Traditionally, anti-money laundering roles sit in banking and financial services. At Vinted, we have a dedicated AML &amp; Risk Operations team within the Vinted Pay business unit – &nbsp;our in-house payment service provider licensed for all EU countries and regulated by the Bank of Lithuania (BoL) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).Within the team, our people are constantly working to keep Vinted members' Balances safe and accessible. From user onboarding to detecting and reporting suspicious activity, they cover many interconnecting processes throughout the customer journey.Join us as we sit down with Team Leads, Akvilė Visockytė and Mantas Mockus, to discuss their roles within Vinted's Electronic Money Institution landscape, and why their work is so important to creating a safe environment for Vinted members.<h2>Why anti-money laundering roles at Vinted break tradition</h2>"The AML &amp; Risk Ops team is the engine room because it quietly keeps Vinted Pay running safely by detecting threats, making critical decisions, and preventing problems for Vinted and our members."&nbsp; – MantasAkvilė and Mantas' team is a crucial function that ensures Vinted Pay is used by the right people, for the right purposes, and in the right way. Its main function is to detect and prevent financial crime - this includes money laundering, fraud-related activities, sanction breaches, and terrorist financing – all while keeping Vinted Pay running safely and seamlessly.

What makes it different to traditional banking is the sheer scale of its operations. In a marketplace where millions of low-value transactions take place every day, a customer's journey starts on the marketplace rather than on the payments platform itself. The team needs to account for additional risk factors, like item listings, and build a user profile from a diverse set of puzzle pieces. With a different money flow, bad actors have to be creative as they attempt to exploit Vinted for their benefit.<h2>Solving complex puzzles by viewing customer behaviour</h2>From detecting individuals selling counterfeit goods and preventing innocent buyers from losing money to fake items, to detecting unusual patterns that might indicate money mules, the AML &amp; Risk Operations team's dynamic work covers many different scenarios.By using information from customers' behaviour on our platform, such as what items they buy or sell, and who's buying from them, the team is able to build a profile and see whether it matches any suspicions they might have. Not only do they need to check where and from whom money goes, but also the story behind it and whether it makes sense.For example, a newly registered user with no history suddenly uploads 5 high-value luxury items. They receive instant purchases from different countries, and request an immediate payout, but no standard automated transaction limits are breached. Are they a legitimate first-time luxury seller, or a highly sophisticated money-laundering mule?Another scenario: a fraud ring uses 50 low-value accounts to send and receive small payments that stay below daily AML alert thresholds. Individually, the accounts look low risk. Together, the behaviour suggests coordinated structuring. Are there any behavioral, transactional, and network signals that can be correlated to expose the wider network?Or, if a member is flagged during screening because their name partially matches a sanctioned individual, their documents are valid, the transaction value is moderate, and we don't want to create any unnecessary customer friction. How can we determine if this is a false positive, or a true sanctions riskWith every day comes different items and unusual listings. The team must take action or make decisions accordingly to ensure they meet all requirements and keep our members safe and happy.<h2>Managing financial crime prevention across different jurisdictions</h2>One of the main challenges of operating within a global Electronic Money Institution is managing financial crime prevention across different countries.Akvilė believes working across jurisdictions provides a wider view of regulations and their influence on AML operations. Learning new approaches and broadening her understanding of the financial crimes our platform might face supports her professional growth and helps her understand how regulations are applied in different markets.For Mantas, operating in different markets with multiple layers of complexity is a balancing act. On one hand, they need to be compliant across regulatory requirements and risk levels. On the other, they must keep the process aligned, efficient, and consistent.In contrast to a more traditional culture of "box-ticking" or rigid corporate bureaucracy, Akvilė and Mantas are directly co-creating and influencing process changes and AML culture at Vinted. A lot of thought and care goes into building the process and applying the necessary regulations.<h2>The collaborative and cross-functional nature of working in a C2C marketplace</h2>Across Vinted, we have a shared goal: make our platform a safe environment for people to buy and sell as easily as possible. Different teams work together towards this goal, and prepare for every outcome when new regulatory rules emerge.Within the team, the collaborative culture is just as strong. With a solid support system, people are encouraged to ask questions, take ownership, and trust their own decisions from day one."We strive for an open, collaborative environment where people aren't afraid to ask questions or make mistakes while learning" – AkvilėMentoring goes both ways. For juniors, mentorship offers a safe space to ask questions and learn from more experienced colleagues. For seniors, it's a chance to develop management skills like training and effective communication. Since we're growing quickly, new joiners are onboarded in groups and form close bonds thanks to a shared starting experience. Akvilė describes the team as a welcoming, friendly group with all kinds of backgrounds and experiences in AML and beyond. They connect through virtual chats about their days (and pets) and team-building events, where they relax and spend time together. When you feel comfortable with your team and know your colleagues have your back, it's much easier to say when you're overwhelmed and need support.<h2>Current roles within the team</h2>Akvilė and Mantas are looking to expand their team in line with our growth, hiring both Analysts and Specialists.<ul><li>Analysts are responsible for initial and ongoing customer base screening reviews, resolution of potential matches against global sanctions, alerts generated for politically exposed individuals who hold prominent public positions (PEPs), and adverse media lists.</li><li>Specialists (which Analysts can also grow into) cover a broader range of tasks, from customer verification to deep-dive checks for high-risk customers (EDD), and reporting suspicious activity.</li></ul>Interested, but unsure if your experience matches up? Don't discount the idea. If you're curious to learn, pay sharp attention to detail, and have a genuine interest in AML, we would love to hear from you – even if you don't come from a traditional banking background.

