Senior Strategic Program Lead, GFCO

Details

Coinbase is a remote-first, but not remote-only company, with quarterly in-person working sessions called “surges.”

Role Overview

The GFCO Programs team is the end-to-end directly responsible owner for the financial crimes compliance operations experience and automation across Coinbase's global product and entity footprint. The team designs, governs, and continuously improves compliance operations through AI-first principles, ensuring regulatory soundness, protecting Coinbase, and delivering a better customer experience.

The team partners 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 programs across 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 an independent program owner within GFCO Programs, owning one or more complex compliance program verticals end-to-end. You will operate autonomously, drive alignment with Director-level and above stakeholders, lead programs spanning multiple cross-functional teams and external parties, act as a thought partner to GFCO leadership, and connect Compliance Technology, EAA, Operations, WFM, and Central Compliance.

Responsibilities

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

Requirements

• 6+ years of program or project management experience, including 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, as well as the supporting technology landscape, such as TMS and CMS.
• Experience navigating Known Problem / Unknown Solution environments with significant constraints, including critical resource gaps and external regulatory commitments.
• Strong strategy and storytelling skills, with the ability to create clarity through well-crafted charters, roadmaps, and decision documents for Director-level and above audiences.
• Track record of driving operational efficiency and cost savings through automation programs, with rigorous measurement and WFM-validated outcomes.
• Proficiency with program management tools such as Asana, Jira, and Smartsheet.
• Proficiency with data tools such as Looker, Snowflake, and Google Sheets.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to influence Director- and VP-level stakeholders.
• Bachelor's degree required. Business, Technology, Operations, Finance, Law, or a related discipline preferred.
• References required for L5+ roles.

Compensation

Annual base salary range, excluding equity and bonus: $130,900–$154,000 USD. Total compensation may also include equity and bonus eligibility, as well as medical, dental, vision, and 401(k) benefits.

Additional Information

• Candidates may submit a maximum of three applications within a six-month period.
• Coinbase is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
• Reasonable accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities.
• US applicants are provided Employee Rights, Know Your Rights, and E-Verify notices.
• Applicants agree to Coinbase's Candidate Privacy Notice and, for US applicants, Arbitration of Disputes.