Head of Compliance

Capital markets are undergoing a fundamental shift. Assets that live in fragmented systems and manual workflows are moving onto blockchains – systems designed to move and store value more transparently and efficiently. While this unlocks more open and programmable financial systems, it also introduces significant complexity, and for most people, moving money into this new world is still far too hard.

Fun builds the infrastructure that powers consumer-facing fintech applications – handling onboarding, account access, and powering money movement so users can interact with blockchain-based systems as seamlessly as they do with traditional finance. For fintech builders, Fun provides a best-in-class onboarding and deposit stack that drives conversion and unlocks growth. We operate at the intersection of financial infrastructure, complex engineering, and product experience.

We're looking for a Head of Compliance to build and own the compliance function behind that infrastructure – the standards, controls, tooling, and judgment that let Fun’s infra orchestrate money movement globally.

This is a first-hire, build role. Compliance here is a design input, not a checklist bolted onto a finished product. Our architecture is non-custodial, our rails span fiat (cards, ACH, and local rails, etc.) and crypto, and our mandate is global – which means the compliance posture has to be reasoned from first principles rather than copied from a bank or an exchange. You will work closely with the General Counsel to help set that posture.

This role reports directly to the General Counsel and works closely with the CEO, Head of Payments, Finance and Operations, Engineering, Partnerships and Customer Support. 

What You'll Own

The compliance program. A risk-based program spanning sanctions, anti-money laundering (AML), transaction monitoring, fraud typologies, Know Your Customer (KYC), and Know Your Business (KYB) – aligned with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Framework for Compliance Commitments, with a clear and documented rationale for every design choice. You will oversee the sanctions function and set its standards for screening, escalation, recordkeeping, and reporting.

Policies, procedures, and risk assessment. The written foundation of the program, built for our non-custodial architecture rather than inherited from a template – including sanctions controls across customer support, geographic and routing logic, and third-party partners. You will be able to explain that architecture, and what it does and does not implicate, to counterparties who have never seen one.

KYC policy. The risk-based KYC policy behind our in-house risk engine – verification tiers, triggers for step-up checks, and what each user must provide – built on top of the minimums our partners require, so the friction a user sees matches the risk they present.

Platform underwriting (KYB). The policy for onboarding and monitoring the applications that use Fun, including higher-risk categories such as gaming, sweepstakes and prediction markets – the legal and state-by-state analysis behind each category, and how we represent them to acquirers and bank partners.

Card network compliance. Our obligations under Visa and Mastercard rules, including registration and ongoing requirements through our acquirer, high-risk program requirements, required checkout disclosures and transaction data, and dispute monitoring thresholds.

Vendor and third-party risk management. Selection, contracting, and oversight of compliance vendors – blockchain analytics, screening, and outsourced review – and due diligence on the fiat partners and service providers whose controls we rely on – plus multi-vendor redundancy and failover plans so screening never depends on a single provider – all held to measurable performance rather than to their sales decks.

Licensing and regulatory strategy.A Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)/AML program for our fiat rails and our ongoing licensing evaluation in and outside the U.S. – working hand in hand with the General Counsel.

Compliance by design. Working with Engineering, Product and Customer Success early enough that controls live inside the product, not around it. You will be in the room when rails are designed, offering critical insight and guidance.

Metrics. A program measured by alert volume, false-positive rates, alert-handling service levels, and the service levels we commit to enterprise partners.

Rule governance and decision rights. Writing the rule specifications Engineering implements, signing off on rule changes within defined turnaround times, and owning testing, documentation, and change control for our in-house rule engine.

Privacy partnership. Partnering with Legal and Security on the privacy program, with particular care for KYC and identity data shared across partners.

Exams, partners, and incidents. Serving as the primary compliance contact for bank and partner due diligence and audits, leading the response when a screening incident affects customers, coordinating with partners and law enforcement, running ongoing testing and monitoring of the program, and delivering company-wide compliance training.

What We're Looking For:

• Ten or more years in compliance, including meaningful time at a leading crypto / decentralized finance (DeFi) company and a financial institution.
• Working command of OFAC sanctions requirements as applied to on-chain activity – practical and current, not theoretical.
• Hands-on experience building or running a BSA/AML program, ideally at a licensed money transmitter or MSB.
• Working knowledge of card network rules for crypto purchases, such as Visa’s Ramp Provider and high-risk merchant programs, gained at an acquirer, payment facilitator, crypto on-ramp or card program.
• The ability to reason clearly about how compliance obligations attach to non-custodial and self-custody product architectures – we will explore this in depth in interviews.
• Fluency with blockchain analytics tooling and on-chain investigation – you can work a chain of transactions yourself rather than waiting on a vendor's report.
• Working knowledge of third-party risk management and vendor resilience.
• A policy mindset. You can write the standard, defend it under pressure, and tell the difference between a rule, a norm, and a vendor's default setting.
• Excellent written communication. The output of this job is largely documents that other people act on.
• Comfort building from zero, with the ambition to build a function and a team rather than maintain one.
  
  Your First 90 Days. Map the current program against our risk assessment, set alert-handling service levels and rule-change turnaround times with Engineering, stand up vendor failover plans, draft the KYC and platform underwriting policies, prepare the compliance materials for our Ramp Provider registration, assess how planned withdrawal controls affect our non-custodial design, and deliver a written roadmap for licensing and the fiat-side program.
  

Nice to Have:

• Experience standing up a compliance program from zero at an early-stage company.
• Experience with state money transmitter licensing, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) BitLicense, or EU frameworks such as Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) or electronic money institution (EMI) authorization.
• Experience serving as a designated BSA officer.
• Regulatory, enforcement, or policy experience – at an agency, a trade association, or in private practice.
• Familiarity with data privacy frameworks such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

Why Join Us:

Own the compliance posture of infrastructure at the center of a fast-growing business – your judgment ships to every application built on Fun at once.
Work at the intersection of hard engineering, real payment economics, and product craft.
Ship consequential work quickly, alongside leading applications, protocols, and financial infrastructure providers.

Location and Work Environment

This role is primarily in-person at our Midtown, NYC headquarters. We work together Monday through Thursday for fast, iterative collaboration, with optional WFH Fridays to reset and recharge.