Division – SPC Consumers & Competition

Department – Market Interventions Digital Assets

Salary - National (Edinburgh and Leeds) ranging from £51,200 to £60,367 and London £56,400 to £66,487 per annum (Salary offered will be based on skills and experience)

About the FCA The FCA regulates the conduct of 45,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. Follow this link to find out more About the FCA.

Market Intervention Digital Assets (MIDA) are responsible for the supervision of the UK crypto industry’s compliance with the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs). The Crypto Serious Organised Crime (SOC) & Fraud team sit within MIDA, and focus on identifying and tackling the most egregious criminal use of cryptoassets, whether by firms operating within the FCA’s perimeter, or by unauthorised firms supporting serious organised criminality.

The team use novel approaches, and works closely with a broad range of internal and external partners to tackle the most serious criminal use of cryptoassets, and through that to both protect the UK financial system and UK consumers. This represents a unique opportunity to make a significant impact on tackling criminal use of cryptoassets in the UK.

We are a truly diverse team in backgrounds and skillsets, and if you’re looking to join us, chances are that you are one of three things:

• You might be a crypto investigator, able to leverage blockchain data to identify bad actors and spot the touchpoints to the UK financial system, and looking for a chance to have an impact on a national level
• You might be a talented law enforcement analyst, intelligence officer or financial investigator, with a track record of piecing together insights to enable disruptions, and looking for a chance to combine those skillsets with regulatory knowledge and data to achieve significant impact
• You might be an experienced supervisor, used to deploying a range of FCA tools and powers to tackle misconduct, and looking for a chance to utilise these skills on a high-profile and fast-moving sector to tackle firms which are enabling some of the worst crimes impacting society

We’re not expecting you to be all of those things, but if any one of them sounds like you, then you could likely add a lot to our team.

What will you be doing?

• You will own a portfolio of cases, developing them to understand the harm and potential avenues to mitigate that harm, deploying supervisory tools to address that harm where appropriate, and leveraging FCA Enforcement and law enforcement partners to bring criminal investigation as appropriate
• You will play a role in driving forward our proactive identification of serious criminality utilising cryptoassets, making full use of FCA holdings and capabilities, and working closely with Data and Intelligence colleagues to spot harm earlier than traditional methods allow
• You will work closely with a range of partners across government and law enforcement, including (but not limited to) the NCA, Regional Organised Crime Units and HMRC, to support their investigations into criminal use of cryptoassets where they touch on the FCA perimeter

What will you get from the role?

• The opportunity to make a real impact on tackling serious organised crime and fraud, preventing significant harm to society and UK consumers.
• The chance to build your knowledge of a fast-moving, complex sector
• The opportunity to work with a wide range of internal and external partners, including national and international law enforcement
• The support of a collaborative and multi-skilled team to deliver results together, in a directorate which puts real value in diversity and development

Which skills are required?

We are a Disability Confident Employer; therefore, disabled people or individuals with long-term conditions who best meet the minimum criteria for a role will go through to the next stage of the recruitment process. (To learn more about the Disability Confident Scheme Click Here)

Minimum

• Prior experience in any one of the following areas:
  • Deploying FCA tools and powers to tackle financial crime.
  • Driving investigations involving criminal use of crypto, or wider financial crime investigations (e.g. money laundering, sanction evasion or fraud)
  • Developing analytical products to an evidential standard to enable criminal investigation
• Prior experience of assessing, developing and evaluating information to achieve successful real-world impact

Essential

• Prior experience of developing analytical products to an evidential standard to enable criminal investigation
• Prior experience of presenting key issues clearly and succinctly both orally and in writing
• Prior experience of managing competing priorities
• Prior experience of building effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders

Our Values & Diversity

We are proud to be an inclusive employer and our ambition is to cultivate a culture for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.

Within the workplace you will have access to various employee resource groups which aim to promote and achieve a healthy work / life balance and support our diversity ambitions.

Did you know? 50% of our ExCo are women (4 of 8).

The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisation. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, minority ethnic, disabled, and neurodivergent candidates for this Senior Associate role.

Benefits of working at the FCA

• 25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays
• Hybrid working (work from home up to 60% of your time)
• Private healthcare with Bupa  
• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8% of basic salary each month (there are several contribution levels that increase depending on your age – up to 12% a month once you reach age 35)  
• Life assurance of eight times your basic salary  
• Income protection  

We also have a competitive flexible benefits scheme which gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifestyle.

We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements.  Many of our staff work flexibly including working part-time, staggered hours, and job shares.  We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want but we can explore what might work best for both sides.

Follow this link to see what life is like at the FCA - Life at the FCA

Application Support

We are dedicated to removing barriers and ensuring our application process is accessible to everyone. We offer a range of adjustments to make your application experience as comfortable and straightforward as possible.

If you have an accessibility need, disability, or condition requiring changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter using the details below and they will be happy to discuss this further with you.

Useful Information and Timeline

• This role is graded Senior Associate – Regulatory
• This role is a permanent, full time position
• Advert Closing Date:  Sunday 19th January (midnight)
• First Round Case Study Assessment: Week commencing 27th January
• Competency Based Interview: Week commencing 3rd February

Your Recruiter will discuss the process in detail with you during screening for the role, therefore, please make them aware if you are going to be unavailable for any date during this time. 

Got a question?

If you are interested in learning more about the role, please contact: 

For internal candidates: please contact Jen Wishart at [email protected]

For external applicants, please contact Chhavi Bartaria at [email protected] 

Applications must be submitted through our online portal. Applications sent via email will not be accepted.