Assistant Vice President, Business Risk & Control - Controls Testing in London

Functional title – Assistant Vice President, Business Risk & Control

Department – Chief Controls Office

Report to – Director, Business Risk & Control

Location – London

What you will be doing:

This is an exciting opportunity for a talented individual to join our Chief Controls office (CCO), a dedicated first line risk and control function. This role has arisen due to the expansion of responsibilities, offering the successful candidate the opportunity to make an impact and actively contribute to the evolution of the group.

As part of the CCO team, you will play a key role:

• Strengthening the oversight of non-financial risks, bringing risk and control subject matter expertise to partner with 1LOD business owners to proactively identify, assess and mitigate risks.
• Providing cross functional oversight across the first line, driving best practices and consistency in control standards for the effective control of risks to within risk appetite.
• Performing controls assurance testing across 1LOD, ensuring remediation plans are in place where appropriate, and partnering with 1LOD to establish a well understood and documented control environment.
• Driving behaviours to foster a risk-aware and risk intelligent culture where employees recognize their role as risk managers and the importance of the control framework.

What we’re looking for:

The role would suit candidates with 2LOD/3LOD experience looking for an opportunity to move into 1LOD, or candidates with 1LOD control/control remediation/validation experience. The candidate is a key member of the CCO team who will work closely with 1LOD business owners in the management of risk and controls. This includes but not limited to:

• Conduct risk assessments and control evaluations to identify gaps and process inefficiencies.
• Contribute to risk appetite statements and emerging risks.
• Identify and deliver best practices in control standards across CLS and support the business in the identification of risks and controls.

Stakeholder Engagement:

• Partner with business units, compliance, audit, and legal teams to enhance risk culture.
• Support audit engagements and work with the business to review the findings and define actions.
• Represent CCO in working groups as required.
• Support the identification, reporting, and resolution of risk incidents and control failures.
• Contribute to action plans to remediate issues, strengthen controls, and prevent recurrence consider design/operating effectiveness.
• Monitor and report on corrective actions.

Testing strategy and execution:

• Contribute to the development of CLS’s testing strategy and methodology.
• Identify and deliver best practices in testing and control standards across CLS, engaging with the wider risk and controls teams to support continuous improvement.
• Consistently deliver assigned components of the risk assessment and testing plan (RCSA – risk and control self-assessment) on behalf of risk and control owners including reporting progress, escalating concerns and closing out matters identified in testing.

Data & Reporting:

• Analyse risk trends and provide insights for proactive risk mitigation.
• Ensure accurate documentation and reporting of risk events, control testing, and remediation efforts.

Competencies required for successful job performance:

• Proven experience of risk assessment, controls assurance testing and control delivery/remediation, either from a 1LOD ownership perspective or 2LOD/3LOD validation.
• Ability to assess, design, and enhance control environments and to drive a risk-aware culture across business units.
• Strong problem-solving skills, with a proactive approach to risk mitigation.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Attention to detail is essential, demonstrating high standards to the control and oversight of risk.
• Knowledge of Financial Services, Financial Markets Utilities or another highly regulated industry sector is essential.
• Strong stakeholder management, influencing executives and senior leaders.
• Challenge the status quo, be a catalyst for change, driving and cultivating innovative thinking to solve complex problems.
• Ability to ‘speak up’, break down barriers and provide constructive challenge.
• Take professional pride in making a difference, being proactive and delivering best in class solutions, creating long term value by addressing root cause issues.
• Build effective working relationships with multiple internal and external stakeholders, negotiating effectively to bring different viewpoints together as appropriate.
• Manage ambiguity, operating effectively and decisively to navigate a path forward.

Qualifications in any of the following specialisms would be beneficial but not essential:

• Internal Audit
• Compliance
• Project Management
• Highly proficient IT skills in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF.