About the job
Rutherford has been mandated to conduct a search on behalf of a rapidly expanding digital assets trading firm seeking to appoint its first Chief Compliance Officer. This individual will be responsible for designing and building the firm’s compliance framework from the ground up, and scaling it across multiple jurisdictions including the UK, EU, and Middle East. The role can be based in either the UK or Dubai.
Responsibilities
Lead and own the firm’s global Compliance and AML framework, ensuring best-practice standards across jurisdictions
Embed a strong culture of regulatory compliance, ethical conduct, and accountability
Design and scale a robust, technology-enabled AML and financial crime control environment
Act as the senior regulatory liaison with regulators and external stakeholders
Provide strategic advice to leadership on regulatory developments, particularly in digital assets
Build, mentor, and lead a lean international compliance team as the business expands
Ensure compliance supports responsible growth with a commercial, solutions-oriented mindset
Requirements
Proven experience leading AML and Compliance functions in regulated financial services, fintech, and/or digital assets
Strong understanding of global digital asset regulations and evolving regulatory regimes
Experience designing scalable, multi-jurisdictional compliance frameworks
Familiarity with modern RegTech and financial crime tooling, including sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, customer risk assessment, and automation
Comfortable partnering with product, engineering, data, and operations teams
