Rippling is looking for a Lead, Audits, Exams & Partner Due Diligence to join our Financial Crimes Compliance team. This is a high-impact, senior individual contributor role that will own our end-to-end regulatory examination and audit program-from preparation through management action plans-while also serving as the primary point of contact for financial partner due diligence reviews.
You'll work closely with product, engineering, operations, local compliance and legal teams to embed compliance into how Rippling scales. You'll also support broader governance initiatives, including contributing to Rippling's Compliance Management System, second-line oversight framework, and governance reporting.
This role is for someone who moves fast, takes ownership of the hard stuff, and isn't afraid to roll up their sleeves to get it right.
What You'll Do- Lead Exam & Audit Engagements: Own all regulatory examination and audit activity from kickoff through closure-coordinating information requests, managing responses, and driving management action plans to completion.
- Partner Due Diligence: Serve as the primary point of contact for financial partner compliance reviews, including bank sponsor and fintech partner assessments. Build scalable processes for ongoing due diligence across the partner portfolio.
- Engagement Strategy & Quality: Develop and improve methodologies for producing high-quality, accurate, and timely exam and audit deliverables that reflect Rippling's mission and compliance posture.
- Executive Reporting & Insights: Prepare clear, concise reporting for senior leadership that anticipates regulator and auditor areas of focus, tracks open findings, and communicates overall compliance sentiment.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner directly with product managers, engineers, treasury teams, and operations leads to translate regulatory requirements into practical, actionable guidance-making sure compliance is built in, not bolted on.
- Governance & Framework Support: Support the development and maintenance of Rippling's regulatory compliance oversight framework, including policies, procedures, and integration with the Compliance Management System.
- Go and See: Get close to how our products and operations actually work-not just how they're documented. Use what you learn to drive better exam preparation and more credible compliance positions.
What You Bring- 7+ years of experience managing regulatory examinations, audits, or financial partner due diligence in financial services or fintech.
- Strong working knowledge of AML/CFT, BSA, OFAC, and consumer compliance regulations applicable to MSBs, payment processors, or similar entities.
- Direct experience interfacing with U.S. federal and/or state regulators (e.g., FinCEN, CFPB, OCC, NYDFS, CA DFPI) and/or financial institution compliance reviewers.
- Proven ability to manage multiple concurrent engagements and competing deadlines without losing quality.
- Clear, direct communicator with both regulators and internal stakeholders like engineers and product managers.
- Strong written and presentation skills; you can walk a regulator or a board through a complex issue concisely.
- Comfortable working in ambiguous, fast-moving environments where the answer isn't always written down yet.
- Familiarity with Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance tools and productivity platforms (Confluence, Jira, Google Workspace, Slack).
- Legally authorized to work in the U.S.
Nice to Have- CAMS, CRCM, CIPP, CIA, or similar professional certification.
- J.D. or advanced degree in law, compliance, finance, or a related field.
- Experience working with international regulatory frameworks (UK FCA, EU PSD2/AMLD, Canada FINTRAC, Australia AUSTRAC).
- Prior experience supporting licensing reviews or new product risk assessments.
Additional Information Rippling highly values having employees working in-office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. For office-based employees (employees who live within a defined radius of a Rippling office), Rippling considers working in the office, at least three days a week under current policy, to be an essential function of the employee's role.
The salary for US-based employees will be aligned with one of the ranges below based on location; see which tier applies to your location here.
A variety of factors are considered when determining someone's compensation-including a candidate's professional background, experience, and location. Final offer amounts may vary from the amounts listed below.
The pay range for this role is:
114,000 - 190,000 USD per year (US Tier 1)
102,600 - 171,000 USD per year (US Tier 2)
96,900 - 161,500 USD per year (US Tier 3)