In this blog post, we’ll be talking about the positions that are related to anti-money laundering (AML). We’ll explain for our readers what each job title entitles and how the complexity of the role reflects in their salary. These jobs are more important in 2025 since technology development and the rising popularity of digital assets make compliance harder and more important than ever.
Chief Compliance Officer (CCO)
The Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) is the first position we’ll talk about. This job title is considered to be a senior executive position. The CCO is tasked with planning and changing your company’s entire AML compliance model. The strategic compliance vision is shaped by this officer and the daily operations are more often than not left to mid-level manager positions. AML oversight is the most important part of the officer’s job, but data protection, sanctions compliance, fraud prevention, and similar subjects are also handled by the position.
Risk governance is also this officer’s duty. Risk governance is done to ensure compliance risks are spotted and targeted accordingly on every operation level of the company to reach compliance. The chief compliance officer is also the main liaison when it comes to dealing with regulators and auditors. Inspections and regular audits are handled with the help of the officer. The current salary for the position in the US is ranging from $150,000 to $300,000 annually.
A lawsuit accuses former Flagstar CEO Alessandro DiNello of unethical and possibly illegal behavior. Some of these are tipping off a client about a money-laundering investigation and discussing sensitive company matters during a Zoom call while a subordinate allegedly sat on his lap. This suit is filed by ex-compliance officer Ross Marrazzo. The former compliance officer of Flagstar claims he was fired in retaliation after investigating DiNello. This shows how important CCOs are for internal control as well.
AML Compliance Officer and Compliance Manager
The next positions we’ll explain for our readers are the AML Compliance Officer and Compliance Manager positions. These positions are tasked with similar duties and their job titles can be used interchangeably. This officer is responsible for the development and the implementation of the AML program for your company. The officer oversees the transaction monitoring process as well to catch any suspicious activity. In the case of suspicious activity, this officer files the Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) or Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) with regulators to ensure compliance.
In most firms, the officer is tasked with staff training when it comes to AML requirements. This officer’s main standards to follow when it comes to preparing your company for compliance are the FATF standards, or MLR 2017 in the UK and AMLD6 in the EU. The manager has the added responsibilities of supervising compliance teams and strategising to ensure compliance regulations and business growth strategies aren’t clashing. The current salary for the position in the US is ranging from $90,000 to $160,000 annually.
IT Security Manager / Systems Administrator
The IT Security Manager or Systems Administrator position is next on our list. This position deals heavily with cybersecurity subjects. They are tasked with preventing data breaches and hacking tries. The manager should also work on creating data protection projects to help ensure your customers’ data isn’t stolen. They take regulations of GDPR seriously when dealing with the subject and they encrypt and store records of customers accordingly. The system integrity is another category the manager is tasked to deal with. Compliance and AML platforms that help with transaction monitoring, sanctions, screening, and KYC measures are integrated into your company’s systems with the IT Security Manager overseeing the whole process. The current salary for the position in the US is ranging from $100,000 to $160,000 annually.
Risk Manager / Risk Analyst
You might’ve already guessed the Risk Manager and Risk Analyst’s role within a company. This position is important for identifying financial crime and compliance risks in your company. Their first and most important duty is conducting risk exposure analysis. This analysis is done by evaluating potential risks regarding financial crime. After the analyisis, mitigation plans are then developed by them to create a better defense for your company. Internal control frameworks are also often designed by the Risk Manager. These frameworks help bring together regulatory obligations and business operations in a middle ground. Risk Managers are also tasked with creating compliance reporting with the help of compliance teams. These help identify risks before they turn into a bigger issue. Some companies also demand stress testing and scenario analysis from them before high-risk events to ensure compliance. The current salary for the position in the US is ranging from $80,000 to $140,000 annually.
