Anti Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) Jobs

Mission and mandate

AMLA was established by Regulation (EU) 2024/1620 of 31 May 2024 as part of the EU's 'AML package', a four-instrument legislative reform that also created the AML Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/1624) directly applicable to obliged entities, the sixth AML Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/1640) on national AML supervisors and FIUs, and a Regulation on fund-transfer information for crypto-asset transfers.

The Authority has three mandates that operate in parallel. First, direct supervision: from 2028 AMLA will be the prudential and conduct AML/CFT supervisor of selected obliged entities chosen on a risk basis, with around 40 entities targeted in the first selection round. These will include large cross-border banks, payment service providers, crypto-asset service providers, and other high-risk obliged entities. Direct supervision means AMLA (not the national competent authority) runs on-site inspections, takes enforcement action, and imposes administrative pecuniary sanctions.

Second, indirect supervision: AMLA coordinates and oversees the work of national supervisors of obliged entities not under direct AMLA supervision, conducts peer reviews, issues binding mediation in cross-border disagreements, and can request a national supervisor to take specific action. This is the day-job from 2025 onwards.

Third, FIU coordination: AMLA hosts the Support and Coordination Mechanism for the EU's network of Financial Intelligence Units, runs FIU.net (taken over from Europol after the EDPS challenge to Europol's data-protection mandate), and promotes joint analyses of cross-border suspicious transaction reports. The FIU mandate is operational from day one and is the most directly useful function for member states facing concrete cross-border money-laundering cases.

AMLA's governing structure mirrors the European Central Bank's SSM model: an Executive Board of five members (the Chair and four full-time members appointed by the Council on a Parliament-vetted shortlist) leads day-to-day operations; a General Board in supervisory composition (the heads of national AML supervisors) takes the high-impact supervisory decisions for entities under direct supervision; and a separate General Board in FIU composition (the heads of national FIUs) governs the FIU coordination mandate.

Structure and operational divisions

AMLA's internal organisation, as built up across 2024 to 2026, is grouped into five directorates. The Direct Supervision Directorate is the largest at full ramp-up and houses the Joint Supervisory Teams (JSTs) that will supervise each selected obliged entity from 2028. Each JST is staffed by AMLA officers and seconded supervisors from the national authorities of the member states where the entity operates, replicating the ECB Single Supervisory Mechanism's JST model. These JSTs are the agency's most distinctive and largest hiring stream from 2026 onwards.

The Indirect Supervision and FIU Cooperation Directorate runs the oversight, peer-review, and mediation functions for national supervisors and hosts the FIU Support and Coordination Mechanism. This directorate is staffed from 2025 and includes the operational FIU.net team relocated to Frankfurt from The Hague.

The Policy and Methodology Directorate develops AMLA's regulatory and supervisory methodology, supervisory handbooks, risk-assessment models, sanctioning policies, technical standards drafted in cooperation with the European Banking Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority. This is the most attractive directorate for candidates with a financial-regulatory policy background.

The Resources, Information Management and Operations Directorate provides IT, HR, finance, procurement, and corporate services. AMLA is building its own supervisory IT stack from scratch and is one of the largest greenfield IT projects in the EU agency landscape; it is also a substantial FG IV and FG III hiring channel.

The Legal and Litigation Directorate handles AMLA's internal legal advice, drafts implementing acts and technical standards, and represents the Authority before the Boards of Appeal and the EU Courts. Selected supervisory decisions can be challenged before AMLA's Administrative Board of Review, which mirrors the model in place at the ECB and EBA.

Hiring landscape over the last 12 months

AMLA is the single fastest-growing hiring source in the EU agency landscape in 2025 to 2026. The Authority is on a target headcount of around 430 staff by end-2027 and around 200 by end-2025, against a starting baseline of effectively zero in mid-2024. That means roughly 200 net hires per year over the build-up phase.

The hiring mix tilts heavily towards experienced AD hires: AD7 to AD9 supervisors and analysts in the supervisory directorates, AD9 to AD10 senior supervisors who will lead JST workstreams, AD12 heads of unit, and a small number of AD14 to AD15 director-level posts that are typically filled by mobility from the ECB, the European Supervisory Authorities, and senior national supervisors. The contract-agent share is concentrated in IT (FG IV), data analytics (FG IV), and corporate services (FG II to FG IV).