Vinted Pay is a growing platform with its share of challenges, but that comes with a great opportunity to be part of something at the very beginning, when everything is moving forward and upward. Building processes from scratch, finding the gaps, and growing as a team has its own chaos, but that's part of what makes it exciting. It's an opportunity to grow, both as a professional and as a person. There are so many opportunities ahead; we don't even know how big we are going to get.Interested in making an impact in our growing AML &amp; Risk Operations team? View our open job descriptions and apply <a href="https://careers.vinted.com/jobs?departments%5B0%5D=Payments%20Operations&amp;page=1&amp;q=&amp;gh_src=4dae07a2teu&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_medium=blog" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.&nbsp;

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Complex puzzles and illicit patterns: Anti-Money Laundering and Risk Operations at Vinted Pay

<a href="https://careers.vinted.com/vintedpay?gh_src=4dae07a2teu&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=blog" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Vinted Pay</a> is a big step for our community with an ambitious mission: building an in-house payment platform that makes buying and selling across borders feel even easier, safer, and more supported. We approach this as a new part of Vinted – a chance to shape something important from the ground up, with the backing of a team that believes in moving fast but getting things right.Our upcoming payment system not only connects buyers and sellers, but does it with stability, speed, and the ability to adapt fast as we grow – qualities at the heart of Vinted engineering. So, join us as we explore how we scale testing at Vinted Pay and what it really takes to deliver reliability for millions with the help of our Lead Test Automation Engineer.

<h2>Solving technical puzzles at scale</h2>From the start, Vinted Pay has meant taking on fresh challenges. We needed to deliver all the payment features our members use – like card payments, Vinted Balance withdrawals, and verification – while also preparing to migrate millions of members from our previous providers to the new platform. From there, our focus turned to scaling even further: supporting additional users, introducing multiple currencies, and handling large transaction volumes, all without any disruption to the Vinted experience.For this, "just running the usual tests" wasn't enough. Each step raised new questions: Would this experience scale for everyone who uses Vinted? Would it hold up under pressure? Could our systems recover quickly if something unexpected happened? To answer these, we developed a layered approach using API contract test automation, chaos and performance testing. More on this next!<h2>A team effort, every step of the way</h2>At Vinted Pay, testing is a team sport. Our architecture is built around microservices – so we work closely with SRE, Security, Backend, and Frontend Engineers to ensure everything integrates seamlessly and performs as it should. The frameworks and tools we create often reach far beyond their original scope, supporting more engineering teams than we anticipated, which means more ownership and faster feedback for everyone involved.

