Lead Compliance Analyst - Wave

At Wave, we help small businesses to thrive so the heart of our communities beats stronger. We work in an environment buzzing with creative energy and inspiration. No matter where you are or how you get the job done, you have what you need to be successful and connected. The mark of true success at Wave is the ability to be bold, learn quickly, and share your knowledge generously.

You’ll be the CCO’s main partner in scaling our compliance program. Half the job is design: turning regulatory obligations into frameworks, policies, and controls that product and engineering teams can build against. The other half is running it: reviewing launches, tracking conditions, and keeping commitments to partners and regulators on time.

How You Will Make an Impact

Build the Program Foundations

• Build and maintain the regulatory inventory: which rules apply to which products and jurisdictions, who owns each obligation, and how we evidence compliance.
• Design the policy framework (taxonomy, ownership, approval authority, review cadence) and write or refresh core policies and procedures.
• Run the compliance risk assessment for regulatory and product risk across Payments, Payroll, Invoicing, Accounting, Advisors, and Partnerships.
• Support Issue Management and remediation tracking so open findings have an owner, a date, and visible progress.
• Own the regulatory change process: track changes in the USA and Canada, assess impact, and route actions to the right team.
• Maintain the registration and license calendar so renewals and filings never lapse.

Run Product Compliance

• Operate the tiered review process: triage intake, set conditions, and give clear approve/approve-with-conditions/decline decisions.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Legal, and Risk early in design.
• Review high-risk launches: new payment flows, onboarding changes, data sharing, and new jurisdictions.
• Apply the Product Compliance Evidence Standard and make sure launches leave an audit-ready trail.
• Review marketing claims and customer communications against the Marketing Content Guidelines.

Oversee Third Parties and Partners

• Build compliance oversight of key processors and partners: obligations mapping, contract review input, monitoring, and escalation.
• Oversee partner due diligence and maintain the data-sharing register.
• Coordinate card network, processor, and partner audits, attestations, and inquiries.

Report and Lead

• Produce program reporting for leadership: scorecard, KPIs, open issues, and emerging risks.
• Find manual work worth automating and build lightweight tooling (e.g., AI assistance) to remove it.

Qualifications

Required

• 6+ years in regulatory or product compliance at a fintech, payments company, PSP, bank, or other regulated financial services firm.
• Hands-on experience building a compliance program component from scratch: policies, risk assessment, regulatory inventory, issue management, or similar.
• Working knowledge of payments regulation and card network rules, with experience in at least one of: US money movement (NACHA/ACH, Reg E, UDAAP) or Canadian payments (RPAA, FINTRAC, PIPEDA).
• Experience embedded with product and engineering teams, reviewing features before launch.
• Clear, concise writing: ability to turn a regulation into a requirement an engineer can build to.
• Comfort with ambiguity and shifting priorities in an integration environment.

Nice to Have

• Both US and Canadian regulatory experience.
• Privacy program experience (PIPEDA, Quebec Law 25, CCPA) or exposure to PCI DSS, SOX, or HIPAA controls.
• Payroll, tax, or small-business fintech background.
• Experience with partner or processor oversight, network attestations, or regulatory exams.
• People leadership or formal mentoring.
• CRCM, CAMS, CAMLO training or similar.