Senior Strategic Program Lead, GFCO

Skills this role screens for

About the role

Ready to do the most impactful work of your career? At Coinbase, we are uncompromising on our mission to increase economic freedom. The bar is high, the environment is intense, and we like it that way. This isn't a place for complacency, it’s a place to be pushed past your perceived limits. If you're ready to build the future of finance alongside people who refuse to settle for "good enough," you belong here. Coinbase is a remote-first, but not remote-only company. Expect to get together quarterly for intense in-person working sessions called “surges.” learn more about working at Coinbase.

Team/Role Overview

The GFCO Programs team is the end-to-end DRI for the financial crimes compliance operations experience and automation across Coinbase's global product and entity footprint. We design, govern, and continuously improve compliance operations through AI-first principles, ensuring regulatory soundness, protecting Coinbase, and delivering a better experience for our customers.

We partner deeply with Central Compliance, Compliance Technology, Engineering & Architecture (EAA), GFCO Operations, Analytics, Workforce Management (WFM), Financial Crimes Data Intelligence (FCDI), and Legal to translate regulatory obligations and operational opportunities into scalable, durable programs across all compliance workstreams, products, and jurisdictions — including Suspicious Activity Monitoring (SAM), Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), Screening, and Complaints.

As a Senior Strategic Program Lead, GFCO (L5), you will serve as a independent program owner within GFCO Programs — owning one or more complex compliance program verticals end-to-end. You will operate with a high degree of autonomy, drive alignment with Director+ stakeholders, and lead programs that span several cross-functional teams, including external parties. You will act as a thought partner to GFCO leadership and be the connective tissue between Compliance Technology, EAA, Operations, WFM, and Central Compliance.

The work

What You'll Be Doing

• Own end-to-end program strategy, planning, and execution for one or more complex GFCO compliance program areas (e.g., SAM/CAR automation, EDD volume reduction, Complaints, Operations, New Jurisdictions & Launches)
• Develop and drive program charters, roadmaps, and governance frameworks for long-tail, multi-constraint programs, including those with external regulatory commitments
• Lead cross-functional delivery across XFN teams (Compliance Tech, EAA, Ops, WFM, Legal, Analytics) and drive alignment at the Director+ level
• Translate regulatory obligations, operational gaps, and model performance signals into actionable, prioritized program strategies using an Eliminate → Optimize → Automate framework
• Support launch readiness for new products, jurisdictions, and entity expansions, ensuring AML obligation mapping, tooling updates, procedural guidance, volume sizing, and training content are completed before go-live
• Proactively identify and resolve program risks, manage competing priorities with transparent trade-off recommendations to GFCO leadership, and ensure no surprises at regulatory examinations
• Drive WFM-vetted cost savings projections across automation and operational efficiency initiatives, and maintain accountability for reporting only confirmed actuals
• Own intake discipline for your program area — ensuring all automation requests, tooling changes, and resource asks enter through formal intake channels with documented requirements and testing plans
• Author and maintain high-quality strategy and decision documents (P/PSs, RAPIDs, charters) that inform Director/VP-level decision-making
• Manage the feedback loop between automation outputs, QC findings, alert productivity data, and investigator feedback, driving continuous improvement in both the automation model and upstream alerting systems
• Lead Code Yellow-equivalent responses within GFCO (e.g., major lookback events, regulatory deadline responses, Sev2 volume surges)

Also

What We Look For

Pay Transparency Notice: Base salary varies by location (see range below). Total compensation may also include equity and bonus eligibility, and benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401(k)).

Pay Transparency Notice: Base salary varies by location (see range below). Total compensation may also include equity and bonus eligibility, and benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401(k)).

Annual base salary range (excluding equity and bonus):

• 6+ years of program or project management experience, with 3+ years in financial crimes compliance, AML, BSA/AML operations, or a related regulatory domain
• Demonstrated ability to independently drive large-scale, multi-stakeholder programs in a regulated environment with minimal guidance
• Deep understanding of AML/CFT program operations, including SAM/TMS, EDD, Screening, and SAR filing workflows, and the technology landscape that supports them (e.g., TMS, CMS)
• Experience navigating Known Problem / Unknown Solution environments with many constraints (critical resource gaps, external regulatory commitments)
• Strong strategy and storytelling skills, ability to create clarity through well-crafted charters, roadmaps, and decision documents for Director+ audiences
• Track record of driving operational efficiency and cost savings through automation programs, with rigorous measurement and WFM-validated outcomes
• Proficiency in program management tools (Asana, Jira, Smartsheet) and data tools (Looker, Snowflake, Google Sheets)
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; comfortable influencing at the Director and VP level
• Bachelor's degree required; fields of study in Business, Technology, Operations, Finance, Law, or a related discipline preferred
• References required (mandatory for L5+ roles)

Also

$130,900—$154,000 USD

• Application Limit: Candidates may submit a maximum of 3 applications within a 6-month period.
• Equal Opportunity Employer: Coinbase 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, disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information. Applicants with criminal histories will be considered consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws.
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