We are seeking an experienced regulatory and risk advisory practitioner to join our client in Sydney at Director level. The successful candidate will lead delivery on regulatory advisory, monitorship and remediation workstreams under Partner-led engagement strategy and regulator-facing positioning, operate as a senior delivery practitioner alongside Partners during regulator-deadline windows, and build the named-account and law-firm-partner relationships that underpin future origination at Senior Director and Partner level. Specific qualifications, regulatory fluency and tooling are detailed in the sections that follow.

Confidential Client. Applying to this position means that you are interested to have an initial confidential discussion about how we can help you to identify and join a new regulatory and risk advisory practice. With your authorisation we will exclusively run the entire application and recruitment process for you, keeping you apprised at every step. With over 30 years' combined experience of helping the most talented compliance and regulatory practitioners to make safe exits to launch rewarding new careers, we have the experience, network and ability to help you.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead delivery on anti-bribery / anti-corruption (ABC) risk assessments, third-party due-diligence programmes, sanctions and export-controls reviews, AML / CTF framework reviews under the AUSTRAC Tranche-2-extension regime, and market-conduct compliance reviews - in support of Partner-led engagement strategy and regulator-facing positioning - while building the named-account and law-firm-partner networks that underpin future personal origination at Senior Director and Partner level.
• Lead delivery on second-line-of-defence advisory workstreams: target-operating-model design, compliance-framework gap assessments, three-lines-of-defence reviews, board-and-audit-committee-instructed culture reviews, and post-Hayne / post-Optus-and-Medibank remediation programmes following ASIC / APRA / AUSTRAC enforcement-decision exposure.
• Support Partner-led monitorship and DPA-induced advisory engagements: independent compliance monitor delivery, US DOJ / SEC monitor work, UK SFO DPA-monitor work, and Australian Foreign Bribery DPA-equivalent programmes under the Combatting Foreign Bribery Act 2024.
• Deliver sanctions advisory and investigations workstreams: OFAC / UN / DFAT autonomous / EU / UK sanctions-screening governance, sanctions-evasion fact-pattern review, dual-use export-controls advisory under the Defence Trade Controls Act 2012, and Russia / Iran / North-Korea / Myanmar / Belarus sectoral-sanctions implementation; integrate with civil-recovery and AFP / ACLEI referral pathways where misconduct is identified.
• Advise on AML / CTF framework alignment with the AML / CTF Act 2006 and the post-Tranche-2 extension to lawyers, accountants and real-estate agents - including transaction-monitoring tuning, name-screening governance, beneficial-ownership identification under the proposed BO register reforms, and Privacy-Act-1988 evidence-handling integration.
• Build emerging client relationships and contribute to named-account development at General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Head of Internal Audit and Audit Committee Chair level, and at relevant law firm partner level - under Partner direction.
• Mentor and advocate for managers and senior managers - supporting their delivery on regulatory technical depth, championing their development needs at engagement-staffing rounds, and sponsoring their upskilling on emerging methodology and AI tooling - and apply industry-standard regulatory tooling at investigation depth in support of advisory and investigative outcomes.
• Stay current with the post-Hayne, post-Robodebt and post-Optus / Medibank enforcement frontier, the AUSTRAC Tranche-2 implementation timeline, and emerging Australian climate-disclosure (ASRS), modern-slavery (Modern Slavery Act 2018) and AI-governance regulatory perimeters.

