KYC - Executive Director - Operations

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services.

As a market leader, the talent and passion of our people is critical to our success. Together, we share a common set of values rooted in integrity, excellence, and strong team ethics. We can provide a superior foundation for building a professional career - a place for people to learn, to achieve and grow. A philosophy that balances personal lifestyles, perspectives and needs is an important part of our culture.

Role Details

Client Onboarding & Regulatory Data Services (CORDS) is an Operations division responsible for delivering the firm's regulatory client onboarding, refresh and screening obligations across the client lifecycle.

KYC Refresh supports critical regulatory compliance requirements across local and global jurisdictions through a rigorous control framework designed to verify client identity, validate business activity, and maintain high standards of risk management and data integrity.

The KYC Refresh Governance team provides global first-line oversight across Data & Document Refresh (DDR) and Event-Driven Review (EDR) activities, ensuring the firm meets its KYC obligations through disciplined governance of the end-to-end refresh lifecycle. This includes oversight of planning, scheduling, allocation, adherence, population scoping, risk identification, consequence management, reporting, escalation and execution transparency to support timely and controlled completion of all KYC reviews.

Morgan Stanley is seeking an experienced and highly credible Executive Director to lead the KYC Refresh Governance function in Mumbai. This role has responsibility for driving disciplined first-line governance across one of the firm's most critical regulatory control programmes. The successful candidate will partner closely with senior stakeholders across Operations, Business Units, Financial Crime and regional leadership teams to strengthen execution transparency, manage regulatory delivery risk and shape the future governance model for KYC Refresh.

What will you be doing?

• Help lead a global governance function responsible for execution oversight, risk transparency and delivery discipline across KYC Refresh, EDR, remediation and special project populations.
• Own adherence to regulatory and target deadlines, acting as a senior escalation point for delivery risk and ensuring timely identification, escalation and resolution of ageing, at-risk or blocked cases and control weaknesses.
• Oversee global governance reporting and insight production, ensuring daily reporting, weekly metrics packs, dashboards and senior governance submissions provide clear visibility of progress, risks, trends and required actions.
• Partner with senior stakeholders across KYC Production, Business Units, Global Financial Crimes, Operations Risk and regional leadership to drive aligned decision-making, clear ownership and timely resolution of execution risks.
• Shape and continuously improve the KYC Refresh governance model, including planning disciplines, reporting standards, metrics, RAG methodologies and early-warning indicators.
• Provide robust senior challenge, risk assessment and remediation oversight to ensure regulatory commitments are met in a controlled and timely manner.
• Strengthen data integrity, reporting accuracy and process discipline across core governance tools, automation workflows and management information platforms.
• Lead issue management, escalation pathways and continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen controls, standards and end-to-end governance effectiveness. What we're looking for:
• Demonstrate ability to interpret, challenge and synthesize complex operational data to inform senior decision-making and strategic action.
• Proven ability to lead global or regional operations teams in a complex, high-volume, deadline-driven environment.
• Strong first-line risk and control judgement, with the ability to identify systemic issues, challenge execution quality and drive sustainable remediation.
• Ability to translate complex operational data, production metrics, throughput trends and capacity forecasts into clear insights, risk narratives and senior management action.
• Executive presence and credibility with senior stakeholders, with the ability to influence decision-making, drive alignment and secure ownership across business, operations and control functions.
• Track record of leading teams through transformation, operating model change, process enhancement and large-scale remediation programmes.
• Clear, concise and credible communication style, with the ability to frame complex risks and execution issues for senior governance forums.
• Resilient, accountable and commercially pragmatic, with the judgement to balance delivery pace, regulatory expectations, operational risk and control discipline.

Skills that will help you in the role:

• Strong analytical capability, with experience interpreting large operational datasets, dashboards and workflow outputs.
• Working knowledge of core governance and reporting tools, including Python/Alteryx workflows and Power BI.
• Experience designing or enhancing dashboards, workflow reporting, RAG methodologies and early-warning indicators.
• Highly effective stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build consensus across global teams and functions.
• Strategic planning capability across refresh cycles, capacity modelling, volume forecasting and scheduling frameworks.
• Strong operational risk awareness, with the ability to identify ageing, bottlenecks and control weaknesses and implement corrective action.
• Comfort operating in a high-pressure, deadline-driven environment with strong discipline and prioritization.
• Excellent written communication skills for executive updates, governance packs and escalation materials.
• A strong commitment to transparency, accountability and control excellence across the end-to-end refresh lifecycle.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM MORGAN STANLEY:

At Morgan Stanley, we raise, manage and allocate capital for our clients – helping them reach their goals. We do it in a way that’s differentiated – and we’ve done that for 90 years.  Our values - putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back - aren’t just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what's best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries. At Morgan Stanley, you’ll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and empowered. Our teams are relentless collaborators and creative thinkers, fueled by their diverse backgrounds and experiences. We are proud to support our employees and their families at every point along their work-life journey, offering some of the most attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry. There’s also ample opportunity to move about the business for those who show passion and grit in their work.

To learn more about our offices across the globe, please copy and paste https://www.morganstanley.com/about-us/global-offices​ into your browser.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workforce that is diverse in experience and background.  Our recruiting efforts reflect our strong commitment to a culture of inclusion, where individuals are hired, developed, and advanced based on their skills and talents.

Our workforce reflects a broad cross-section of the global communities in which we operate, bringing a variety of backgrounds, talents, perspectives, and experiences.

For more information, please visit: https://www.morganstanley.com/people-opportunities/eeo.