Compliance Policy and Assurance Senior Specialist

Salary: National ranging from £51,200 to £59,000 and London £56,400 to £65,000 per annum – Salary offered will be based on skills and experience

Are you interested in a role where you can help the FCA to execute against risks of harm?

The team/department

The Risk and Compliance Oversight Division (R&CO) performs the second line of defence function in the FCA. R&CO help the FCA identify, assess, and report risks that threaten the FCA's ability to deliver its statutory objectives. The Division is responsible for:

• Defining and owning the FCA Risk Management Framework

• Providing ongoing guidance and oversight of risk management across the FCA

• Enterprise-wide risk analysis and reporting

• Delivery of Regulatory Investigations and Assurance

• Compliance Oversight

• Complaints

We are recruiting for a talented individual to work in our Compliance Oversight team. The team focusses on the FCA’s obligations as an employer, regulator and public body and it is responsible for the FCA’s overall compliance approach. The team works with compliance policy owners and the first line to oversee the development, implementation and operation of internal Policies and procedures to achieve professional standards.

We also collaborate closely with other R&CO teams to develop the FCA’s enterprise-wide view of risk management and to improve the FCA’s risk management tools and methodologies.

What you will be doing (the role)

• Help the business identify and understand risks as well as finding solutions on how best to mitigate them.

• Use your significant knowledge and expertise of best practice in compliance and control frameworks in the FCA to assess the effectiveness of the overall control environment in 1st line business areas.

• Work in collaboration with Senior Stakeholders, FCA policy owners and 1st line business areas to design, develop, and implement policies that include key regulatory and/or legislative requirements.

• Use data, maintain central records, and produce reports to ensure effective compliance oversight including reporting on compliance activity to Executive and Board committees and to senior management.

• Promote a culture of compliance through advice and training, including advice on the delivery of operational and behavioural change.

• Undertake compliance audits and assurance work to check that policies, Compliance procedures and controls are being correctly applied and executed.

What you will get from the role?

• The individual will work on a varied set of tasks and deliverables in the team. This includes having the opportunity to enable important projects shaping the second line view and input into the Executive and the FCA Board and shaping the organisational approach to risk management

• You will have a pivotal role and numerous opportunities where you’ll be empowered to shape the approach and outcomes of reporting projects

• This is a broad role- providing a unique insight into the operational effectiveness of the FCA

• You’ll also work continuously with colleagues both within R&CO and across the FCA to deliver these projects

Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifestyle. You can use this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work or you have the option top up your base salary by taking this as cash. 

Core benefits that you will receive as standard are:  

• 25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays

• 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 support hybrid working which means you will be able to work from home up to 60% of the time over a month with the remainder of your time in one of our three office locations.  

The skills and experience you will have

We are a signatory to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to disabled candidates entering under the scheme, who best meet the minimum criteria for a role.

Minimum

• Compliance experience working for a regulated firm or equivalent public sector organisation particularly drafting policies and or associated policy standards

• Experience of conducting assurance reviews and drafting reports that include key findings and recommendations

• Experience of managing stakeholders

Essential

• Demonstrable track record of building and enhancing policy and control frameworks and their components, including the infrastructure to monitor and report

• Comprehensive understanding of compliance, regulatory issues, and track record of providing robust compliance advice in the relevant areas of expertise

• Skilled in developing new and existing internal compliance related policies, as part of a programme of work linked to policy, risk and compliance requirements

• Experience of using various assurance methodologies to investigate policy compliance and the effectiveness of the overall control environment. This includes sharing findings, recommended actions/outcomes, and lessons learned with key stakeholders, to enable the FCA to consistently improve our ability to deliver

• Providing support, advice, and challenge to Senior Management, FCA policy owners and 1st line business areas on the development and implementation of Policy and the execution of compliance procedures and controls

• Knowledge of Risk management processes/Risk Management Frameworks and a strong understanding of the design and implementation of effective controls, including automation. This includes experience of working with the business to develop an innovative, strong, and effective control framework, driving efficiency and effectiveness

About the FCA   

The FCA regulates the conduct of nearly 45,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work well for individuals, businesses and the economy as a whole. For more information on what we do, our three-year strategy can be found here.  

The FCA's Values & Diversity  

Our ambition is to cultivate a culture of inclusion 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.  

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

Flexible working

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 won’t judge you for asking.    
    

Useful information  

Applications for this role close at 23:59 on 21st November 2024

This role is graded as Senior Associate - Regulatory

Got a question?

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

• For internal applicants, please contact Louise Nash at [email protected]

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

What to expect from our interview process  

If successful, you will be invited to complete a case study followed by competency-based interview.

Application support  

We want to remove any possible barriers and are committed to providing a wide range of reasonable adjustments so that you can keep the focus on your conversations and be at your best.

If you have an accessibility requirement, disability, or condition that means you might require changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter to discuss this further. Our aim is to make your application as easy and comfortable as possible, and your recruiter will be happy to work with you to make any necessary arrangements where possible. 

Security Clearance/Vetting

The successful candidate will hold or will be required to obtain Security Clearance (SC) level vetting.

Please note that all applications must be submitted through our online portal, applications sent via email will not be accepted.