Enhanced Due Diligence Specialist

Enhanced Due Diligence Specialist 

KYC Risk & Assurance, Client Onboarding | Permanent, Full-time | London (UK) 

Who are we? 

IG is a FTSE 100 fintech operating across five continents, serving over 1.3m customers and handling billions of dollars in transactions – built on scale, trust, and proof. We didn't pivot to innovation; it's how we've always operated. What that means for the people who work here is real: genuinely complex problems to solve, the technology and resources to tackle them properly, and the kind of scope that's rare in established businesses. The bar is high – bring a curious and forward-thinking mindset and we'll give you the platform to define what comes next. Join us at IG – the future gets built here.

What's the role? 

This is a first-line specialist role within KYC and Client Onboarding, sitting in our new KYC Risk & Assurance function and reporting to the Senior Manager, KYC Risk & Assurance. 

You will lead the enhanced due diligence on our most complex institutional and high-risk clients. Working alongside the institutional onboarding team, who gather, verify and assess client information, you will provide the deeper, holistic risk review and approval of Prime (institutional and professional) applications and other high-risk clients, bringing dedicated specialist financial crime expertise to the cases that need it most. 

As IG grows its institutional business and continues to uplift its financial crime framework, this role deepens first-line ownership of client risk and adds senior EDD capability within the team, so that qualitative risk decisions are made confidently and at pace without routine reliance on the second line. 

You will work closely with, but independently of, second-line Compliance and Financial Crime. The role combines strong technical due diligence knowledge with a pragmatic, commercial mindset that enables safe and efficient client take-on at scale. 

What will you do? 

Enhanced Due Diligence 

• Lead holistic EDD reviews and approvals on Prime (institutional and professional) applications and other high-risk clients, building on the due diligence completed by the institutional onboarding team. 

• Assess source of wealth, source of funds, beneficial ownership and control structures, occupation and wealth plausibility, PEP and sanctions exposure, and adverse media, forming a rounded, holistic view of each client's financial crime risk. 

• Make and clearly document approval or escalation decisions, with reasoning that stands up to internal and external scrutiny. 

• Ensure EDD assessments are proportionate, evidence-based and completed promptly, supporting timely client take-on. 

Qualitative risk decisioning and escalation 

• Provide senior risk judgement on complex, novel or borderline institutional and high-risk cases, including where system-generated risk ratings warrant closer examination. 

• Escalate cases appropriately to the Senior Manager, KYC Risk & Assurance and, where required, to second-line Compliance, with a clear articulation of the risk and a recommended treatment. 

• Act as a senior point of expertise the institutional onboarding team can draw on for complex EDD questions and novel client scenarios. 

Quality, consistency and continuous improvement 

• Support consistent, high-quality application of EDD standards across the institutional and high-risk client base. 

• Identify recurring themes and patterns from case work and share insight with the onboarding team and second line to strengthen process, training and controls. 

• Contribute to the quality oversight and assurance activity owned by the KYC Risk & Assurance function. 

Collaboration and stakeholder management 

• Build strong, collaborative relationships with the institutional onboarding team, the KYC Risk & Assurance function, and second-line Compliance and Financial Crime. 

• Contribute to a culture where strong financial crime foundations enable safe and sustainable business growth. 

What will you need for this role? 

To succeed in this role, we think you'll need: 

Experience & Education 

• 4 to 8 years of financial crime or KYC experience in financial services, with a strong, hands-on focus on EDD and complex client due diligence. 

• Solid technical knowledge of UK AML and financial crime regulation, including JMLSG guidance, and the ability to apply it pragmatically in a fast-paced, commercial environment. 

• Proven experience conducting EDD on institutional, professional or high-risk clients, including complex ownership structures, source of wealth and funds, and PEP and sanctions cases. 

• Confident exercising qualitative judgement and making well-documented, defensible risk decisions on complex clients. 

• Bachelor's degree in Law, Business, Finance, Economics or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. A relevant AML qualification (for example ICA or ACAMS) is desirable. 

Personal Attributes 

• Acts with integrity and consistently demonstrates high professional and ethical standards. 

• Delivers high-quality work with energy, accountability and a strong sense of urgency. 

• Commercial and solutions-focused, enabling growth while maintaining strong compliance and client protection. 

• Confident exercising sound judgement and providing effective challenge on client risk. 

• Committed to continuous improvement in controls and ways of working. 

• Communicates clearly and manages stakeholders effectively. 

• Demonstrates resilience and works well under pressure. 

• Comfortable working from IG's London office a minimum of three days per week. 

We believe that diversity is vital to success, it fuels creativity, drives innovation and sets us up for global success. We're committed to building teams with a variety of perspectives and skills to help us realise our vision and strategy, that's why we encourage applications from people with diverse backgrounds and experiences to join us on this journey. Learn more about our D&I approach here. 

What you'll get! 

This role will bring with it a range of development and growth opportunities which we hope are motivating for someone who wants to Raise the Bar. 

We focus on outcomes, not activity. Your success is measured by: 

• EDD on Prime and high-risk clients completed to a high standard, with sound, well-documented risk decisions. 

• Complex and borderline cases resolved with clear reasoning and escalated appropriately where warranted. 

• Prime and high-risk clients onboarded promptly, without compromising quality or compliance. 

• Insight from case work shared to strengthen process, training and controls. 

• Trusted working relationships across the institutional onboarding team, KYC Risk & Assurance, and second-line Compliance.