of Financial Crimes requirements for new payment capabilities and strategic initiatives.
Identify opportunities to share input and expertise to improve governance, reporting, documentation, and operational processes.
Develop standardized templates, knowledge repositories, and tracking tools that improve team efficiency and consistency where applicalbe.
Support the creation and maintenance of training materials, playbooks, and reference guides relating to payments for Financial Crimes.