Three streams worth flagging. First, the Joint Supervisory Team build-up: AMLA is publishing vacancy notices for AML supervisors with prudential supervision experience, ideally from the ECB SSM, EBA, or large national prudential supervisors. Second, the FIU.net relocation and rebuild: data engineering, secure-platform, and FIU operational analyst posts are open continuously. Third, policy and methodology hiring is concentrated around technical standards under the AML Regulation and the sixth AML Directive, with notices for senior policy officers with drafting experience at the European Supervisory Authorities or the Commission's DG FISMA being especially competitive.

Salary realism by grade and the Frankfurt coefficient

AMLA staff are paid under the EU Staff Regulations like any other agency, with the same step grids: AD5 €6,153, AD7 €7,876, AD9 €10,083, AD12 €13,830 at step 1 of the 2024/2025 grid; FG IV €4,449. The Frankfurt duty-station correction coefficient is 99.2, effectively Brussels parity, which is unusually generous for a non-Brussels duty station and reflects Frankfurt's high cost of living.

In practice an AD9 step 1 in Frankfurt grosses €10,083 × 0.992 = €10,002 monthly basic; with expatriation (16%) and a household allowance the on-paper figure typically lands around €13,000 to €14,500 gross monthly. An AD12 step 1 grosses €13,830 × 0.992 = €13,719; that head-of-unit pay places AMLA at the upper end of agency packages, materially above EBA in Paris on a coefficient-adjusted basis and close to ECB-staff packages for equivalent functions.

The Frankfurt cost-of-living reality is real: Frankfurt rents on a two-bedroom apartment in central districts run roughly twice Warsaw and roughly equal to Brussels; international-school fees are high but largely covered by the education allowance; transport and groceries sit between Brussels and Paris. For staff relocating from a non-eurozone duty station the expatriation allowance and tax-free EU income tax regime materially compound the headline number; for staff already resident in Frankfurt (the ECB feeder effect is strong) the move is broadly cost-neutral relative to the ECB.

Languages, security clearance, and competition profile

English is the working language of the Authority. Knowledge of a second EU language is the standard regulatory minimum for AD and FG roles under the Staff Regulations; in practice AMLA's day-to-day operation is conducted in English and a second language is not gating for most posts. For staff working on FIU coordination, knowledge of a second major language (French, German, Italian, Spanish) is a meaningful asset given the case workload.

Most AMLA staff are required to hold an EU security clearance at EU Confidential or EU Secret depending on function. Clearance is granted by the home member state and can take six to twelve months, occasionally longer; AMLA can recruit candidates pending clearance for non-classified work in the interim. Senior FIU operational posts and selected enforcement posts require EU Secret.

AMLA is not recruited via EPSO. All vacancies are advertised directly on the Authority's vacancy portal at amla.europa.eu and shared on the EU Careers platform. Selection processes are run in-house. The competition profile in 2025 to 2026 is unusual: a relatively small EU candidate pool with specific AML/CFT supervisory experience means well-credentialed candidates from national supervisors, FIUs, the ECB SSM, and the European Supervisory Authorities often progress quickly through structured selection; the agency has also opened to private-sector candidates from large banks' AML compliance functions, audit firms' financial-crime advisory teams, and law firms with significant AML practices.

Application paths

There are three routes into AMLA. Temporary agent (TA): the primary route for AD5 to AD14 and FG IV specialist posts. Apply directly on the Authority's vacancy portal in response to a published notice; expect a CV-and-motivation-letter screening, a written test or case study (frequently a real-life AML supervisory scenario), and a structured competency-based interview. Reserve lists from a TA selection are typically valid for two to four years and can be used to fill additional posts in the same job family.

Contract agent (CA): a smaller share of AMLA hiring but a viable route into IT (FG IV), data analytics (FG III to FG IV), corporate services (FG II to FG IV), and junior analyst posts (FG III to FG IV). Candidates apply via CAST Permanent (EPSO's standing pool) and AMLA selects from the pool, or AMLA publishes specific CA notices.

Seconded national experts (SNE): national AML supervisors and FIU staff can be seconded to AMLA for two-to-four-year tours under SNE arrangements. This is a particularly important channel during the build-up phase, both because it brings operational expertise the Authority does not yet have in-house and because secondment back to the home authority preserves national career capital. SNE postings are coordinated through national points of contact and published on the AMLA vacancy portal.

A practical note for candidates: AMLA's first cohort of supervisory hires has skewed heavily towards mid-career AD9 and AD10 candidates with 8 to 15 years of supervisory experience. Early-career AD5 to AD7 hiring is concentrated in policy/methodology and FIU analyst roles. The agency does not at this stage run open-ended traineeship or graduate programmes, although these are expected to follow once the structural build-up settles.