Merchant Due Diligence Analyst

About Paystack

Paystack’s mission is to power African ambition. Over 300K of some of the most renowned businesses in Nigeria, as well as a growing number of merchants in South Africa, Ghana, and Kenya use Paystack’s modern payments gateway. They include the likes of MTN, Burger King, UPS, AXA Mansard Insurance, FairMoney, PiggyVest, FilmHouse Cinemas, Smile Communications, Air Peace Airlines, Crocs, Under Armour, Richemont Lifestyle Group (RLG), and many others. 

In just over 9 years, our growing team has introduced a steady cadence of innovation within the online payments landscape, such as automated recurring payments, the ability for customers to pay directly from their bank accounts, automated chargebacks, and much more. We’ve been acquired by Stripe and are doubling down on the mission to help build out Africa’s payments infrastructure. 

At Paystack, we believe that we will win by recruiting talented people and giving them the space, resources, and support to do the best work of their lives. We hire the most capable people, treat them with genuine respect, and give them the means to succeed. And we’d love your help!

About The Transaction Monitoring Analyst

Paystack processes payments for thousands of ambitious businesses across Africa. To protect our merchants and the integrity of our platform, we maintain a deep commitment to robust Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance, which involves continuous vigilance.

The Merchant Due Diligence Analyst is central to this mission. This is a hands-on operational role focused on monitoring merchant transactions to identify and investigate suspicious activity. You will be responsible for reviewing system-generated alerts, conducting thorough investigations into transaction patterns, and meticulously documenting your findings. This role requires close collaboration with internal teams and merchants to understand their business, and with our internal Product and Engineering teams to help refine the tools that keep our platform safe.

We are looking for someone with a strong analytical mindset and a passion for investigation. If you are deeply curious about transaction patterns, merchant patterns, and thrive in a high-growth environment where you can apply your operational skills to ensure trust and safety, this role is for you.

We'Ll Trust You To

Investigate And Triage Alerts:

• Manage and prioritise a queue of alerts generated from our transaction monitoring systems, sanctions screening tools, and adverse media monitoring. 
• Conduct thorough investigations into unusual transaction patterns, sudden changes in volume, high chargeback rates, and potential sanctions hits.

Conduct Ongoing Due Diligence:

• In response to alerts or as part of periodic reviews, conduct deep dives into merchant profiles. 
• Re-evaluate risk ratings and perform checks on business documentation, websites, and product offerings to ensure ongoing compliance with our policies.

Document And Escalate Cases:

• Meticulously document your investigative findings, building a clear and comprehensive case file. 
• Prepare concise summaries for escalation to senior compliance members for further action, including the filing of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) when necessary.

Engage With Merchants:

• Proactively communicate with merchants to understand the business context behind flagged transactions. 
• Guide them on best practices to ensure their activity remains compliant and secure, helping to distinguish legitimate growth from suspicious patterns.

Enhance Monitoring Systems:

• Collaborate closely with Product and Engineering teams by providing direct, operational feedback on the performance of monitoring rules, risk engines, and internal dashboards to help refine our merchant monitoring. 

Leverage Data To Identify Trends:

• Use tools like SQL and Excel to analyse transactional data, identify emerging risk typologies and fraud patterns, and present findings to inform risk mitigation strategies.

Support External Inquiries:

• Coordinate with internal teams to promptly and accurately respond to requests for information from financial partners, law enforcement, and regulatory bodies as part of investigations.

You’Ll Thrive As Paystack’S Transaction Monitoring Analyst If You

• Have 2+ years of experience in a compliance role focused on AML/CFT and merchant monitoring, ideally within fintech, payments, or banking.
• Demonstrate a strong working knowledge of AML/CFT regulations, sanctions screening, risk-based due diligence, and common fraud or money laundering typologies.
• Are highly proficient with data analysis tools, particularly SQL and Excel, and can leverage them to query and analyse complex transactional data. 
• Are an exceptional communicator, able to explain complex compliance issues clearly to merchants and collaborate effectively with technical (Product & Engineering) and non-technical teams.
• Possess a deeply curious and analytical mindset, with a knack for investigating complex patterns and a meticulous eye for detail. You are proactive in identifying root causes and enjoy turning complex problems into actionable solutions.
• Are passionate about leveraging your skills to protect ambitious businesses from financial crime.

Application Instructions (Read Carefully)

1. Click the Apply Now button to go to the application form, and answer the application question.
2. In your cover letter, please take care to explain how your professional and personal experiences have set you up to thrive in this role. This is important. We find that while unsuccessful applicants tend to simply summarise their CV, successful applicants are able to clearly articulate how their background makes them uniquely suited for this role.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Paystack is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. We’re committed to providing employees with a work environment that is progressive and open-minded. Our employment philosophy is to hire the best people and empower them to do the best work of their lives. Employment decisions are based on business needs and individual merit without regard to race, color, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, nationality, marital status, gender or age.