Compliance Analyst

Job title: Compliance Analyst

About the Role The Compliance Operations team at Square Japan performs day-to-day operational activities related to regulatory, payment network, and partnership requirements. The team monitors and investigates potential compliance concerns including AML, sanctions, fraud, prohibited business activity, and violations of Square's Merchant User Agreement. The Compliance Analyst will conduct investigations, perform merchant transaction monitoring reviews, support compliance monitoring programs, and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to ensure compliance with Japanese laws, regulations, payment network requirements, and company policies. This role is fully remote based in Japan only.

What You'll Do

• Monitor and investigate compliance-related alerts generated through transaction monitoring systems and manual reviews.
• Analyze merchant transaction activity, payment flows, customer relationships, and business operations to identify unusual or suspicious behavior.
• Conduct investigations related to AML, fraud, sanctions, prohibited activities, financial crime risks, and violations of Square policies.
• Verify merchant information and perform onboarding and ongoing due diligence reviews in accordance with company policies and regulatory requirements.
• Document investigative findings and make risk-based recommendations regarding account actions and escalations.
• Conduct public record research and open-source intelligence reviews to support investigations.
• Interact with merchants in Japanese and English to obtain information, communicate compliance requirements, and support remediation efforts.
• Ensure operational reviews and investigations are completed within established SLAs.
• Communicate with payment network partners, banking partners, and other corporate stakeholders to ensure compliance monitoring activities align with applicable requirements.

What We're Looking For

• Professional fluency in both Japanese and English (written and verbal).
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in compliance operations, transaction monitoring, AML investigations, fraud investigations, risk management, or policy implementation within a financial institution, payment service provider, fintech company, or regulated financial services organization.
• Strong understanding of Japanese financial crime compliance requirements, including: Experience conducting customer due diligence (CDD), Know Your Customer (KYC), transaction monitoring, and suspicious activity investigations.
• Knowledge of Japanese payment industry regulations, merchant acquiring requirements, and payment network rules.
• Strong investigative skills, including familiarity with public record research and investigative databases.
• Strong transaction analysis skills that apply across numerous financial products and services in complex scenarios.
• Ability to identify and assess suspicious activity, financial crime risks, and policy violations.
• Strong judgment and ability to make risk-based decisions in complex investigative scenarios.
• Excellent written communication and case documentation skills in both Japanese and English.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced and dynamic environment with a drive to deliver outstanding results.
• Based in Japan.

Nice to Have

• Experience supporting regulatory examinations, audits, or law enforcement requests in Japan.
• Experience supporting suspicious transaction reporting processes and financial crime investigations.
• Experience working with merchant acquiring, payment processing, fintech, or banking products.
• Familiarity with sanctions screening systems, AML monitoring systems, and fraud detection tools.
• Experience working directly with payment networks, banking partners, regulators, or law enforcement agencies.
• CAMS, CFE, CFCS, or similar compliance certifications.

Compensation & Benefits

• Not disclosed in the posting.