Head of Compliance: Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF)

Reports to:

Regional Head of Compliance, EMEA (with matrix reporting to the OEM Board and Global Compliance)

Regulator:

Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA)

About the Team

The compliance function at OKX is responsible for the overall compliance culture at the company. We are a team of risk-minded problem solvers who advise the business on the company's AML and regulatory obligations and enterprise risks.

OKX Europe Markets Limited is our MFSA-authorised investment services entity. Its licence covers the operation of a multilateral trading facility alongside our MiFID derivatives business. Operating a trading venue puts a distinct set of obligations on the firm: venue rulebook governance, member admission, market surveillance, transparency and reporting, systems resilience and orderly trading controls. This role owns compliance for that venue.

What You Will Be Doing

• As Head of Compliance for the MTF, you will hold the MiFID compliance function for the trading venue and act as the MFSA-approved person for that role. The MLRO function sits separately; you will work alongside the OEM MLRO on financial crime matters that touch venue activity.

You will:

• Own the MTF compliance framework end to end: policies, procedures, controls, registers and the compliance monitoring programme covering MiFID II, MiFIR, MAR and the MFSA Investment Services Rules applicable to MTF operators.
• Act as the primary compliance point of contact for the MFSA on venue matters: authorisation variations, notifications, thematic reviews, RFIs, inspections and remediation.
• Own the venue rulebook. Keep it current, ensure it is enforceable, and run the governance process for changes.
• Oversee member and participant admission: eligibility criteria, non-discriminatory access, direct electronic access arrangements, sponsored access controls, and ongoing monitoring of members' compliance with the rules of the venue.
• Oversee admission to trading of financial instruments, including the compliance assessment of new instruments, product classes and tokenised or DLT-based instruments where relevant.
• Provide compliance oversight of orderly trading requirements: systems capacity and resilience, testing of members' algorithms, circuit breakers, order-to-trade ratios, tick sizes, market making schemes and clock synchronisation.
• Provide compliance oversight of pre- and post-trade transparency, waivers and deferrals, transaction reporting, reference data and the accuracy and completeness controls behind them.
• Advise the business on the interaction between the MTF and OKX's wider European footprint: the MiFID derivatives business, MiCA-authorised activity in OKX Europe Ltd, and the DLT Pilot Regime where a DLT MTF is in scope.
• Deliver the annual compliance risk assessment, the compliance monitoring plan and the compliance report to senior management and the Board.
• Build, lead and develop the MTF compliance team, and set the compliance training curriculum for venue-facing staff, trading operations and technology.
• Give day-to-day advice to product, engineering, trading operations, legal and market operations in a fast-moving regulatory environment, including sign-off on venue changes, launches and marketing where required.
• Oversee compliance aspects of outsourcing, critical third parties and operational resilience, including DORA obligations relevant to the venue.
• Prepare Board, committee and matrix stakeholder reporting, and represent OKX with the MFSA, ESMA consultations, industry bodies and peer venue forums.

What We Look For in You

• 10 years plus in regulatory compliance within financial services, market infrastructure, fintech or crypto, including time at a senior or head-of-function level.
• Direct experience of trading venue compliance: MTF, OTF, regulated market, SI or an equivalent execution venue. This is the core requirement.
• Working knowledge of MiFID II and MiFIR as they apply to venue operators: Articles 18–20 and 31 (MTF operating requirements and rule monitoring), Articles 48–50 (orderly trading), MiFIR transparency and transaction reporting, and the associated RTS.
• Practical experience of market abuse surveillance and MAR obligations for a venue operator, including STOR decision-making.
• Experience developing and owning a compliance framework that has stood up to regulatory examination, and a track record of engaging supervisors directly.
• Experience preparing and defending compliance reporting to a board or regulator.
• Familiarity with MFSA Investment Services Rules and Malta's regulatory environment, or a demonstrable ability to get there quickly from another EEA jurisdiction.
• Strong project management skills and the ability to run several regulatory workstreams to deadline.
• Comfortable working independently and in a dispersed, cross-border team across multiple varied tasks.
• Highly ethical, intuitive, and willing to question and challenge at every level of the business.
• Strong written and verbal communication, with the ability to explain venue regulation to engineers and commercial teams.
• Eligible for MFSA approval as the holder of the compliance function.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• Nice to Haves
• Prior experience in the crypto industry, particularly tokenised instruments, crypto derivatives or a MiCA-authorised trading platform.
• Experience with the DLT Pilot Regime or another distributed ledger market infrastructure.
• Experience of a trading venue authorisation or a licence variation to add MTF operation.
• Familiarity with surveillance platforms (Nasdaq Trade Surveillance, Eventus, Scila, Steeleye or similar) and with transaction reporting tooling.
• International Compliance Association, ACAMS, CISI or equivalent compliance certification.