Virtual Assets Compliance Lead

Reporting to the Head of Financial Crime Compliance, the role holder will lead Safaricom's financial crime compliance strategy for virtual assets, taking ownership of compliance and ensuring that AML/CFT/CPF controls are embedded at the point of design and product build not as an afterthought for all products and partnerships. It works closely with the next-generation fintech and cross-border remittances teams to ensure deployment fit-for-purpose compliance monitoring tools and build internal capabilities that keep pace with the rapidly evolving digital assets landscape. The role is the bridge between innovation and regulatory credibility: enabling growth while protecting Safaricom's license to operate with the CBK, CMA and FRC.

The role acts as a trusted product advisor, the role ensures that all new features and third-party integrations meet regulatory standards from inception, championing a compliance-by-design deployment of any virtual assets partnerships or products across the business. It also sets the enhanced due diligence framework governing virtual asset partnerships and customers, ensuring that Safaricom's exposure in this space is well-understood, well-managed, and credible to regulators.

The role also has an accountability for Risk, Governance & Control Ownership, to embed and maintain effective risk, governance, compliance, and control practices within the function by proactively identifying and mitigating operational, regulatory, financial, people, technology, and reputational risks. Ensure adherence to internal policies, regulatory requirements, audit actions, and enterprise governance frameworks while driving accountability, ethical practices, and a strong controls environment across all areas of responsibility.
 

Health and Safety

• Uphold the company code of conduct, policies and procedures, ensuring integrity and accountability in every aspect of your work.
• All employees have a responsibility to adhere to safety, health, and wellbeing policies, guidelines and procedures in all actions and decisions.

Compliance Management

• Support engagement with CBK, CMA mandated bodies, and the Financial Reporting Centre on virtual assets regulatory compliance, reporting obligations, and emerging policy developments.
• Monitor and interpret evolving virtual assets regulations, translating requirements into actionable compliance programmes across the business.
• Support risk assessments and due diligence for onboarding virtual assets partnerships.
• Ensure timely and accurate submission of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) related to virtual assets activity.
• Serve as the reporting lead for virtual assets under applicable AML/CFT/CPF frameworks regulations for virtual assets.

Compliance by Design & Product Advisory

• Embed AML/CFT controls at the design and build stage of all virtual assets products, features, and third-party integrations — ensuring compliance is built in, not bolted on.
• Act as the trusted compliance advisor to product, technology, and business teams, providing regulatory guidance throughout the Agile delivery lifecycle.
• Review and approve new virtual assets product propositions, partnerships, and integrations against applicable regulatory standards before launch.
• Champion a compliance-by-design culture across all teams involved in virtual assets development and deployment.

Enhanced Due Diligence & Risk Management

• Own and continuously enhance the due diligence framework governing virtual asset partnerships, service providers, and customers.
• Ensure robust risk assessment processes are in place for onboarding and ongoing monitoring of virtual assets counterparties, with clear escalation pathways for high-risk relationships.
• Conduct and oversee periodic financial crime risk assessments specific to the virtual assets portfolio, ensuring Safaricom's exposure is well-understood and well-managed.

• Maintain a current and comprehensive understanding of the virtual assets risk landscape, including emerging threats, typologies, and industry best practice.

  
  

Stakeholder Engagement & Industry Leadership

• Represent Safaricom in regulatory forums, industry working groups, and policy consultations related to virtual assets financial crime compliance.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with regulators, law enforcement, and industry peers to facilitate intelligence sharing and proactive regulatory engagement.
• Provide regular reporting and briefings to senior leadership on the virtual assets regulatory environment, compliance programme performance, and emerging risks.

Core competencies, knowledge and experience:
Customer Obsession

• Deepen team connection to our customers and communities.
• Foster authentic relationships with customers and partners that build trust.
• Explicitly take customer-centric decisions and take personal ownership to achieve results.
• Simplify processes through digitalization and promote a digital mindset and digital first customer experience.
• Stay focused on the big priorities, know when to make meaningful trade-offs and demonstrate brilliant execution.

Purpose

• Create an inspiring vision for your team to drive strategy and performance.
• Show ambition and courage, empowering others to go beyond the plan.
• Bold and challenge teams to reimagine how things are done.
• Prompt new thinking and ideas by asking “what if” questions.
• Use knowledge of the external environment (customers, partners, competition, external bodies) to identify and act on opportunities for growth at pace.

Innovation

• Create psychological safety so everyone can have an impact.
• Fuel innovative ideas from others and test them to enable growth.
• Explore successes and failures with curiosity and resilience; fearlessly recognizing lessons learned.
• Share your ongoing learning and personal purpose with others.

• Learn fast from digital adoption, using learnings to drive simplicity, scale and efficiency.

  
  

Collaboration

• Articulate your team’s role in making our strategy happen, prioritizing and aligning resources with current and future needs.
• Actively collaborate to break silos and hold stakeholders accountable to do the same.
• Develop others to make the most of their talents and coach them to take ownership to get things done.
• Create an inclusive environment ensuring the safety and wellbeing of others.
• Live our Purpose and demonstrate the highest Standard of integrity.

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Risk Management, Law, Business, Statistics, IT or a related discipline.
• Minimum 6 years experience in financial crime compliance with demonstrated exposure to virtual assets/VASP regulatory frameworks, fintech product compliance, or digital payments.
• Professional certification in AML/CFT/CPF Compliance (e.g. CAMS, CAMS Crypto, ICA or equivalent).
• Strong knowledge of virtual assets regulatory frameworks including FATF guidance, CBK and CMA regulations, and global best practice.
• Certification in Chainalysis Certifications e.g. Chainalysis Reactor Certification, Crypto Investigator/ Compliance courses will be an added advantage.
• Proven track record advising product/ technology teams in a compliance-by-design capacity.

How to Apply. If you feel that you are up to the challenge and possess the necessary qualification and experience, kindly proceed to create/ update your candidate profile on the recruitment portal and then Click on the apply button. Remember to attach your resume.
 

Safaricom is the leading technology company in East Africa. Our purpose is to transform lives by connecting people to people, people to opportunities and people to information. We keep over 60 million customers connected across Kenya and Ethiopia, and play a critical role in the society, supporting over 1.13 million jobs both directly and indirectly while our total economic value was estimated at KES 1.1 trillion ($ 8.5 billion) for the 12 months through March 2025.

Listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and with annual revenues of close to KES 388 billion as at March 2025, Safaricom provides connectivity through wide range of technology. Our 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G network in aggregate covers over 99% of Kenya’s population.

We run the world’s largest mobile payment system and Africa’s largest Fintech, M-PESA, the world’s first mobile money transfer system. By empowering millions of customers to transact, save or borrow money through their mobile phone, M-PESA has driven financial inclusion in Kenya to 84.8% of the adult population in 2024, from a low of 26.7% in 2006, and generated over KES 161 billion in revenue as at FY25.

Our subsidiary, Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia, has deployed world class network and services to contribute to Ethiopia’s digital transformation.

Safaricom is an equal opportunity employer, actively recruiting staff from different backgrounds reflecting the communities that we serve. We are committed to equal gender representation at all levels.

As part of our ongoing commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we continue to work towards improving energy and resource efficiency in our network and facilities to reduce carbon emissions and our fuel consumption. We remain committed to becoming a Net Zero carbon-emitting company by 2050.