About Us:
Founded in 2018, headquartered in Johannesburg, and backed by leading investors including Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures and Fidelity’s F-Prime Capital, VALR is a global crypto exchange offering a comprehensive suite of products—including Spot Trading, Spot Margin, Perpetual Futures, Staking, Lending, Borrowing, OTC services, VALR Invest, Crypto Bundles, and VALR Pay. Licensed by South Africa’s FSCA, with regulatory approval in Europe, VALR serves over 1.7 million registered users and 2,000 corporate and institutional clients worldwide. The exchange is dedicated to advancing a just financial future that upholds human dignity and the unity of mankind. For more information, visit valr.com.

Our Vision:
To establish VALR as a global institution that advances the economic life of human civilisation through a borderless, inclusive, and empowering financial ecosystem.

Our Mission:
To contribute towards a global financial system that upholds justice, fosters human dignity, and reflects the oneness of humanity, by serving the financial needs of individuals, communities, and institutions through innovative financial technologies

• At least 8 years’ experience in data privacy and protection and anti-money laundering (AML) compliance, with substantial hands-on experience in both, preferably at a crypto asset service provider, fintech or financial institution.
• A relevant diploma, degree or equivalent practical experience in Information Security, Law, Compliance or Risk.
• A recognised privacy certification (e.g. CIPP/E, CIPM) and AML certification (e.g. CAMS, CCAS).
• Strong knowledge of POPIA, PAIA and GDPR, including Information Regulator requirements and the role of Information Officers and Deputy Information Officers.
• Strong knowledge of AML/CFT frameworks, including the FIC Act, FATF standards for virtual assets and VASPs, and the Travel Rule.
• Working knowledge of cybersecurity principles, including authentication, MFA, IAM, encryption, access control, DLP, logging, cloud security and incident response.
• A keen interest in Artificial Intelligence and its privacy and data governance implications.
• Advantageous: experience across VALR’s jurisdictions – South Africa (FIC Act, FAIS; Information Regulator, FIC, FSCA), Africa (e.g. Kenya’s Data Protection Act and VASP Act), Europe (MiCA, EU AML framework) and the Caribbean (Cayman Islands Data Protection Act, AML Regulations and Virtual Asset (Service Providers) Act; CIMA).

• Information Officer and DPO duties
  • Maintain VALR’s POPIA compliance framework and PAIA manual, and act as the contact point for the Information Regulator, other supervisory authorities and data subjects.
  • Inform and advise the business and staff on their POPIA and GDPR obligations, monitor compliance, and report on privacy risk and compliance status to executive leadership.
  • Oversee data subject requests, PAIA requests involving personal information and other privacy rights within statutory timeframes.
  • Govern cross-border transfers and disclosures of personal information to third parties.
• Data protection in AML and crypto operations
  • Ensure KYC, CDD, enhanced due diligence, transaction monitoring and blockchain analytics data is collected, used, shared and retained lawfully under both AML and data protection laws.
  • Govern Travel Rule data exchanged with counterparty VASPs and reconcile AML record-keeping periods with data retention requirements.
  • Support the MLCO/MLRO on STR confidentiality and preventing tipping off.
• Privacy and security risk management
  • Manage VALR’s DPIA and security risk assessment processes for products, systems, vendors and processing activities, maintain the risk registers and track remediation.
  • Escalate material privacy or security risks where controls are inadequate or remediation is outstanding.
  • Oversee Data Loss Prevention (DLP) controls, segregation of customer personal data between administrative and standard user environments and devices, and separation of privileged, administrative and standard access roles.
• Application, SaaS and AI approval
  • Manage the approval process for SaaS platforms, AI tools, browser applications, APIs and integrations, reviewing security safeguards, privacy terms, DPAs and sub-processors.
  • Assess AI processing, including whether VALR or personal information may be used for model training, and monitor approved applications for material changes in permissions, data access or risk.
• Incidents and breaches
  • Assess security incidents for impact on personal information and lead required notifications to the Information Regulator, other supervisory authorities and affected data subjects.
  • Maintain incident and breach records and track corrective actions.
• Privacy by design and compliance
  • Work with Engineering, Product, Risk and Security to embed privacy by design and by default (data minimisation, access restriction, retention and secure handling), including reviews of architecture, data flows, APIs, databases, cloud services and integrations.
  • Draft and maintain privacy and security policies, standards and procedures, and keep evidence of compliance.
  • Monitor changes in privacy, data protection, cybersecurity and AML law, guidance and standards, and assess their impact on VALR.
  • Deliver practical privacy and cybersecurity advice and training to staff and business teams.