At the highest level of TM, you would be the global head for TM, which is usually a MD level role. Within TM, there are also prospect and career path, but similar to all aspects (sanctions, advisory, investigations, ABC, compliance), its how you develop your role that progress you to the next level. I know a lady who started off as a TM analyst, but worked her way to become the deputy head of TM hub. Currently, she is the country head of AML. I am sure, if she is tired of her role as country head and don't mind relocating, she would be able to get an equally senior/more senior role in global TM space. The problem starts when you think you are an Ops person, and you start behaving like an Ops person. Once you do that, your career is down the drain because you will always think any task/projects is not what you should be doing.

Getting to AML Advisory or sanctions is not hard, if you study and prepare for it. If you get a chance for an interview, you should really study and understand what you have done, in the past, and translate that into the role that you are applying for. I have interviewed candidates who "claim" to have done 3-4 years of CID/TM contract work, but 2 interview questions down, it is crystal clear that the person don't understand the work that he is doing at all. If that is the attitude towards work, why is it shocking to realize that you have never landed on a perm role, or any other roles, to be honest?

Ultimately, it is the attitude you have, towards your work, that crave you to your next role. Each TM team always have a team lead, and if you think that team lead gets to be a team lead, by doing BAU, you are wrong. Similarly, for the team lead to move to the next level, it also goes beyond doing BAU and thinking everything should be BAU.