Senior Director, AML Compliance Model Validation at Santander Holdings USA Inc

New York, United States of America

The Senior Director, Model Validation for Santander US Compliance models (Transaction Monitoring, Sanctions Screening, Fraud Risk, etc) will be responsible for leading the independent validation of models used by various Compliance groups in conformance with regulatory guidance on model risk SR11-07 and other regulatory requirements around Compliance models. S/he will be responsible for performance robust validations, quality of effective challenge and validation reports of a wide variety of models against US supervisory guidance, established internal standards. The role involves extensive external communication with business, development, internal audit and regulators. As part of the validation activities, the person is expected to lead discussions with the model owners, model developers and third-party vendors and developing in depth perspective on model risk issues. Furthermore, the person is expected to lead the day-to-day governance responsibilities such as ongoing performance monitoring, orderly remediation of findings, and annual reviews. The person will also be responsible to represent model risk for all discussions and exams conducted by internal audit and the US regulators such as FRB and OCC.

• Evaluates model assumptions and weaknesses, prepares reports describing the results of the validation analyses and list the recommendations for addressing any issues identified

• Conducts robust validations of a wide variety of models against established standards, developing benchmark, challenger and replication models where applicable

• Advises senior personnel in their communications with risk committees, auditors, regulators, and senior management regarding model risk and its potential effects on the risk profile of the organization.

• Develops and executes initiatives such as researching new trends in modeling and approaches to the management of associated model risk

• Manages the resolution of findings with model owners and developers

• Partners with model owners and developers to understand the business context for model use, producing technical guidance and adding value to the business process.

• Reviews ongoing model performance, assess overall model health within a given framework, identify potential problems and work with stakeholders to resolve issues identified.

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Qualifications

• Education: PhD or Master’s degree in Statistics/Econometrics, Finance, or other relevant field of study.

• Work Experience: 10+ years in Model Development and/or Validation of, Compliance, transaction monitoring, Below the Line testing, and Risk Management function at an investment bank or hedge fund.

• 8+ years of quantitative experience in model development or independent validation of Compliance systems , transaction monitoring and Sanction screening models.

• Hands on programming skills required in common programming languages and packages like R, Python, C++, SAS etc. Fluency in Query languages like SQL is also desired.

• Understanding of strengths and weaknesses in application of Machine Learning and Artificial intelligence to applications in Transaction monitoring and Sanctions screening.

•  Solid communication skills

• Ability to work with senior management, auditors and regulators.

• Excellent quantitative and qualitative analysis skills, outstanding time and stress management skills, team-work spirit. Ability to apply mathematical and programming skill in a highly practical way in order to solve problems.

• As a responsible level the team member should be a self-starter and need minimal direction from managers in pursuing projects.

At Santander, we value and respect differences in our workforce and strive to increase the diversity of our teams. We actively encourage everyone to apply.

Santander is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.

This job description does not list all of the job duties of the job. You may be asked by your supervisors or managers to perform other duties. You may be evaluated in part based upon your performance of the tasks listed in this job description. The employer has the right to revise this job description at any time. This job description is not a contract for employment and either you or the employer may terminate at any time for any reason.

Primary Location: New York, NY, New York

Other Locations: New York-New York,Massachusetts-Boston

Organization: Santander Holdings USA, Inc.

The base pay range for this position is posted below and represents the annualized salary range. For hourly positions (non-exempt), the annual range is based on a 40-hour work week. The exact compensation may vary based on skills, experience, training, licensure and certifications and location.