ACAMS
Building the revenue engine behind global fraud expansion.
ACAMS is a global leader in anti-financial crime education and certification. Operating across the US, UK, APAC and EMEA, the organisation provides training, accreditation and industry events for compliance, risk and fraud professionals working within banks, fintechs, payments firms and government institutions.
Known for its anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) certifications, ACAMS sits at the centre of the regulated financial ecosystem.
As scrutiny around financial crime intensified globally, the business evolved beyond traditional compliance training into a broader SaaS-enabled membership and fraud education platform, positioning itself as a strategic partner to financial institutions navigating complex regulatory environments.
The Challenge
The appointment of a new Chief Revenue Officer gave the company a new challenge, to accelerate global growth and expand ACAMS’ commercial footprint.
Historically dominant in AML and compliance accreditation, ACAMS identified a significant opportunity in dedicated fraud training, covering transaction monitoring, behavioural analytics, screening and fraud network detection. Entering this adjacent vertical meant new commercial capability, regional leadership and enterprise-level sales expertise.
The business faced several strategic pressures:
- Expanding into a new product vertical (fraud) with a distinct buyer persona
- Scaling commercial teams across multiple global regions simultaneously
- Ensuring leadership stability during a period of rapid growth
- Transitioning from legacy accreditation revenue to broader SaaS-enabled offerings
ACAMS required a search partner that understood regulated financial services markets, enterprise sales dynamics and the subtleties of selling into compliance and risk functions. And had the network of people to choose from.
The Solution
Engage PSG Search partnered with ACAMS on a retained basis, operating as a strategic extension of the CRO’s talent team.
Enterprise Commercial Build-Out (UK)
To launch the new fraud module into the UK market, Engage delivered an Enterprise Client Partner with deep experience selling complex regulatory and fraud solutions into financial institutions.
Rather than targeting generic SaaS sales talent, the search focused on individuals who understood:
- The internal dynamics of compliance and fraud teams
- Regulatory buying cycles within banks and fintechs
- The language of AML, KYC and transaction monitoring
- Enterprise procurement frameworks within regulated institutions
This required competitor mapping across adjacent fraud technology, data and compliance vendors, identifying commercially credible profiles who could translate technical fraud capability into board-level value.
Regional Sales Leadership (APAC & EMEA)
As growth accelerated, Engage also supported senior leadership hires across APAC and EMEA, including VP-level mandates.
These searches required the identification of leaders with both regional and global expertise who were capable of building teams, not just inheriting them. Throughout, Engage PSG operated on a retained model, enabling deeper market intelligence, structured search methodology and access to passive senior talent pools that would not typically engage through contingent processes.
The Outcome
The impact was clearly visible with the successful UK launch of the fraud module through dedicated enterprise sales capability, as well as enhanced commercial infrastructure through the Revenue Operations support.
What began as a growth mandate evolved into a long-term strategic relationship. Engage became the go-to partner for critical revenue hires across key global markets. The relationship remains active, a reflection of trust built not on transactional recruitment, but on strategic alignment during a pivotal phase of global expansion.