Required Qualifications and Skills:

• Recognised compliance, audit or legal credential, such as CAMS (ACAMS), CFE (ACFE), GIA (Governance Institute of Australia), GAICD (Australian Institute of Company Directors), CIA (IIA), CRMA (IIA), or qualified lawyer status (Australian practising certificate).
• At least 8 years of relevant experience in compliance advisory, regulatory remediation, internal audit, financial-crime investigations or qualified-legal practice, with substantive direct exposure to financial-services, mining-and-resources, life-sciences, technology or government-sector matters.
• Demonstrable track record of leading delivery on risk-assessment, framework-review, monitorship or advisory engagements - in support of Partner-led engagement strategy and regulator-facing positioning, with strong methodology and client-facing presence.
• Direct experience working with senior client stakeholders (General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Audit Committee Chair) and Australian regulators (ASIC, APRA, AUSTRAC, ACCC, ATO, OAIC, ASD).
• Working knowledge of the Australian regulatory framework: the Criminal Code (Cth) cross-border bribery framework and Combatting Foreign Bribery Act 2024 (improving DPA framework and corporate criminal-liability test), the Corporations Act 2001 director-duties framework director-duties framework, the AML / CTF Act 2006 and the Tranche-2-extension regime, ASIC market-conduct provisions and Insider-Trading framework, APRA prudential-standards framework, AUSTRAC enforcement-decision pattern, ACCC competition and cartel enforcement, the ATO related-party / transfer-pricing framework, and Privacy Act 1988 obligations.
• Working knowledge of cross-border ABC frameworks: FCPA (DOJ / SEC), UK Bribery Act (SFO), Singapore PCA, France's Sapin II, Germany's VerSanG and Brazil's Clean Companies Act.
• Familiarity with industry-standard regulatory and risk tooling, including third-party due-diligence platforms (such as Refinitiv World-Check, Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, or LexisNexis Bridger), sanctions-screening platforms (such as Accuity, ComplyAdvantage or LexisNexis Bridger), trade-surveillance platforms (such as NICE Actimize, NASDAQ SMARTS or Eventus Validus), AML transaction-monitoring platforms (such as NICE Actimize, SAS AML or Oracle Mantas), and risk-and-compliance suites (such as Archer or Workiva).
• High-agency operating style with strong judgement under regulator-deadline pressure and the methodological discipline to ensure findings are evidence-based, structured and defensible.
• Calm, credible communication style suited to senior regulator engagement, audit-committee reporting and counsel-led privileged-advisory work.

Preferred Experience:

• Multiple stacking credentials at senior-leadership level - the recognised pattern at this level on multi-vector regulatory mandates.
• Prior regulator experience or alumni status at ASIC, APRA, AUSTRAC, ACCC or international peers (FCA / SEC / DOJ / SFO / OCC).
• Royal Commission or Commission-of-Inquiry advisor experience.
• Postgraduate study in law, finance, public policy, governance or a related discipline.
• Cross-border regulatory experience across Australia / NZ / PNG and the broader APAC region.
• Track record of converting one-off regulatory-advisory engagements into multi-year retainer or independent-monitor work.
• Established or emerging relationships with law firm partners in regulatory enforcement, white-collar crime, financial-services regulatory, internal-investigations and class-action / privacy-litigation practices who instruct regulatory advisory and monitorship work.
• Continuous-learning posture and active engagement with the AI developments reshaping regulatory and risk advisory: candidates who track tooling shifts (such as AI-assisted compliance monitoring, LLM-aided regulatory-change tracking under the post-Hayne and Tranche-2 regimes, automated control-testing, or ML-enriched PEP / SDN screening), share that knowledge with managers and senior managers, and have a track record of supporting team upskilling on emerging methodologies.

Compensation:

Competitive package commensurate with seniority and experience, including base, performance-based bonus, long-term incentives and (where applicable) partner-track participation.

Next Steps:

This opportunity is open to Australian citizens, permanent residents and qualified candidates with relevant Australian work-rights status who match the above criteria. Please apply to receive prompt contact from an experienced and specialist regulatory and risk advisory recruitment consultant.

Search & Counsel is a trading style of Feltan Associates Pte Ltd; an international Executive Search, Recruitment and Consulting business based in Singapore, licensed and regulated by the Singapore Ministry of Manpower to conduct recruitment services for clients. UEN: 202225620G. EA Licence 23S1672. All rights reserved.