Hours:

35 hours per week, hybrid working

Closing Date:

Sun, 13 Oct 2024

We have an exciting opportunity for a new Head of Financial Advice Proposition. This role is responsible for ensuring our financial advice proposition is competitive, provides value for money and is accessible to the mass market.

We are looking for a leader who can bring strong technical knowledge, understanding of our current and future customers, the ability to monitor market trends/opportunities, as well as investment and/or advice proposition development experience.

Who Are We?

Not just another building society. Not just another job.

We're the fourth biggest building society in the UK and what makes us a bit different is that we're a mutual organisation. We don't have shareholders; we're owned by our members.

We believe that financial advice should be available to as many customers as possible and it’s a strategic priority of ours to help bridge the increasing ‘advice gap’.

Our colleagues say Skipton's a great place to work, and you could be one of them, bringing with you new ideas on how we can keep customers at the heart of what we do.

Whatever your background, and whatever your goals, we'll help you take the next step towards a better future.

What’s In It For You?

Skipton values work/life balance and we are proud to support hybrid and flexible working, where possible. We have a newly refurbished head office which offers a vibrant and collaborative working space.

We have a range of other benefits available to you including;

• Annual discretionary bonus scheme
• 25 days standard annual leave + bank holidays + rising 1 day per year of service to a maximum of 30 days
• Holiday trading scheme allowing the ability to buy and sell additional annual leave days
• Matching employer pension contribution (up to 10% per annum)
• Colleague mortgage (conditions apply)
• Salary sacrifice scheme for hybrid & electric car
• A commitment to training and development
• Private medical insurance for all our colleagues
• 3 paid volunteering days per annum
• Diverse and inclusive colleague networks available for you to join including our Carers and Pride Alliance groups
• We care about your health and wellbeing – we provide a range of benefits that support this including cycle to work initiative and discounted gym membership

What Will You Be Doing?

• Customer Value Proposition – in line with Consumer Duty, conduct target market analysis, validation and review to ensure we continue to understand our customers, their needs, and associated trends. This includes leading the tactical and strategic review of pricing across investment management, platforms and advice journeys.

• Ensure the value, suitability, and longevity of our advice business’s Core Investment Proposition, identifying and delivering areas for development.
• Monitoring and reporting trends to support proposition and commercial understanding, as well as the delivery of good customer outcomes.
• Be responsible for all key advice policies ensuring they deliver good customers outcomes as well as supporting the delivery of an efficient advice journey.
• Representing our proposition needs at relevant governance forums.
• Owning propositional related literature and its associated content in collaboration with Marketing, ensuring timely and appropriate communication to the business and in particular, our ongoing service customers.
• Monitor the regulatory environment ensuring our proposition and supporting documents remain up to date and aware of any regulatory developments.
• Training and development – feed into training needs and deliver ongoing training to key stakeholders.

What Do We Need From You?

• Customer focused and passionate about ensuring our financial advice proposition is accessible to as many of our customers as possible.
• Deep technical knowledge of financial planning and investment management products, services, pricing, and value.
• Experience in financial services proposition roles, ideally within the mass affluent management/advice sector.
• You’ll need strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability work effectively and build relationships with our senior leaders.
• You’ll be confident in delivering presentations, with advanced influencing skills, being seen as a trusted partner with a true understanding of our customers, teams, products as well as business drivers and risks.
• Ideal candidate will have advice qualifications (ideally Chartered Financial Planner).
• You’ll have had key subject matter expert roles in product development, demonstrating a credible track record of delivery.
• You’ll be able to work autonomously in building knowledge and keeping up to date with industry trends.
• You’ll have experience of influencing decision makers as well as managing teams directly.
• Strong people leadership experience, including successfully leading, motivating and performance managing teams.
• Strong relationship skills - creating trust and credibility alongside giving challenge and influence.
• Broad & adaptable communication skills and ability to strategically influence key stakeholders and broader audiences.
• Ability to analyse and interpret complex data, legislation, and industry developments and present findings in a relevant understandable format.
• Critical thinking and ability to make decisions through ambiguity.
• Strong organisational skills and ability to designate resource appropriately to ensure potential risk areas are fully investigated and reported.
• Ability to instruct, present and analyse MI relevant to all aspects of Financial Advice.

In this role you’ll be ‘Certified’ under the Financial Conduct Authority / Prudential Regulation Authority’s Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR). This means that we’ll need to complete some regulatory background checks on you before you take up your role and we’ll need to ask you some questions on an annual basis to make sure you remain ‘fit and proper’ to carry out your role. We’ll provide training on what holding a SMCR role means when you join us and annually thereafter.