Teams collaborate closely – coordinating releases across services, building shared tools, and contributing ideas to sharpen our methods. When we're working on something unfamiliar or tricky, support from other engineers means there's usually someone who's seen a similar challenge before – or is keen to help find a fresh solution.<h2>Learning as we build</h2>Testing at scale means we learn as we go – spotting potential bottlenecks early, making more confident decisions, and building resilience into every part of the process.Sometimes our work brings unexpected insights: we've used our test results to choose tools, compare programming languages, and refine how we work with data. The main thing that keeps coming up is simple: don't just assume something will work. Take the time to check and use the results to improve. At Vinted, we don't rely on assumptions; we build on evidence.<h2>What you'll find at Vinted Pay</h2>If you're looking for an environment that values hands-on technical growth, open problem-solving, and building something meaningful for our community, Vinted Pay could be the place for you. Here, you'll work with tools like Ruby, JavaScript, TypeScript, k6, Chaos Toolkit, CI/CD pipelines, GO, Kubernetes, AWS, Elasticsearch, Temporal, Grafana, Kibana, Datadog, Clean-Swift, Kotlin, Appium, ES6+, SCSS, HTML5, Playwright, and Postman – with the room to shape our engineering approach alongside skilled colleagues, all while making an impact beyond the code.<h3>Your next step?</h3>Vinted Pay is growing, and so are the possibilities. We're still early in the journey, but every challenge brings us closer to a payments system that’s ready for the future of second-hand. Want to help us build it? We'd be glad to <a href="https://careers.vinted.com/jobs?gh_src=4dae07a2teu&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=blog" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">hear from you.</a>

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Scaling Testing at Vinted Pay: How we Build Reliability for Millions

Vinted, Europe's largest peer-to-peer online marketplace for second-hand fashion, is expanding, and has recently opened an office in Kaunas, Lithuania, with over 100 employees now working there.&nbsp;Vinted is currently <a href="https://careers.vinted.com/jobs?page=1&amp;city%5B0%5D=Kaunas&amp;q=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">looking for developers (backend, web, software, mobile, data), engineers, data scientists and team leaders to join</a> their teams in the new Kaunas office.&nbsp;&nbsp;The new office in Kaunas follows the same hybrid working model as the rest of Vinted’s locations, which recommends that employees come into the office a couple of times a week. They’re also allowed to work up to 90 days a year in other countries, 21 of which can be spent outside the EU.&nbsp;"Because we’re a hybrid company, we’ve been able to employ people based in Kaunas prior to having an office space there, but the newly-opened location will better meet our current and future colleagues’ needs: providing them with modern and comfortable workspaces, plenty of areas to meet up and spend time together, and a sense of community."

"We’re currently looking for at least a couple of dozen more colleagues in Kaunas, so we’re delighted that more and more talented people in tech who are living in this city are able to get involved with Vinted's products and their development," says Ieva Kuniejūtė, Director of Tech Talent Acquisition at Vinted.Vinted's new office is located in the Drobės Fabrikas business centre – a 20,000 m²&nbsp; modern renovated interwar architectural complex in the Šančiai district – which is also home to several other growing technology companies and start-ups. Vinted is currently leasing a 657 m² space in the newly-opened business complex, which can accommodate up to 100 employees at a time.

"We were impressed by the atmosphere here; the perfect blend of history and dynamic workspaces that will most definitely contribute to an exceptional employee experience. When we choose a new location, we try to think about how it will complement our employees' routine, and the experience it will provide. We believe that the new office in Kaunas will provide inspiration and additional capacity for our growing team in the city," says Ieva Užkurnienė, Workplace Experience Lead at Vinted.

The Drobės Fabrikas team has furnished the historic premises in an industrial style, with the companies and communities that will be housed there in mind.“We wanted the premises to fit the mindset and needs of those who work there. So when renovating, our focus was on the efficient use of space.The&nbsp; Drobės Fabrikas premises are not only for business use, but can also be hired out for a wide range of gatherings and events. Our aim was to create a comfortable workspace where communities with shared principles of community, sustainability, and common good can come together. We know that these aspects are important to Vinted, so we’re happy that they've chosen our premises in Kaunas for their expansion and joined the other technology companies based here," - says Rima Čivaitė, Project Manager at Drobės Fabrikas.Vinted currently employs more than 1,800 professionals across the Vinted Group a figure which has increased by more than 500 since 2022. In addition to Lithuania, the company also has offices in Berlin, Hamburg and Amsterdam. Vinted currently has more than 100 open positions for professionals in programming, data science, marketing and other fields in Lithuania alone.Vinted brings together a community of more than 80 million registered members in 20 markets across Europe and North America.

Vinted blog

Complex puzzles and illicit patterns: Anti-Money Laundering and Risk Operations at Vinted Pay

Scaling Testing at Vinted Pay: How we Build Reliability for Millions

Vinted expands to a new office in Kaunas