What you'll do

• Lead the FCA authorisation application end to end: permissions scoping, regulatory business plan input, systems and controls documentation, and Connect submission.
• Review, critique, and strengthen the firm's existing compliance policies and procedures — AML/CTF, financial crime, conduct, cryptoasset financial promotions, governance, and the compliance monitoring plan — bringing them to the standard the FCA expects at the gateway.
• Stand as the named SMF16 and SMF17 on the application and represent the firm through FCA assessment, including your own fit and proper interview.
• Post-authorisation, hold both functions on a fractional basis: SAR reporting, regulatory returns, Board MI, training, and day-to-day FCA liaison.

Who this suits

• A current or former FCA-approved SMF16 and/or SMF17 holder with a clean, demonstrable approval history and the credibility to perform strongly in an SM&CR interview.
• Hands-on experience of FCA authorisations — Part 4A applications, VoPs, or cryptoasset/EMI/VASP licensing. If you have taken a firm through the gateway before, this is your mandate.
• Deep knowledge of the UK AML regime (MLRs 2017, JMLSG, POCA), SM&CR, and the FCA's expectations of cryptoasset businesses.
• A sharp critical reviewer: you can take an existing policy suite, find its weaknesses before the regulator does, and defend the finished framework at the gateway.
• Available to commit meaningful full-time capacity immediately, with interest in a lighter-touch ongoing appointment thereafter.
• London-based or within easy reach — the role is hybrid, with regular time in the firm's London office alongside home working.

Why now

The UK cryptoasset regime is being written as we speak, and firms crossing the perimeter now will define the sector's first generation of authorised businesses. Getting a crypto-collateralised lender through the FCA gateway is exactly the kind of mandate that headlines a senior compliance CV.