Head of CDD and KYC, Americas

About the role

Adyen provides payments, data, and financial products in a single solution for customers like Meta, Uber, H&M, and Microsoft - making us the financial technology platform of choice. At Adyen, everything we do is engineered for ambition. For our teams, we create an environment with opportunities for our people to succeed, backed by the culture and support to ensure they are enabled to truly own their careers. We are motivated individuals who tackle unique technical challenges at scale and solve them as a team. Together, we deliver innovative and ethical solutions that help businesses achieve their ambitions faster.

As part of our regional growth, we are looking for a strategic and experienced leader to serve as our Head of Customer Due Diligence, Americas. You will oversee a team of five people managers and a total of ± 45, spanning onboarding to ongoing reviews, and will play a pivotal role in evolving the CDD function across the region. You will work closely with internal stakeholders - Compliance, Commercial, Product, and Legal - and external stakeholders, including merchants and regulators, to ensure Adyen delivers a risk-aware, efficient, and scalable onboarding and review experience. This role is perfect for a builder, someone excited to drive change management, shape strategy, and create scalable processes as we continue to grow in the Americas.

This role is based out of our San Francisco or Chicago office. We are an office-first company and value in-person collaboration; we do not offer remote-only roles. Willing to travel regionally and globally as required.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coach a high-performing CDD team across Sao Paulo, San Francisco and Chicago, including five people managers empowering them to grow in CDD knowledge and leadership skills.
• Recruit and expand the function as needed to support regional growth, ensuring consistent coverage and capability across locations.
• Track and evaluate team performance against key metrics and global/regional OKRs, driving continuous improvement.
• Define and execute the regional CDD strategy, ensuring alignment with global policies while addressing region-specific regulatory and commercial needs.
• Serve as a senior escalation point for internal and external stakeholders, providing guidance on complex cases and critical decisions.
• Collaborate with Commercial teams to balance