BSA AML Program Manager

BSA/AML Program Manager

Location: Atlanta, GA or Scottsdale, AZ

Illumia is an industry leader in bringing the best integrated technology solutions to education, healthcare, and business campuses worldwide. Illumia was built on the collective expertise of Transact Campus + CBORD, and brings together people, technology, and insight to pioneer the art of the experience across the communities we serve. Be a part of this exciting organization and improving the lives of people doing mission-critical work.

We strive to provide the best customer experience in the industry and have succeeded with a single, strong motivating principle: We serve our user community.

Our success and growth are directly attributed to our people. Our newly named company is dedicated to fostering a culture of integrity, respect, and continuous personal development. We maintain an entrepreneurial spirit, where creativity, innovative problem-solving, and learning agility drive our day-to-day actions.

The BSA/AML Program Manager is responsible for the design, execution, and ongoing governance of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance program. This role ensures regulatory requirements are met, financial crime risks are effectively managed, and program controls operate consistently across business lines, products, and jurisdictions.

Job Summary / Purpose

• The BSA/AML Program Manager is responsible for designing, executing, and governing Illumia's BSA/AML and KYC programs end-to-end.
• This role serves as a key liaison between Compliance, Banking Operations, Risk, Technology, Legal, Internal Audit, and external regulators, providing oversight, strategic direction, and execution leadership for the BSA/AML framework.

This role reports directly to the Director of Banking Operations and partners closely with Compliance, Risk, Legal, Internal Audit, Technology, Product, and Client Success. The BSA/AML Program Manager serves as the primary point of contact for sponsor bank BSA/AML partners and external examiners, and has regular exposure to the Executive Leadership Team through Banking Operations reporting and program governance.

Key Responsibilities and Duties

• Owns the end-to-end design, execution, and governance of Illumia's BSA/AML and KYC programs, including written policies, procedures, and internal controls that meet regulatory expectations and scale with business growth.
• Designs and operates the KYC/CIP/CDD framework, including enhanced due diligence for higher-risk customers and ongoing monitoring; maintains the enterprise-wide BSA/AML risk assessment ensuring controls keep pace with new products, channels, and jurisdictions.
• Leads BSA/AML oversight of card issuing, acquiring, and payment facilitator (payfac) programs; owns sub-merchant and merchant onboarding, underwriting, and periodic review requirements, ensuring alignment with card network rules (Visa, Mastercard) and sponsor bank expectations.
• Selects, implements, and optimizes the technology stack supporting the BSA/AML program, including transaction monitoring, sanctions/PEP screening, case management, and KYC/identity verification platforms; tunes detection scenarios and alert workflows to reduce false positives while maintaining coverage of risk typologies.
• Builds the operational model for alert triage, investigations, SAR/CTR filing, and recordkeeping with defined SLAs, quality standards, and productivity metrics; partners with Technology and Data teams to ensure clean data feeds, system integrations, and auditable reporting.
• Serves as primary point of contact for regulators, examiners, auditors, and sponsor bank partners; leads responses to regulatory exams, internal audits, and sponsor bank reviews, including findings remediation and corrective action plans.
• Tracks regulatory developments (FinCEN, OFAC, federal banking agencies, state regulators) and translates changes into program updates; drives process and procedural change across Operations, Product, Client Success, and Professional Services, and builds BSA/AML training and awareness programs tailored to role-specific risk exposure.

The following qualifications are required or preferred for the BSA/AML Program Manager role.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of recent BSA/AML and KYC experience in a bank, fintech, payments, or money services business, with direct accountability for program design and execution beyond policy authorship.
• Demonstrated experience building a scalable and robust KYC and BSA/AML program from the ground up or through significant modernization.
• Working knowledge of card processing and payfac program requirements, including sponsor bank obligations, card network rules, and sub-merchant/merchant onboarding and monitoring.
• Demonstrated experience selecting and implementing BSA/AML program tools, including transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, KYC/identity verification, and case management platforms.
• Proven leadership in driving change and implementing new processes and procedures successfully across multiple departments.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate clearly with regulators, sponsor banks, executives, and cross-functional partners.

Preferred Qualifications

• CAMS, CFCS, or equivalent financial crime compliance certification.
• Experience in a high-growth fintech or payments company, particularly one operating under a sponsor bank model.
• Background managing regulatory exams and responding to findings from federal or state banking regulators.
• Experience serving as BSA Officer or deputy BSA Officer for a bank, fintech, or payments program.
• Familiarity with OFAC sanctions programs, FinCEN guidance, and state money transmission requirements.

The duties and responsibilities described in this job description are intended to represent the essential functions of the position as defined under applicable federal, state, and local labor laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These functions are the fundamental job duties required for successful performance.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions unless such accommodations impose an undue hardship on the organization.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities. Duties may be added, removed, or modified at any time in accordance with business needs and applicable law.

This is a full-time exempt position. The BSA/AML Program Manager will have regular exposure to the Executive Leadership Team and may interact with external regulators and sponsor bank partners on an ongoing basis.

Key Areas of Focus

• Build for Scale: Designs BSA/AML controls that are repeatable, documented, and auditable — built to hold up under growth, new products, and regulatory scrutiny.
• Own the Payments Risk Surface: Brings deep understanding of card processing and payfac program requirements, translating that expertise into concrete controls at onboarding, monitoring, and ongoing review.
• Lead Change Across Functions: Drives new processes and procedures across Operations, Product, Client Success, and other teams with clear communication and the follow-through to make them stick.
• Drive, Curiosity, and Judgment: Stays current on financial crime typologies and regulatory change, asks hard questions, and exercises sound judgment on where risk actually sits versus where the noise is.

Competencies and Behaviors

• Humble: The right leaders for Illumia don't need to own the spotlight — they share credit, define success collectively, and are quick to elevate the contributions of others. This is a company that still writes its story. The leaders who thrive here find energy in building something together, not in being recognized as the smartest person in the room.
• Hungry: We are not looking for caretakers. We are looking for leaders who are restless about what's possible, self-motivated to close the gap between where we are today and where we need to be, and who are already thinking about the next opportunity before anyone asks.
• Smart: At Illumia, our leaders must operate across a complex, distributed organization spanning multiple product lines, two legacy cultures, and thousands of customers with competing priorities. Technical skills matter, but the ability to read a room, build trust across functions, and bring people along is what separates a great leader from one who burns the organization out.

This position is classified as Exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and applicable state wage-and-hour laws.

What you get when you join our team:

• Flexible time off to include paid holidays and volunteer time.
• Robust health, dental, and vision insurance plans on your first day of employment
• Employer-paid life insurance/AD&D/short-term and long-term disability insurance

• Comprehensive employee assistance program (EAP)
• Flexible spending account (FSA) or health savings account (HSA)
• Matched 401(k)
• Employee stock purchase plan