Financial Crimes Program Design System Architecture Implementation AVP

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm that conducts its business through three principal business segments—Institutional Securities, Wealth Management (WM), and Asset Management. Morgan Stanley provides comprehensive financial advice and services to its clients including brokerage, investment advisory, financial and wealth planning, credit and lending, deposits and cash management, annuities, insurance, retirement, and trust services. As a market leader, the talent and passion of our people is critical to our success. Together, we share a common set of values rooted in doing the right thing, putting clients first, leading with exceptional ideas and a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Morgan Stanley can provide a superior foundation for building a professional career – a place for people to learn, achieve, and grow. 
 
The First Line Financial Crime Program Design Office is responsible for the oversight, design, implementation, and maintenance of all first line of defense financial crimes activities including defining risk mitigant strategies, adherence to policy and setting risk tolerance and expectations as well as championing the customer experience.
 
The Architecture Implementation & Independent Testing group is responsible for establishing, maintaining, and testing consolidated Business requirements for the Program Design Office by providing governance and oversight, executing testing; and conducting horizontal reviews / regression.

The team is responsible for ensuring the design adequacy and operational effectiveness of the Firm’s financial crimes policies, procedures, processes, and controls is robust and timely enhanced. In addition, executing targeted reviews in the areas of high and emerging financial crimes risk and related reviews to evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of business processes or activities and mitigating controls. 
 
In this role, you will:
- Work closely with business stakeholders to gather, analyze, and document detailed system requirements for new features, enhancements, and production issues.
- Document and track production issues, post deployment checks and work with technology partners on resolution.
- Act as a liaison between business users and IT teams, ensuring clear communication of requirements, testing outcomes, and any issues that arise in production.
- Present insights to key stakeholders, ensuring clear communication of complex findings.
- Escalate issues, risks, and concerns timely and appropriately to stakeholders.
- Develop training and communication plans.
- Develop user support processes and document support content for sharing across stakeholders.
- Develop process maps and detailed documentation to capture current and future state business processes, ensuring alignment with system capabilities.
- Identify gaps in current operational processes and recommend data-driven solutions for improvement.
- Assist in change management efforts by identifying potential impacts to business processes and systems and supporting the development of mitigation strategies.
- Credibly challenge functional specifications / user stories /Epics from system developers, ensuring clarity and completeness.
- Design and develop UAT strategies, test plans, and test cases in collaboration with business users to validate that systems meet business requirements.
- Develop and compile periodic reporting to senior stakeholders including the identification of emerging risk themes/trends.
- Host governance forums including Sr. Executive governance forums, drive discussions and decisions, and assist in action item tracking, project plans, milestones, and meeting documentation.
- Conduct scenario testing and validation to ensure the robustness of reporting.
- Responsible for identifying and assessing complex issues, structuring potential solutions, contributing to a culture of learning and continuous improvement, and driving to resolution with senior stakeholders.
- Effectively communicate the validation or testing process, status, and results to leadership, business, and risk partners to make informed decisions.
- Provide training and support to end-users on new systems or features, ensuring a smooth transition and high adoption rates.
- Write and/or review reports or presentations that clearly articulate the results/conclusions of validation or testing activities.
- Conduct post-implementation reviews to ensure that systems are functioning as expected and to identify any areas for improvement including supporting execution teams on production related issues.
- Understanding of financial crimes requirements and framework AML / KYC.
- Understanding of the audit and testing processes and approaches.
- Should be familiar with the risk and control framework at a financial institution.
- Should exhibit comfort working with technology and the ability to learn and display proficiency on technical systems and programs.

Required Skills:
- Strong experience in gathering and documenting business requirements, with a keen ability to translate them into technical specifications.
- Solid understanding of UAT processes, test case design, and defect management, with experience in executing and managing UAT phases.
- Familiarity with system development lifecycles (SDLC), and experience with testing tools such as JIRA, HP ALM, or similar.
- Ability to analyze complex systems and processes, identifying potential issues and opportunities for improvement.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey technical information to non-technical stakeholders.
- Proven ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams, including developers, QA testers, and business users
- Familiarity with AML software and systems (e.g., Actimize, Mantas, or similar tools).
- Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to troubleshoot issues and drive them to resolution in a timely manner.

Preferred Experience:
- Familiarity with Agile/Scrum environments and experience participating in sprints and iterative development processes.
- Experience in project management or coordination, particularly in managing testing phases and ensuring timely delivery of system changes.
- Understanding of the specific industry in which the systems will be used, allowing for more targeted analysis and testing.
- Relevant certifications such as Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) or ISTQB certification in software testing desired.
- Proficiency in analytical tools and programming languages (e.g., SQL, Python, R).
- Experience with visualization tools like Tableau, Power BI, or similar.

 
Required Qualifications:
- 5+ years of risk management, compliance, control, and/or audit experience in a Bank or financial services institute with a demonstrated record of success and/or growth.
- Bachelor’s degree in Data Analytics, Statistics, Computer Science, Finance, Business, Finance, or a related field (Master’s degree preferred).
                     
Additional Skills Desired:
- Certified as an Anti-Money Laundering Specialist by ACAMS or equivalent AML certification/license is a plus.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM MORGAN STANLEY:

We are committed to maintaining the first-class service and high standard of excellence that have defined Morgan Stanley for over 89 years. Our values - putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back - aren’t just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what's best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries. At Morgan Stanley, you’ll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and empowered. Our teams are relentless collaborators and creative thinkers, fueled by their diverse backgrounds and experiences. We are proud to support our employees and their families at every point along their work-life journey, offering some of the most attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry. There’s also ample opportunity to move about the business for those who show passion and grit in their work.

To learn more about our offices across the globe, please copy and paste https://www.morganstanley.com/about-us/global-offices​ into your browser.

Expected base pay rates for the role will be between $100K-$125K per year at the commencement of employment. However, base pay if hired will be determined on an individualized basis and is only part of the total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include commission earnings, incentive compensation, discretionary bonuses, other short and long-term incentive packages, and other Morgan Stanley sponsored benefit programs.

Morgan Stanley's goal is to build and maintain a workforce that is diverse in experience and background but uniform in reflecting our standards of integrity and excellence. Consequently, our recruiting efforts reflect our desire to attract and retain the best and brightest from all talent pools. We want to be the first choice for prospective employees.

It is the policy of the Firm to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, sex stereotype, gender, gender identity or expression, transgender, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, disability, marital and civil partnership/union status, pregnancy, veteran or military service status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversifying its workforce (M/F/Disability/Vet).