Head of Legal / General Counsel
The Head of Legal or General Counsel position is there to ensure the acts of your company is set accordingly to the local and international laws. Legal risk review is done by the Head of Legal, this process entails assessing upcoming regulations and the affects they might have on your company. They then turn these into internal policies and make sure the policies are enforced. Data privacy and information security laws are also important for these workers. Legal obligations of these kind should also be highlighted within your company. The Head of Legal is also tasked with making sure you company is in an audit-ready state when collaborating with regulators. The current salary for the position in the US is ranging from $180,000 to $350,000 annually.
KYC / Onboarding Specialist
The next position we’ll talk about is the KYC Specialist, also known as the Onboarding Specialist. This specialist role is there for your company during onboarding. They ensure the identity verification process is finished with no problem. Customer Due Diligence (CDD) is also done by them to ensure the customer actually exists, and the customer is then placed in a risk level using risk classification thanks to the KYC Specialist. Companies need to conduct watchlist screening to ensure they’re not working with sanctioned parties. This task falls heavily on the KYC specialist. Ongoing monitoring to make sure that your customers don’t conduct suspicious activity or aren’t added to any sanctions lists is also another important task of the specialist. The current salary for the position in the US is ranging from $55,000 to $95,000 annually.
IT Infrastructure and Support
We’ll now mention a team that is the backbone of AML operations in companies. The IT Infrastructure and Support teams are there to help your AML compliance tools run smoothly. With these tools, your company will complete tasks like monitoring, reporting, and customer verification and the system uptime task of the team will ensure there aren’t any technical problems. Integration of AML tools is also made easier by these teams. If your company has technical issues, the team is tasked with debugging and troubleshooting to solve any issue that stops compliance teams from working. IT support teams are also ensuring secure storage solutions are good enough for international standards.
Internal Auditor
The Internal Auditor is the next position on our list. The main duty of this position is conducting internal reviews within your company to ensure that compliance is reached. An AML process evaluation is also conducted by the Internal Auditor, this is done to help determine whether the compliance mechanisms are effective. Gap analysis is another duty for them. This analysis is done to figure out what the weak points within your company are. Afterwards, risk advisory is then completed by them recommending improvements for these gaps in compliance. This officer helps with audit preparation so that when regulators are there to review the company, every needed record and report is ready for them to examine. The current salary for the position in the US is ranging from $75,000 to $130,000 annually.
Fraud Prevention Analyst
This position is focused on financial crime prevention. The Fraud Prevention Analyst works mostly on transaction anomaly detection and uses monitoring to detect. They are equppied with fraud typology knowledge to help detect and catch financial crime committers. Internal controls are also conducted by the analyst and defenses are strengthened by checking whether the preventative measures are placed and effective. Once these analysts are made aware of suspicious activity, they are then involved with the reporting process and the odd activity is reported in a way that leaves regulators satisfied. The tech used for fraud prevention may need to be updated and the analyst also oversees the quality and effectiveness of the said technology. The current salary for the position in the US is ranging from $65,000 to $110,000 annually.
Fintech Product Manager
The Fintech Product Manager is another component that you can’t go without for your company. The main role of this position involves embedding AML and compliance solutions in your already existing product. The AML solutions are then ready for your company. The manager also deals with user flow compliance to speed up the customer usage and make the process more efficient. That’s not all, the manager is tasked with one more crucial duty; this duty is maintaining the balance of UX and compliance. When trying to ensure compliance, your measures may put off your customers. The Fintech Product Manager is there to create the balance. The current salary for the position in the US is ranging from $100,000 to $170,000 annually.
Operations Managers in Fintech and Payments
Let’s talk more about Operations Managers, especially the ones in the fintech and payments sectors. These managers are working and some of their tasks are about making sure internal policies are executed. AML protocols are double checked thanks to them. Whenever a suspicious activity occurs, the operation manager is there to complete the appropriate task of alert escalation. The said activity is then alerted to compliance teams and then regulators. Our Sanction Scanner experts report that 70% of regulators are reporting high or increasing money laundering and terrorist financing risks in fintech. Process performance is also overseen by these managers. Deadlines and performance levels are checked accordingly to make sure your company misses nothing. Operations manager is an important role since it is helping different teams in the pursuit of AML compliance, their cross-team coordination duty is the proof of their hard work. The current salary for the position in the US is ranging from $85,000 to $140,000 annually.
