Financial Crimes Sanctions Screening Coverage Director (AVP)

We're seeking someone to join our team as Director, Sanctions Screening Initiatives & Optimization in Global Financial Crimes to lead business analysis and project delivery for screening transformation, optimization, and strategic initiatives across reference data and transaction screening programs.

In the Legal & Compliance division, we assist the firm in achieving its business objectives by facilitating and overseeing the firm’s management of legal, regulatory and franchise risk.

What You'll Do In The Role

• Lead business analysis and project management support for cross‑program transformation initiatives spanning reference data and transaction screening.
• Elicit, document, and manage business requirements for screening enhancements, translating regulatory expectations and control standards into user stories, acceptance criteria, and process documentation.
• Develop and maintain project plans, timelines, RAID logs, and implementation records, tracking milestones, risks, dependencies, and remediation actions through closure.
• Partner with compliance, technology, operations, and business stakeholders to design solutions that are operationally executable and supported by appropriate runbooks, SLAs, and readiness artifacts.
• Support testing and validation activities, including test strategy, UAT coordination, post‑deployment verification, and documentation of pre‑ and post‑implementation outcomes.
• Drive optimization workstreams involving threshold calibration, fuzzy logic tuning, suppression rules, pre‑screening enhancements, and related screening effectiveness initiatives.
• Perform data analysis and develop management information to identify tuning opportunities, quantify operational impact, and support governance decisions on screening changes.
• Support new product assessments, issue remediation, regulatory and internal audit responses, and data governance activities by producing organized, audit‑ready documentation and control evidence.

What You'll Bring To The Role

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Computer Science, Data/Analytics, or a related discipline with 5–8+ years of experience in business analysis, project management, sanctions compliance, AML/financial crime risk, or compliance controls within a regulated financial institution.
• Strong business analysis, requirements management, and process design skills, including experience developing functional specifications, user stories, acceptance criteria, and process maps.
• Demonstrated project delivery capability, with the ability to manage timelines, dependencies, stakeholder expectations, and multiple concurrent workstreams in a matrixed environment.
• Strong analytical skills, including advanced Excel and preferably SQL and/or Python, with experience analyzing screening data, producing management information, and supporting data quality or optimization assessments.
• Working knowledge of sanctions screening frameworks, relevant regulations, and transaction screening data, including familiarity with SWIFT MT/MX messaging standards.
• Experience with screening platforms or related technologies and, ideally, control tuning, model governance, UAT, and implementation validation activities.
• Working knowledge of OFAC and global sanctions regulations and their application to screening frameworks, including familiarity with model risk management practices and screening model governance concepts.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce governance materials, audit‑ready documentation and clear deliverables for cross‑functional stakeholders; professional certifications such as CAMS, CFCS, or CFE are a plus.
• Typically, 5+ years of relevant experience is generally expected to find the skills required for this role.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workforce that is diverse in experience and background.