Sr Director, Financial Crimes Compliance

Cornerstone Home Lending•Houston, TX

About The Position

The Senior Director of Financial Crimes Compliance provides enterprise-wide leadership for all financial crimes prevention, detection, and regulatory compliance functions across the Bank. This role serves as the institution's senior subject matter expert on Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), OFAC/Sanctions, agency/investor guidelines, fraud risk, and related regulatory requirements — with specialized operational depth across the Bank's mortgage, retail lending, commercial and insurance lines of business. The Senior Director is responsible for designing, implementing, and continuously maturing a risk-based financial crimes compliance program that satisfies regulatory expectations, protects the institution from financial and reputational harm, and operates effectively across all business lines. This leader will serve as a critical bridge between the Bank's mortgage, retail banking and commercial banking teams and the enterprise risk management function, ensuring that mortgage origination, servicing, deposits, Internet banking, treasury management, commercial credit and insurance activities are supported by robust financial crimes controls.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, Law, or a related field required; J.D., M.B.A., or advanced degree strongly preferred.
Minimum 8 years of progressive experience in BSA/AML compliance, financial crimes, or regulatory compliance within a federally regulated financial institution or top consulting firm.
Minimum 5 years in a senior leadership role with direct management of compliance teams and regulatory relationships.
Demonstrated expertise in BSA/AML regulatory requirements including the Bank Secrecy Act, USA PATRIOT Act, FinCEN regulations, and FFIEC examination guidance.
Substantial hands-on experience with mortgage origination compliance, consumer lending regulations, and commercial banking financial crimes risk.
Proven track record managing federal and/or state regulatory examinations including examination management, regulatory responses, and remediation execution.
Advanced proficiency in transaction monitoring systems (e.g., Verafin, NICE Actimize, FIS MISER, Jack Henry Banno, or equivalent).

Nice To Haves

Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) or Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM) preferred.
Experience at a midsize community bank or regional bank with a diversified mortgage, lending, and commercial portfolio.
Prior experience as a BSA Officer or Deputy BSA Officer with direct regulatory accountability.
Experience with model risk management as it applies to AML transaction monitoring and sanctions screening.
Working knowledge of digital banking, fintech partnerships, and associated financial crimes risk considerations.

Responsibilities

Provide strategic direction and day-to-day oversight of the Bank's BSA/AML compliance program, including Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) filing, Currency Transaction Report (CTR) processing, and Customer Due Diligence (CDD/EDD) requirements.
Direct the annual BSA/AML risk assessment process, ensuring adequate coverage of all bank activities.
Maintain and evolve BSA/AML policies, procedures, and controls in alignment with FinCEN guidance, FFIEC BSA/AML Examination Manual, and applicable state law.
Oversee the Bank's transaction monitoring program, including system configuration, alert tuning, and escalation workflows.
Ensure timely, complete, and accurate regulatory reporting to FinCEN, including the management of lookback reviews or remediation as needed.
Lead the Bank's OFAC/sanctions screening program, ensuring controls are appropriately applied to mortgage loan origination, commercial credit underwriting, ACH, wire, and other payment channels.
Oversee the fraud risk intelligence function, coordinating with Operations, Retail Banking, and Commercial Banking on emerging fraud typologies relevant to lending and deposit products.
Maintain working knowledge of elder financial exploitation, mortgage fraud, business email compromise, and synthetic identity fraud as they intersect with the Bank’s product mix.
Serve as the primary compliance partner for the Mortgage and Consumer Lending business line, ensuring financial crimes controls are embedded in the origination lifecycle — from application through servicing.
Advise Commercial Banking leadership on BSA/AML and OFAC requirements specific to commercial real estate (CRE), construction lending, C&I credit, and treasury management relationships.
Assess and advise on third-party originator (TPO), broker, and correspondent lending relationships from a financial crimes risk perspective.
Collaborate with the Mortgage Operations team on HMDA, RESPA, and TILA intersections with financial crimes compliance obligations.
Oversee investigations regarding agency/investor requirements.
Act as primary point of contact for BSA/AML and financial crimes-related internal audits and examinations conducted by the federal and state banking regulators, or FinCEN.
Manage regulatory findings and corrective action plans to timely resolution.
Coordinate with Internal Audit on annual BSA/AML audits and independent testing; respond to and remediate audit findings.
Prepare executive-level and Board-level reporting on financial crimes program health, emerging risks, and regulatory developments.
Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing financial crimes team across BSA/AML operations, OFAC, fraud, and business line-embedded compliance roles.
Define team structure, staffing levels, and competency requirements in alignment with program complexity and regulatory expectations.
Foster a culture of compliance awareness, ethical conduct, and continuous improvement across the division and business lines.
Drive staff training and certification initiatives, including CAMS, CFE, and related professional development.
Oversee the evaluation, implementation, and ongoing optimization of financial crimes technology platforms (transaction monitoring, case management, sanctions screening).
Champion data-driven compliance by leveraging analytics to identify trends, improve alert quality, and reduce false positive rates.
Partner with Information Technology on system integrations, data governance, and the Bank's digital banking compliance obligations.