Senior Crypto Threat Analyst - Sanctions
Elliptic · Washington, United States · 1mo ago
Do you want to be at the forefront of combating crypto-enabled sanctions evasion? Are you excited about leading the intelligence research that helps financial institutions and governments disrupt illicit financial networks? Are you looking for a values-led company that trusts you to own your domain and make a real impact?
The impact you will have:
Join Elliptic's Intelligence team as the go-to subject matter expert (SME) on cryptoasset sanctions. Sitting at Senior level, you will own Elliptic's end-to-end coverage of sanctioned entities, jurisdictions, and evasion typologies, and translate that expertise into high-quality analytical outputs, scalable monitoring processes, and clear internal and external communications.
Your work will directly strengthen the intelligence dataset that underpins our products, helping hundreds of financial institutions, exchanges, and government agencies take defensible sanctions-compliance decisions every day.
You will coach and collaborate with colleagues across the Intelligence function, contribute to cross-functional initiatives with Product, Engineering, and Customer teams, and represent Elliptic's capabilities to clients, regulators, and industry partners.
What you will do:
Serve as the go-to SME on global sanctions regimes, applying your expertise independently to resolve complex analytical questions and produce reliable outputs without requiring senior oversight on domain-level judgements.
Own and document a comprehensive coverage framework for global sanctions designation regimes.
Lead end-to-end investigations into cryptoasset exposure to sanctioned entities, state-linked actors, high-risk jurisdictions, and evasion networks, owning the full project lifecycle from scoping through to final output.
Define and drive the evolution of Elliptic's sanctions monitoring operating model.
Proactively identify and remediate coverage gaps across regimes and designating authorities.
Coach and mentor more junior colleagues within the Intelligence function, sharing domain knowledge and contributing to a consistently high standard of analytical practice.
Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Customer teams to translate sanctions intelligence into platform capabilities.
Produce written intelligence outputs including reports, briefings, blogs, whitepapers, and client-facing content.
Represent Elliptic's sanctions intelligence at industry events, client briefings, and regulatory engagements.
What you will achieve in the first 6 months:
Have a thorough understanding of Elliptic's monitoring approach, our coverage framework, monitoring cadence and source-of-truth references.
Contribute to external-facing research output on sanctioned entities or emerging threats, such as a blog post, research report, or client briefing.
You will be a great fit here if:
You are the kind of person others turn to for sanctions expertise and can own domain-level judgements end-to-end, independently.
You proactively close knowledge and coverage gaps rather than escalating them, and treat systemic risks as personal accountabilities.
You are comfortable translating deep domain expertise into scalable processes, automation requirements, and clear written outputs for diverse audiences.
You communicate complex sanctions topics with precision and clarity, adapting your approach for technical and non-technical stakeholders inside and outside Elliptic.
You enjoy working collaboratively across functions and contribute readily to product, engineering, and customer conversations grounded in your domain knowledge.
You take initiative on emerging topics and cross-functional projects rather than waiting to be directed.
You are curious about how sanctioned actors and networks exploit the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Our ideal candidate has:
Significant professional experience as an intelligence analyst, investigator, or compliance specialist in sanctions compliance, financial crime, law enforcement, or the crypto industry.
Demonstrated, independent subject matter expertise in global sanctions regimes, including practical knowledge of OFAC, UK, EU, and UN frameworks and the operational distinctions between autonomous designating authorities and supranational regimes.
Experience designing or improving monitoring and alerting frameworks, triage processes, or investigation playbooks in a compliance or intelligence context.
Proven ability to identify systemic coverage risks and drive durable remediation, including process improvement and automation planning.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a track record of producing high-quality, stakeholder-ready outputs independently and to deadline.
Proficiency with blockchain analytics tools, open-source intelligence (OSINT), corporate registries, and adverse media sources.
AI fluency is essential for this role. You must be able to demonstrate your ability to effectively apply AI tools and approaches relevant to intelligence analysis, including using AI to accelerate research workflows, pattern identification, OSINT processing, and the drafting of written outputs.
Bonus Points for:
Direct experience with researching sanctions evasion typologies involving state-linked actors, procurement networks, critical technology supply chains, or high-risk financial intermediaries.
Experience with automated sanctions list monitoring, cross-referencing tooling, or detection logic design.
Technical understanding of cryptoassets, blockchain architecture, and on-chain analytics methodologies.
Benefits:
> How we work:
Hybrid working: The option to work from almost anywhere for up to 90 days per year.
Remote Work Budget: $650 budget to set up your home office space.
> Learning & Development:
L&D Budget: $1,000 annual Learning & Development budget to use on anything (agreed with your manager) that contributes to your growth and development.
> Vacation / Leave:
Holidays: 25 days of annual leave + 8 US Public Holidays.
Birthday Leave: An extra day off for your birthday.
Enhanced Parental Leave: We provide eligible employees, regardless of gender or whether they become a parent by birth or adoption, 16 weeks fully-paid leave.
> Benefits:
Healthcare: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage through a range of providers (including Tufts, Kaiser, Aetna, UHC, and Blue Shield of CA) with generous premium contributions for you and your dependents.
401k: Company match included.
Mental Health: Full access to Spill mental health support.
We know Diversity and Inclusion is much deeper than just hiring, but it’s important for us to mention it here. We welcome and embrace individuals of all backgrounds and identities at Elliptic, and this is an ongoing priority for us. We know incredible people don’t all think in the same way. We want to be challenged every day. We believe our diverse team of individuals underpins this by bringing creative thinking and innovation to Elliptic every day. We are committed to creating a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace, so we welcome applications from everyone, even if you may not think you fit all of the requirements of our roles. We foster an environment of psychological safety, where everyone feels comfortable to bring their whole self to work.