Director – Financial Services Regulatory Strategy Job in London

We are partnering exclusively with a rapidly growing specialist consultancy to appoint a Director within its Financial Services practice. This is an unusual opportunity for an accomplished regulatory professional to move beyond traditional compliance and work on complex, business-critical problems at the intersection of financial regulation, commercial strategy, investment and emerging business models.

Founded by highly respected figures from the senior levels of UK regulation, financial services and public policy, the consultancy has grown rapidly since launch and is advising an impressive mix of major corporates, investors, financial institutions and innovative growth businesses. The firm is now investing further in Financial Services and wants to appoint someone capable of becoming an important part of that growth story.

The opportunity

Clients engage the firm when the regulatory answer isn’t straightforward. Assignments can involve:

• Advising businesses facing significant regulatory scrutiny;
• Assessing regulatory and conduct risk around transactions;
• Helping innovative business models navigate the regulatory perimeter;
• Considering how future regulatory change could affect an investment;
• Helping senior management develop effective strategies for engaging with regulators.

This is not a conventional compliance monitoring, controls or policy implementation role. The successful candidate will be expected to think from first principles, understand the commercial implications of regulation and provide credible strategic advice to senior decision-makers.

You will:

• Lead complex financial-services regulatory advisory projects.
• Work directly with Partners and senior client stakeholders.
• Advise CEOs, boards, investors and other senior decision-makers.
• Structure ambiguous regulatory and commercial problems.
• Lead small teams of high-calibre professionals and subject-matter experts.
• Contribute to proposals, relationship development and new business.
• Develop thought leadership and build your external profile.
• Help shape new propositions and areas of advisory work.
• Play an active role in building the Financial Services practice.

For the right individual, there is significant scope to increase responsibility quickly and ultimately progress towards Partner level.

The individual

We are deliberately keeping the search relatively broad and are interested in exceptional candidates from several backgrounds. Particularly relevant experience could include:

• The FCA or another UK financial-services regulator, ideally within supervision, enforcement or another firm-facing capacity.
• Strategic regulatory consulting or professional services.
• A senior regulatory, conduct, regulatory affairs or regulatory-change position within a leading financial institution.

Previous experience inside a regulator will be particularly attractive, although it is not the only route into the position. More important is your ability to demonstrate:

• Exceptional intellectual and analytical capability.
• Strategic rather than purely rules-based thinking.
• Strong understanding of UK financial-services regulation.
• Commercial judgement.
• Confidence operating with senior stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Curiosity and an ability to solve unfamiliar problems.
• Initiative and personal ownership.
• The potential to develop and win client relationships.

Candidates who have spent their careers purely focused on compliance monitoring, controls testing or policy implementation are unlikely to be right for this particular opportunity.

Why consider it?

This is an opportunity to join a young, profitable and ambitious consultancy at a formative stage of its development. You’ll work alongside individuals who have held exceptionally senior positions across UK financial regulation, financial services, government and law, gaining exposure that would be difficult to replicate within a large institution. The variety should also be significant: assignments can span regulatory strategy, conduct, transactions, innovative business models, regulatory change and emerging areas such as AI.

Rather than becoming one person within a large established practice, you’ll have the opportunity to help build the practice itself. Alongside a competitive salary and annual bonus, longer-term participation in the firm’s success is being developed. The position is London-based and candidates should expect to spend the majority of their working week alongside colleagues in the office, with reasonable flexibility where required.

For an ambitious regulatory professional who wants more variety, intellectual challenge, senior exposure and commercial responsibility, this represents a genuinely differentiated opportunity.