We are seeking a senior Regulatory and Risk Advisory practitioner to join our client in Hong Kong at Senior Director level. The ideal candidate will hold senior compliance, audit or legal credentials with at least 10 years of relevant experience, the most recent 3+ years at Director or equivalent senior-leadership level, a track record of leading post-enforcement remediation, monitorship and complex SFC / HKMA / ICAC-induced advisory engagements, and the bilingual capability to operate at evidentiary standards across HK-Mainland-cross-border fact patterns. The successful candidate will lead the most complex multi-jurisdictional regulatory matters, take signed-off positions on framework defensibility on bilingual review populations, carry a meaningful named-account pipeline across the Hong Kong and Greater China regulator-facing law-firm bar, and contribute to the practice's strategy as an emerging Partner-track operator.

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 high-stakes regulatory advisory engagements, typically running USD 500k - 3m, frequently with HK-Mainland-Singapore-elsewhere-APAC overlay, with full responsibility for engagement strategy, methodology, signed-off written deliverable and regulator-facing engagement.
• Take signed-off positions on monitorship findings, post-enforcement remediation roadmaps, ABC framework defensibility and AML / CFT compliance attestations at instructing-counsel and regulator level; engage on disclosure-and-self-reporting positioning under HKMA Guideline, SFC Code of Conduct and the AMLO 2024-amendment framework.
• Lead the most complex DPA-induced and post-SFC / post-HKMA-enforcement remediation programmes, integrating with US DOJ / SEC monitor work, UK SFO DPA-monitor work and HK ICAC-induced compliance-uplift programmes.
• Direct sanctions-evasion investigations and trade-finance forensic reviews on the most complex matters, including Russia / Iran / North-Korea / sectoral-sanctions implementation, US export-controls (EAR / ITAR) compliance, the post-2024 HK National Security Law overlay, beneficial-ownership unwinding through BVI / Cayman / PRC / Trust-and-Foundation structures, and integration with civil-recovery counsel.
• Set the practice's framework on AML / CFT alignment with the AMLO (and 2024 virtual-asset-service-provider amendments), the HKMA Guideline on AML / CFT, the SFC AML Code of Conduct, AICA-aligned trade-surveillance programmes (NICE Actimize, NASDAQ SMARTS), and signed-off attestations to instructing counsel.
• Develop and own a sustained pipeline of named accounts 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 in Hong Kong and Greater China; originate or co-originate USD 1.5m+ annually in qualified regulatory opportunities.
• Convert reactive remediation work into multi-year retainer engagements covering compliance-monitor retainers, three-lines-of-defence advisory, board-and-audit-committee culture-review programmes and outsourced-MLRO and Head-of-Compliance support, particularly where PIPL / CSL / DSL data-export risk shapes design.
• Set methodology and tooling-strategy direction within the regulatory sub-practice; directly supervise, mentor and advocate for Directors and Senior Managers - championing their advancement at promotion rounds, sponsoring sustained bilingual upskilling on emerging methodology and AI tooling, and shaping their external profile-building on monitorship and signed-off attestation depth.

Required Qualifications and Skills:

• Multiple senior compliance, audit or legal credentials, such as CAMS plus CFE plus ICA Diploma, or CIA plus CRMA plus CCEP, or qualified-lawyer status with regulatory specialisation - typically multiple at this level.
• At least 10 years of relevant experience in compliance advisory, regulatory remediation, internal audit, financial-crime investigations or qualified-legal practice, with the most recent 3+ years at Director or equivalent senior-leadership level.
• Mandarin and Cantonese working fluency at depth sufficient to lead bilingual practice direction, regulator engagement and senior-stakeholder communication.
• Demonstrable track record of leading bet-the-company regulatory matters with full methodology and signed-off deliverable responsibility, including post-enforcement remediation under HKMA / SFC / ICAC / DOJ regulator review on bilingual review populations.
• Direct experience operating with General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officers, Chief Risk Officers, Audit Committee Chairs and Hong Kong regulators (HKMA, SFC, ICAC, IA, PCPD, OGCIO).
• Working knowledge at supervisory-policy depth of the Hong Kong regulatory framework: POBO and ICAC enforcement-decision pattern, SFO market-misconduct framework, AMLO (and 2024 virtual-asset amendments), the HKMA Guideline on AML / CFT and SFC AML Code of Conduct, the Stablecoins Bill perimeter, the Companies Ordinance Significant Controllers Register, PDPO obligations, and the 2024 Mainland Judicial Mutual Assistance arrangements including PIPL / CSL / DSL implications for HK regulator engagement.
• Authority on cross-border ABC frameworks at supervisory-policy depth: FCPA, UK Bribery Act, HK POBO, France's Sapin II, Germany's VerSanG, Brazil's Clean Companies Act and Australia's Combatting Foreign Bribery Act 2024.
• 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).
• Demonstrable history of converting regulatory engagement relationships into multi-year monitorship retainer, three-lines-of-defence-advisory or outsourced-compliance-officer work.
• Established relationships with law firm partners in regulatory enforcement, white-collar crime, financial-services regulatory, internal-investigations and class-action / privacy-litigation practices who refer and instruct regulatory advisory and monitorship work; sustained named-account level engagement is the strongest evidence.
• High-agency operating style, calm and credible under regulator and adversarial-challenge pressure in bilingual settings, with the methodological discipline to ensure findings are evidence-based, structured and defensible.

Preferred Experience:

• Prior regulator alumni status at HKMA, SFC, ICAC, IA, or international peers (FCA / SEC / DOJ / SFO / OCC, PRC CSRC).
• Postgraduate qualification: Master's in law, finance, public policy, governance, MBA, or LLM with regulatory / compliance / criminal-justice relevance.
• Cross-border regulatory experience across Greater China, the GBA and South-East Asia.
• Published authorship on regulatory, compliance, ABC or AML themes in HK / PRC publications; conference-level speaking on regulatory advisory in bilingual settings.
• Track record of testifying or signed-off declaration on regulatory issues in arbitration, court or regulator proceedings.
• Independent-monitor or DPA-monitor appointment track record.
• Growth-mindset operating posture and visible engagement with the AI developments reshaping regulatory and risk advisory: candidates who track tooling shifts (such as AI-assisted compliance monitoring on bilingual populations, LLM-aided regulatory-change tracking across HK and PRC frameworks, automated control-testing, or ML-enriched PEP / SDN screening), share that knowledge with the Director and Manager bench under their supervision, and have a track record of building team-upskilling programmes on emerging methodologies.

Compensation:

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

Next Steps:

This opportunity is open to Hong Kong permanent residents and qualified candidates with relevant Hong Kong 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.