AML Data Analyst (New)
Since data-driven technologies are on the rise, the AML Data Analyst is a new take on the old approaches taken by different roles. Reg flags raised by the system are analysed by these analysts to decide what should be the priority. Suspiciosu pattern modeling is also another task they deal with where they take previous data about transactions and customer behaviours to create patterns which help teams detech financial crime easier and faster. They also create dashboards to lead compliance teams and senior management with clear, well-explained information. The teams then can take faster action. Since FCA, OFSI, FATF, and other regulators are putting forth regulations that are sometimes a bit more on the complex side, the AML Data Analyst can make the process easier by offering their own regulatory insights. The current salary for the position in the US is ranging from $70,000 to $120,000 annually.
Regulatory Affairs Manager (New)
Another position brought out by the ever-changing AML regulations, the Regulatory Affairs Manager is tasked with monitoring laws connected to AML and offering regulatory guidance accordingly. The manager checks regulations from regulatory bodies like FATF, FinCEN, OFSI, FCA to make sure no regulation goes unnoticed. Since the regulations change from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, the manager is tasked with making sure the company is complying with different regulations for specific jurisdictions. Stakeholders are updated by the manager, this part is important since your company’s overall compliance levels especially interest the people investing in your company. The current salary for the position in the US is ranhing from $95,000 to $160,000 annually.
Sanctions Screening Analyst (New)
Since screenings for sanctions are becoming more important than ever, a designated officer for the job is needed. The Sanctions Screening Analyst deals with politically exposed persons (PEP) and sanctions list matching to make sure your company’s list is always updated and checked. Fuzzy logic tuning is done by this analyst as well to bring false positives to hopefully zero. The number of reports being reduced by these two actions helps compliance teams deal with the actually important cases. The current salary for the position in the US is ranging from $60,000 to $100,000 annually.
Starling Bank was fined £29 million by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for not being able to maintain enough financial crime controls. A sanctions screening analyst is important because their absence can lead to fines of this sort.
AML Investigator (New)
The AML Investigator role is coming up in 2025 to deal with complex cases of financial crime. They do a deep-dive case analysis on transction that were flagged by the systems. Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) is another task of the investigator to make sure your clients are safe. Since AML compliance is their main priority, they need to scan every possible source and make sure compliance is reached. One part of this process is coordinating with law enforcement when needed and providing whatever information they might ask for. To make sure they will be able to deliver whatever is asked of them by law enforcement, the investigator should also pay great attention to documentation. The current salary for the position in the US is ranging from $85,000 to $140,000 annually.
AML-Focused Job Titles & Average Salaries (USA, 2025)
| Job Title | Salary Range (Annual, USD) |
| Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) | $150,000 - $300,000 |
| Compliance Manager / AML Compliance Office | $90,000 – $160,000 |
| Risk Manager / Risk Analyst | $80,000 – $140,000 |
| Head of Legal / General Counsel | $180,000 – $350,000 |
| KYC / Onboarding Specialist | $55,000 – $95,000 |
| Fraud Prevention Analyst | $65,000 – $110,000 |
| IT Security Manager / Systems Admin | $100,000 – $160,000 |
| Internal Auditor (AML Focus) | $75,000 – $130,000 |
| Fintech Product Manager (AML/Compliance tools) | $100,000 – $170,000 |
| Operations Manager (Fintech / Payments | $85,000 – $140,000 |
FAQ's Blog Post
A CCO leads the company’s AML strategy, manages regulator relations, and ensures all compliance risks are addressed.
A Compliance Manager develops the AML program, monitors suspicious activity, and ensures staff are trained and compliant.
A Risk Manager identifies potential AML threats, builds internal control systems, and runs risk-based testing scenarios.
A Sanctions Screening Analyst checks customer data against global watchlists and fine-tunes systems to reduce false positives.
An AML Investigator handles complex cases, conducts Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), and liaises with law enforcement when needed.
