Financial Crimes Investigator

Financial Crimes Investigator

The Financial Crimes Investigator conducts investigations into known or suspected fraudulent activity affecting the organization, its members, and its products and services. The position analyzes fraud alerts, leads, referrals, and member activity to identify fraudulent schemes, document investigative findings, and support loss mitigation efforts. This role partners with internal stakeholders and external law enforcement agencies to investigate financial crimes and recommend actions that strengthen controls and prevent future losses. The position contributes to the organization's strategic objectives by protecting members, reducing fraud exposure, and maintaining compliance with regulatory and investigative standards.

Here’s what you can expect from the job and what you need to be successful:

What You’ll Do:

• Investigate known or suspected suspicious activity involving deposit accounts, loans, payments, digital banking, debit and credit cards, account takeover, identity theft, elder exploitation, and other financial crimes.
• Analyze alerts, referrals, transaction activity, member complaints, detection-system leads, and other sources to identify potential risks and criminal activity.
• Gather, review, and evaluate evidence from internal systems, transaction records, account documentation, surveillance records, and external sources to support investigations.
• Document investigative findings, maintain case files, and prepare detailed summaries that support operational, legal, regulatory, and law enforcement requirements.
• Coordinate investigations with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, postal inspectors, and prosecutorial staff as appropriate.
• Escalate suspicious activity and support the development of referrals for regulatory reporting, including collaboration with BSA/AML investigators when applicable.
• Identify suspicious activity to include fraud trends, emerging schemes, control weaknesses, and root causes of losses; recommend corrective actions to reduce future risk exposure.
• Support suspicious activity recovery efforts by assisting with account restrictions, recovery actions, chargeback activities, and loss mitigation initiatives.
• Respond to requests for information from internal stakeholders, auditors, compliance partners, and law enforcement agencies.
• Collaborate with Financial Crimes, Compliance, Risk Management, Operations, Contact Center, Digital Banking, and Member Services teams to support investigations and improve prevention controls.
• Monitor industry trends and emerging financial crime typologies to enhance investigative effectiveness and organizational preparedness.
• Assist with special projects, prevention initiatives, and process improvement efforts that strengthen the overall financial crimes program.

Essential Skills:

• Required Experience: minimum 2+ years of experience in investigating suspicious activity, including evidence collection, case documentation, and investigative procedures.
• Experience analyzing transactional activity and identifying suspicious or potentially illicit patterns.
• Understanding financial crime schemes including identity theft, account takeover, check fraud, payment fraud, elder financial exploitation, and synthetic identity activity.
• Strong investigative, analytical, critical-thinking, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to organize, analyze, interpret, and communicate investigative findings effectively.
• Strong written communication skills with the ability to prepare professional case narratives and investigative reports.
• Ability to manage multiple investigations and prioritize competing deadlines.
• Experience working with case management systems, detection platforms, and banking systems preferred.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, Word, and Outlook.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to collaborate effectively with internal and external stakeholders.

Location: Hillsboro Corporate Office | Hillsboro OR 97124 OR Marlborough Corporate Office | Marlborough, MA OR Chelmsford Corporate Office | Chelmsford, MA

Target Compensation: $74,000 to $89,000 annually + annual bonus

Employees are eligible for: • Traditional medical, dental, and vision coverage • Generous 401(k) match • Paid Time Off: You'll accrue up to 15 days in your first year. In addition, you'll receive 40 hours of sick time and 3 personal days, which refresh annually • Paid federal holidays • Special employee pricing on lending products such as mortgage, auto, and personal loans (eligibility subject to standard account requirements and underwriting criteria)

First Tech is an equal opportunity employer, and we value diversity, inclusion, and equity at our company. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics.