Tiago Gonçalves
Braga,11
Summary
Results-driven AML Specialist and 2LOD Escalation Officer with three years of experience in Financial Crime and Risk Governance. Advanced from frontline Analyst to regulatory-facing Escalation Officer, authoring Suspicious Activity Reports and collaborating with law enforcement. Utilizes investigative expertise and technical skills (SQL, Looker, App Script) to enhance compliance processes and improve investigative efficiency.
Overview
4
4
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Escalation Officer
Revolut
Dublin, Ireland
08.2025 - Current
- Regulatory Investigations: Lead deep-dive, high-stakes AML/CFT investigations escalated from 1LOD, applying advanced analytical techniques to identify layering, structuring, and sophisticated typologies across multi-jurisdictional account profiles - contributing to a 5% improvement in detection accuracy across the Line of Business.
- SAR Architecture: Author, review, and submit Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) to regulatory authorities across 100+ cases per month, ensuring meticulous narrative precision, evidential completeness, and strict adherence to statutory reporting deadlines - achieving a zero-deficiency record across all quality reviews.
- Technical Innovation: Spearheaded the design and deployment of internal Looker dashboards and App Script-powered workflow automation tools, delivering a 15% reduction in average investigation turnaround time and a 10% uplift in detection flag accuracy.
- Risk Governance: Scrutinised and stress-tested existing AML/CFT frameworks and investigative playbooks, identifying systemic operational gaps and delivering strategic recommendations that materially strengthened the organisation's 2LOD risk posture.
- Coordinated over 60 regulatory requests per quarter with external regulatory bodies and law enforcement agencies, managing sensitive information-sharing and production orders while ensuring compliance with data protection frameworks.
- Partnered with MLRO to resolve complex, high-risk financial crime cases escalated from first line of defence, ensuring thorough investigation and compliance.
AML/CFT Subject Matter Expert (SME)
Revolut
Braga, Portugal
12.2023 - 07.2025
- Promoted to SME following strong analytical performance; led quality assurance, developed team capabilities, and optimised processes across AML operations.
- Customer Due Diligence: Delivered end-to-end KYC, CDD, EDD, and adverse-media screening (PEP & Sanctions) across 300+ complex individual and corporate customer portfolios, referring high-risk profiles for escalation in line with regulatory requirements and internal risk appetite.
- Investigations & Compliance: Directed AML compliance investigations, synthesising transactional data, open-source intelligence, and internal signals to produce well-evidenced case narratives - driving a 5% reduction in false-positive rates and a measurable improvement in case closure quality.
- Designed and delivered onboarding and upskilling programmes for 70+ team members across 20 cohorts, achieving 5% uplift in first-time quality pass rates while ensuring audit-ready compliance knowledge.
- Performance Management: Engineered and sustained real-time performance monitoring frameworks tracking SLA adherence and KPI attainment, enabling data-driven interventions that produced a 6% improvement in team throughput and operational accuracy.
- Audit & Quality Assurance: Executed structured Root Cause Analyses (RCAs) and internal compliance audits to surface procedural failures, devising and embedding corrective controls that closed 5+ recurring compliance gaps within the review period.
- Knowledge Management: Curated and updated the team's Confluence knowledge base with current operational procedures, policy changes, and regulatory guidance - establishing it as the authoritative internal reference for the wider AML operations function.
AML/CTF Retail FinCrime Analyst
Revolut
Braga, Portugal
01.2022 - 12.2023
- Triaged and adjudicated 60 transaction monitoring alerts per week generated by automated detection systems, applying AML/CTF typology knowledge to accurately distinguish genuine financial crime risk from false positives - maintaining quality scores 98% above the team benchmark.
- Executed transaction monitoring, customer screening, and case triage within 1LOD financial crime operations, contributing to effective risk management.
- Conducted customer screening against 5+ global sanctions, PEP, and adverse media watchlists, escalating confirmed hits to senior analysts while maintaining thorough audit trails in compliance with internal policy.
- Supported the timely triage and documentation of customer risk cases within JIRA, achieving 95% SLA compliance and authoring well-structured case notes that facilitated efficient downstream review and escalation.
Education
ICA - Certificate in Anti-Money Laundering -
International Compliance Association / University of Manchester
Manchester07-2025
Bachelor's Degree - Taxation
Instituto Politécnico Do Cávado E Do Ave
Braga11-2016
Skills
- AML/CFT Risk Governance (2LOD)
- Anti-money laundering
- Regulatory compliance
- KYC screening
- Customer due diligence
- Risk assessment
- Data analysis
- Case Documentation
- Report writing
- Report preparation
- Regulatory & Law Enforcement Liaison
- Team Leadership & Training
Certification
- ICA - Certificate in Anti-Money Laundering, International Compliance Association / University of Manchester, 07/25
- ICA - Associate Membership, International Compliance Association, 07/25
- Mastering Open Source Intelligence - The OSINT Handbook, Packt, 04/26
- Source and Application of Funds Analysis, Basel Institute on Governance, 03/25
- Operational Analysis of Suspicious Transaction Reports, Basel Institute on Governance, 03/25
- Open-Source Intelligence, Basel Institute on Governance, 03/25
- Forensic Accounting and Fraud Examination, West Virginia University / Coursera, 08/24
- Corporate Fraud: Detect, Prevent & Implement Controls, EDUCBA, 02/26
- Financial Crime & Compliance, Financial Crime Academy, 08/24
- AML Compliance in Practice: Suspicious Activity Reports, Financial Crime Academy, 06/24
- AML Case Investigation Skills, Udemy, 04/24
- The Ultimate Guide to Money Laundering and AML Compliance, Financial Crime Academy, 01/24
- What is Compliance?, University of Pennsylvania / Coursera, 08/24
- Financial Analysis in Excel, Basel Institute on Governance, 03/25
- SQL Practice: Basic Queries, LinkedIn Learning, 07/25
- Fintech Essentials, LinkedIn Learning, 06/25
References
Available upon request
Tools And Technology
- Looker
- SQL
- Google App Script
- Google Sheets
- JIRA
- Confluence
- Atlassian Suite
- Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) Methodologies
- PEP & Sanctions Screening Platforms
Languages
English
Proficient (C2)
C2
Spanish
Beginner
A1
Portuguese
Native
Native
Timeline
Escalation Officer
Revolut
08.2025 - Current
AML/CFT Subject Matter Expert (SME)
Revolut
12.2023 - 07.2025
AML/CTF Retail FinCrime Analyst
Revolut
01.2022 - 12.2023
ICA - Certificate in Anti-Money Laundering -
International Compliance Association / University of Manchester
Bachelor's Degree - Taxation
Instituto Politécnico Do Cávado E Do Ave