Role details
• Role title: Head of Compliance
• Team: Commercial and Operations.
• Reports to: Commercial Director
• Direct reports: None. The Operations Manager, who we are hiring alongside this role, assists you. The role may build a team once we hold the licence.
•

Location:
Sydney, and mainly in the office. You work day to day with the growth and creative teams. We may make exceptions to location for suitable candidates
• Employment type: Part time, 3 to 4 days a week. Purpose of the role
• Pearler has closed its Series A and plans to apply for its own Australian financial services licence (AFSL) in the next six to twelve months.
• We operate as a corporate authorised representative of Sanlam Private Wealth, and we are putting the systems and processes in place to hold a licence ourselves.
• You will lead the compliance function, and you are the point person inside Pearler and with Sanlam, our partners and the regulators.
• A consultant is running the AFSL application. You work alongside them to get us licence ready, and keep compliance running while we get there. The Operations Manager assists where compliance overlaps with daily operations, however, you're still accountable.

Key responsibilities
Marketing and growth
• Be the day-to-day compliance contact for the marketing and growth teams. You sit with them on content, campaigns and launches, and review the work as it is made rather than at the end.
• Take this work off the CEO. Today he reviews creative himself and mediates between compliance and the creative team.
• Turn reviews around promptly. Where something cannot run as drafted, give the fix rather than the finding, and make the fix sound like Pearler.
• Review marketing and disclosure material, and get Sanlam’s written approval while the CAR deed requires it. Once we hold our own licence, you will be the approver.
• Keep the website compliant as it changes, starting with a review against our licensing obligations.
• Track changes in legislation and regulatory guidance, and turn them into plain guidance for product and marketing.
• Review current products and features before launch, including target market determinations and our design and distribution obligations. Our own licence
• Work with the consultant running our AFSL application. You are their point of contact, and you make sure the policies, systems and processes it relies on exist and work.
• Build the systems, policies, controls and evidence a licensee needs. We are ISO 27001 certified, so much of it exists. Extend it to what the licence requires and keep it current after the consultant has gone.
• Plan the move from corporate authorised representative to licensee, including our authorised representative arrangements and what changes for the team. Policies and controls
• Lead our KYC, AML and client monies handling policies, and keep them to a market leading standard.
• Make sure the procedures and controls behind them work in practice,



and that we keep the records required.
• Run a risk based monitoring programme: periodic KYC and AML file reviews, the attestations Sanlam requires, and findings documented, escalated and closed out.
• Work within Sanlam’s programmes while we are a corporate authorised representative. Once we hold our own licence, they are yours. Certification and training
• ISO 27001 sits with operations day to day. You set the compliance standard and step in where required. You also coordinate independent compliance reviews and close out what they find.
• Run the quarterly ISMS management review.
• Make sure you and the team complete the competency, CPD and compliance training Sanlam requires, and set our own programme once we hold the licence. Partners and regulators
• Meet our compliance reporting obligations to external partners, most of which run quarterly.
• Lead the Sanlam relationship day to day: regular meetings, reporting on staffing, resources, systems and compliance, and supporting their monitoring and audits.
• Assess incidents and potential breaches, run the investigation, and judge whether they are reportable. Report breaches, complaints and incidents to Sanlam promptly, as the CAR deed requires.
• Maintain the breach, complaints, incident and conflicts of interest registers. Once we hold our own licence, reportable situation notifications to ASIC are your responsibility.
• Handle audits, reviews and information requests from regulators and partners as they come up, including the evidence and the response.
• Lead the internal dispute resolution framework, handle complaints and AFCA matters, run any remediation, and respond to ASIC and other regulators. Governance
• Prepare the material for the Compliance Committee and lead the meetings. Report to the board on compliance risks, incidents, complaints, monitoring results and remediation.
• Keep the compliance calendar, obligations register and risk register current. What you need Essential
• You have five to seven years in compliance at a business that holds an AFSL, as a manager or as the compliance lead.
• You work well with creative teams. Finding a way to be compliant in Pearler’s voice, rather than flattening the work into legal copy, is the core of this job.
• You have working knowledge of the Corporations Act, the ASIC regulatory guides that apply to a retail investment platform, design and distribution obligations, complaints handling, anti money laundering and the supervision of authorised representatives.
• You know how stockbroking operations work, including trade execution,



clearing and settlement, client account administration, and the controls around them.
• You move at the pace of a growth team.
• Where the answer is no, you say so early and explain why.
• You are comfortable being the only compliance person. The role is hands-on with no compliance team behind you.
• You explain compliance simply to people who do not work in it. Desirable
• You have taken an AFSL application or variation through ASIC, or built the systems and evidence one needs.
• You have ISO 27001 experience, including preparing for and leading audits.
• You have worked at a startup or a scale up, and with brokerage, managed funds or investment platforms.
• You have dealt with ASIC and AFCA directly.
• You have an interest in personal finance, and you invest in shares or ETFs yourself.
• You have acted as a Responsible Manager in prior roles.
• Worked with systems such as Slack, Linear and Claude Cowork. How we use AI
• We use AI heavily and expect this role to do the same.
• We give you the tools we use and expect them to be part of how you work.
• However, the output is yours. AI can draft, summarise and check, but you are accountable for what goes out and should be able to show your reasoning. What success looks like
• In the first three months, marketing and growth come to you rather than the founders, reviews turn around in days, and the compliance calendar and obligations register are in place.
• In the first six months, campaign and product reviews are routine, the consultant has everything they need from us, the supporting policies, systems and evidence are in place, and the Compliance Committee runs to a set agenda.
• In the first twelve months, growth ships faster than it does today with fewer compliance surprises, the application is submitted with nothing waiting on us, and reporting goes out on time without chasing. Package and conditions
• Salary band: $170,000 to $190,000 a year full time equivalent, plus superannuation. At four days a week that is about $136,000 to $152,000, and at three days about $102,000 to $114,000.
• Hours: Part time, 3 to 4 days a week, with room to go up as the work grows. Days can flex week to week, and we will agree a pattern that keeps you reachable for anything urgent.
• Equity: All permanent employees that pass probation are offered equity.
• Leave: Your contract sets out your leave, and you also receive 10 days of bonus leave a year assuming you’ve used up all annual leave for that FY.
• Office: Darlinghurst, Sydney. This role is mainly office based, because the work sits next to the growth and creative teams, however, we may make exceptions for the right candidate

How to apply
• Send your CV and a short covering note to [email protected] addressed to Delzad Dubash and Amanda Roberts
• In the note, tell us about a time you found a compliant way to do something the business wanted, rather than blocking it.

📌 Head of Compliance (Sydney)
🏢 Pearler
📍 Sydney