Head of Data Research (AML)

Location: Cluj-Napoca, Romania; hybrid work with two days per week in the office

Salary: 216,000–240,000 RON gross plus equity and benefits

Company

hirify.global provides an AI-enabled financial crime prevention platform covering KYC, AML, sanctions screening, and regulatory risk intelligence for enterprises worldwide.

What you will do

• Define and maintain the global data research strategy and prioritized roadmap in line with product strategy, market needs, and regulatory developments.
• Monitor global legislative and regulatory changes and translate them into data sourcing, coverage, and build-buy-partner decisions.
• Lead researchers, team leads, and managers while developing team capability through mentoring, training, and career planning.
• Own workload planning, capacity forecasting, KPIs, and reporting on client impact, ARR contribution, and operational efficiency.
• Ensure data source quality, validation, testing, ethical use, privacy, and regulatory compliance.
• Partner with Data Science, Engineering, Product, Compliance, Regulatory Affairs, and commercial teams; represent data expertise with clients and at industry events.

Requirements

• Substantial experience leading research or data teams and setting strategy through managers rather than direct execution.
• Experience working with large, complex datasets and using analysis to support evidence-based decisions on non-routine questions.
• Experience managing KPIs, capacity planning, output forecasting, and performance reporting.
• Current understanding of AML legislation, global compliance recommendations, and industry practices.
• Strong stakeholder management and executive presentation experience across product, technology, and commercial functions.
• Relevant university degree in Data Science, Economics, Law, International Relations, or Political Science; fluency in written and spoken English.

Nice to have

• Professional compliance certification such as ACAMS, ICA, or ACFCS.
• Familiarity with Looker, Power BI, SQL, or Jira.
• Experience applying AI, including agentic approaches, to research, compliance, or data workflows.
• Experience in a high-growth scale-up environment or industry thought leadership through conferences, publications, or professional forums.

Culture & Benefits

• Hybrid work model with two office days per week and a home-office setup budget.
• Equity participation and competitive salary.
• Unlimited time off policy and focus on work-life balance and wellbeing.
• Annual learning budget and opportunities to work on innovative projects with knowledge-sharing colleagues.
• Medical insurance, meal vouchers of 45 RON per day, Employee Assistance Programme, and optional 7Card subscription.