Internal Controls and Assurance Associate

About us

Over the last 18 years, we have helped over a million satisfied customers move and manage their money. Our award-winning product portfolio allows our customers to make low-cost multi-currency payments across various payment products. From travel money to transfers, currency hedging, to expense management, we are focused on a single goal of making it easy for our customers to manage and move their money.

As a business, we are committed to delivering value to our customers through the combination of advanced payments technology and personal expert service. We’re doing this by hiring exceptional people and are now looking for an Internal Controls and Assurance Associate to join our team.

Within our offices in London, Chester and Los Angeles and Europe, Equals comprises of three business lines and brands - Equals Money, FairFX and CardOneMoney. You will join a very close-knit, talented and supportive team from various backgrounds who believe that bringing different perspectives together helps us understand our customers & needs. United, by one thing, making money management straightforward and cost-effective for our customers.

About the role

At Equals, we are building the future of smarter, connected finance - combining payments, banking, and FX services for modern businesses. The Internal Controls & Assurance Associate plays a key role in safeguarding our operations and ensuring that our control environment remains robust, scalable, and compliant as we grow. You’ll support the design, implementation, and monitoring of internal control frameworks across financial, operational, and regulatory processes. This role offers exposure across the business - from Finance and Treasury to Product, Engineering, and Operations - and will be integral to driving control excellence and continuous improvement.

About you

We believe that certain skills are essential in order to be successful in this role, and these are detailed below. You may not have all the other skills we have outlined as desirable; we understand that and will still welcome your application. We will carry out individual interviews for shortlisted candidates and assess who is best suited for the role after we have discussed everything with you.

Responsibilities

1. Internal Controls Framework

• Support the design, documentation, and maintenance of the Group’s internal control framework.

• Conduct periodic control testing and risk-based reviews to ensure compliance with FCA, PSD2, AML, and financial reporting standards.

• Identify control weaknesses, recommend improvements, and track remediation progress with process owners.

• Assist in developing new control processes as the business launches new financial products or expands internationally.

2. Assurance & Risk Monitoring

• Perform assurance reviews across business units, focusing on high-risk and high-impact processes (e.g., payments operations, reconciliations, safeguarding, data integrity, AML etc.).

• Support the delivery of the annual internal assurance plan, Outcomes testing in coordination with the Group Risk and Compliance teams.

• Maintain the control testing and issues logs, ensuring timely follow-up and closure of assurance findings.

• Contribute to ongoing risk assessments, control self-assessments (CSA), and governance reporting.

• Complete thematic reviews in line with monitoring plans.

3. Reporting & Analysis

• Prepare concise and insightful assurance reports for senior management.

• Contribute to monthly/quarterly/Annual control dashboards, Consumer duty MI and continuous monitoring metrics.

• Assist in preparing materials for internal and external audit reviews.

4. Collaboration & Continuous Improvement

• Partner with Finance, Compliance, Product, and Technology teams to embed controls early in new processes and systems.

• Promote awareness and training on internal controls and assurance practices across the business.

• Support automation of assurance testing and documentation within the GRC function.

• Contribute to a culture of transparency, accountability, and control innovation within the organisation.

• Work with 1st Line teams to develop frameworks for quality assurance and quality control.

Accountabilities

• Delivering timely, accurate, and complete control testing in line with the annual plan.

• Contributing to the delivery of assurance reviews and control self-assessments, ensuring findings are communicated clearly and remediations tracked to closure.

• Producing concise and high-quality reports and insights for management

• Ensuring controls align with FCA requirements, safeguarding regulations, and financial reporting standards.

• Building strong working relationships with control owners, Finance, Operations, and Compliance to foster shared accountability for control effectiveness.

• Identifying opportunities to enhance processes, automate control monitoring, and streamline assurance activities.

Essential Skills

• Degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or a related discipline.

• 2–4 years of experience in internal controls, audit, 2 nd Line assurance/thematic reviews or risk management (ideally within fintech, payments, or regulated financial services).

• Familiarity with control and assurance frameworks (e.g.FCA SYSC guidelines).

• Understanding of AML and other risks.

• Understanding of the financial control environment, safeguarding rules, and reconciliation processes.

• Strong analytical, organisational, and stakeholder management skills.

• Proficiency in Excel, word, power point is essential.

• High integrity, with a strong sense of accountability.

• Collaborative mindset, able to build positive relationships across teams.

• Attention to detail, with the ability to think critically and identify root causes.

• Curious, proactive, and adaptable — comfortable operating in a fast-moving fintech environment.

• Passionate about improving controls and ensuring operational excellence.

• A role model for our values:

  • Make it happen

  • Succeed together

  • Be the customer 

  • Go beyond

Desirable Skills

• Professional certifications (e.g. CIA, CRMA) are an advantage.

Our investment in you

We welcome people into Equals and desire to grow and develop our talented teams. We believe in teamwork and celebrating our successes. We strive to embrace our values. We want to put you in the driving seat of your career and achieve your full potential through growth opportunities and developmental support.

When you join Equals, we aim to help you to get more out of your career. We will also offer you the following benefits.

Benefits

• A competitive salary benchmarked against a peer group.

• 25 days holiday per year + your birthday off.

• Opportunities for progression, development and learning new skills - individual budgets towards the cost of learning & development.

• Interbank currency rates on travel money and international transfers.

• Meal Vouchers*.

• Eco Cheques*.

• Group Insurance *.

• Insurance cover (hospitalisation, work accident and business travel)*.

• Homeworking allowance*.

• Bike allowance*.

• We operate a hybrid working arrangement where possible.

Working Arrangements

Where possible, we offer the opportunity to work flexibly and the opportunity to balance some remote working with time in the office collaborating, taking part in events and developing the social connections that make working with us rewarding.

Equals Group strives to create a workplace where we can all be ourselves. We believe in inclusion, equality and the power of diversity, so you'll be encouraged to bring your unique perspectives and experiences, and help us understand what you need to do your best work.

No agency support required at this time - thank you.