Associate Director, KYC/AML, Compliance & Data Solutions Specialist

At Moody's, we unite the brightest minds to turn today’s risks into tomorrow’s opportunities. We do this by striving to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome to be who they are—with the freedom to exchange ideas, think innovatively, and listen to each other and customers in meaningful ways. Moody’s is transforming how the world sees risk. As a global leader in ratings and integrated risk assessment, we’re advancing AI to move from insight to action—enabling intelligence that not only understands complexity but responds to it. We decode risk to unlock opportunity, helping our clients navigate uncertainty with clarity, speed, and confidence.

If you are excited about this opportunity but do not meet every single requirement, please apply! You still may be a great fit for this role or other open roles. We are seeking candidates who model our values: invest in every relationship, lead with curiosity, champion diverse perspectives, turn inputs into actions, and uphold trust through integrity.

Skills and Competencies

Demonstrated pre-sales, solutions consulting, implementation consulting or compliance-technology experience in complex enterprise environments

Strong domain knowledge in at least two of the following: KYC/KYB, AML, sanctions and PEP screening, customer onboarding, ongoing monitoring, third-party risk management, fraud or entity data

Ability to conduct structured discovery and translate business, regulatory and technical needs into practical solution designs and persuasive value narratives

Working knowledge of enterprise integration concepts such as REST APIs, authentication, batch/file delivery, data mapping and cloud or SaaS deployment models

Strong project discipline, written communication and stakeholder management across concurrent sales cycles

Commercial judgement and integrity, including clear communication of product fit, assumptions, limitations, dependencies and delivery risk

Native-level Japanese and business-level English are required for client engagement and collaboration with regional and global teams

Basic understanding of artificial intelligence concepts, with curiosity and enthusiasm for learning how AI tools can be used to improve processes and drive efficiency. Interest in exploring AI systems and a willingness to develop awareness of responsible AI practices, including risk management and ethical use

Education

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience in finance, economics, information systems, computer science, risk, compliance or a related field
• Preferred: experience supporting financial institutions and/or large corporates in Japan
• Preferred: a recognized financial crime or compliance credential such as CAMS, CGSS, CFE or an equivalent qualification
• Preferred: familiarity with KYC data, entity resolution, corporate hierarchies, beneficial ownership, adverse media and screening workflows

Responsibilities

• Opportunity discovery and deal shaping
• Partner with account teams to qualify opportunities, clarify business outcomes, stakeholders, decision criteria, technical constraints, competitive context and implementation readiness
• Lead client discovery across KYC/KYB, AML and sanctions screening, onboarding, ongoing monitoring, third-party due diligence, fraud and related risk-data use cases
• Translate client requirements into a clear solution approach, value narrative, scope, assumptions, dependencies and next-step plan
• Solution consulting and technical pre-sales
• Design and deliver tailored presentations, demonstrations, workshops and solution walkthroughs for business, compliance, risk, data and technology audiences
• Explain integration and data-delivery options, including APIs, batch files and workflow integration, in collaboration with product and technical specialists
• Own functional and technical responses for RFIs, RFPs, security questionnaires and client due diligence; coordinate contributors and maintain response quality
• Identify product fit, configuration needs, integration dependencies, delivery considerations, technical risks and potential gaps without overcommitting future capability
• Proof-of-concept and evaluation leadership
• Qualify whether a proof-of-concept is required and define its objectives, success criteria, sample data, scope, timeline, responsibilities and decision path
• Coordinate internal and client resources, manage issues and communicate progress, findings and recommendations
• Convert evaluation outcomes into a clear recommendation and support the commercial team through technical closure and implementation handover
• Market, product and thought leadership
• Monitor Japan and global regulatory, market and customer developments relevant to KYC, financial crime compliance, third-party risk and data-driven decisioning
• Structure field feedback into evidence-based product requirements, use cases and business rationale for Product and Engineering
• Represent Moody’s in client roundtables, webinars and industry events, and contribute to reusable thought leadership and market-facing content
• Enablement and collaboration
• Create and maintain reusable demo assets, discovery guides, solution narratives, RFP content, competitive insights and proof-of-concept playbooks
• Enable Sales, Customer Success and partner teams on priority use cases, product capabilities, responsible positioning and lessons learned
• Work across Japan and the wider APAC/global specialist community to bring the right expertise into strategic opportunities

About the Team

Join Moody’s Japan Sales team in a collaborative environment that brings together relationship managers, solution specialists, product teams and delivery experts. You will be a senior individual contributor and trusted adviser, helping clients solve complex compliance and data challenges while connecting Japan market needs with Moody’s APAC and global capabilities.

Moody’s is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by law.

Candidates for Moody's Corporation may be asked to disclose securities holdings pursuant to Moody’s Policy for Securities Trading and the requirements of the position. Employment is contingent upon compliance with the Policy, including remediation of positions in those holdings as necessary.