Director, Risk in Edinburgh

About The FCA

At the FCA, we’re creating a fair and more resilient financial system. We’re establishing more transparent relationships between financial services and customers, building trust in financial markets and protecting vulnerable consumers. We’re currently on an exciting journey as we drive forward significant organisational, people, process, and technology transformation to become a more forward-thinking, proactive regulator. We will use data more effectively to drive better regulatory decisions and build greater cohesion across our broad financial services remit. Significant improvements in digital enablement, business intelligence, market data and information management maturity are all being pursued to maintain our position as a world leader in financial services regulation.

In March 2025, the FCA launched a new 5-year strategy to deepen trust, rebalance risk, support growth and improve lives. The FCA will focus on four priorities:

• Be a smarter regulator; predictable, purposeful and proportionate. The FCA will improve its processes and embrace technology to become more efficient and effective.
• Support sustained economic growth, by enabling investment, innovation and ensuring the continued competitiveness of the UK’s world-leading financial services.
• Help consumers navigate their financial lives by working with industry to boost trust, product innovation and ensuring the right information and support is available for people to take financial decisions.
• Fight financial crime, focusing on those whose actions harm others while using the fact they are regulated. It will go further to disrupt criminals and support firms to be an effective line of defence.

The Role

The Director of Risk will lead a Directorate within Risk and Compliance Oversight and report directly to the General Counsel and Chief Risk Officer. Risk and Compliance Oversight (R&CO) is the second line of defence for the FCA, working with each of the FCA Divisions to ensure the management of Own Risks (operational, execution and public confidence risks) and Risks of Harm is effective to enable the FCA to successfully achieve its strategy and business plan and, hence, its statutory and operational objectives.

The Director will lead their Directorate to oversee the maintenance of the Risk Management Framework, provide ongoing guidance and oversight of risk management across the FCA and oversee the effective operation of the Assurance function. The Division works in partnership with Senior Management, members of the Board and colleagues across the organisation to manage the internal and external risks to the FCA’s strategy and Annual Workplan and, hence, its statutory and operational objectives.

This Is Done By:

• Supporting and driving effective risk management and decision making.
• Improving and embedding FCA-wide risk and compliance awareness and understanding.
• Promoting continuous improvement through quality assurance and lessons learned reviews.

What will the candidate get from the role?

You will join the Senior Leadership Team at the FCA during an exciting and challenging time of great change in financial services and its regulation. You will lead a critical function, holding a high-profile role and be at the centre of many significant issues currently facing the FCA and underpinning the transformation agenda. You will gain exposure to not just senior stakeholders in the FCA, but in Government and fellow regulators.

What does the role involve? Key responsibilities:

• Oversight of the organisation’s Risk Management Framework, including the operationalisation of its Risk Appetite Framework.
• Lead reporting on the organisation’s risk profile to Executive and Board Committees, including maintenance and continuous improvement of the organisation’s strategic risk registers, recommending ways to manage key risks and identifying risk vs opportunity trade-offs.
• Lead the provision of clear, accurate, holistic risk-based advice, guidance and oversight to the organisation, including membership of relevant committees and other forums.
• Help the organisation to continuously enhance its risk management capabilities, including researching, developing and utilising innovative analytical techniques / artificial intelligence.
• Oversight of the Risk Assurance team, delivering a risk-based assurance plan, providing clear oversight on the management of risks and effectiveness of key controls within the FCA.
• The responsibilities of the role may include oversight of the Compliance function and the Data Protection Officer in due course and depending on the candidate’s skills and experience.

Skills/Experience Required

We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Employer and therefore, people or individuals with disabilities and long-term conditions who best meet the minimum criteria for a role will go through to the next stage of the recruitment process. In cases of high application volumes we may progress applicants whose experience most closely matches the role’s key requirements.

Minimum:

• Extensive senior-level experience with a second line of defence function, operating at organisational or enterprise scale.
• Significant experience within financial services and/or a regulatory environment, with accountability for material risk outcomes.
• Proven experience of leading and developing senior professionals, including setting direction, managing complexity and building capability.
• Experience exercising independent judgement and influence in high scrutiny environments, including challenge of senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrable experience of operating within complex governance frameworks, with exposure to Board-level or equivalent decision-making forums.

Essential:

• Strong problem solving, communication and influencing capabilities.
• Exceptional stakeholder management skills, including demonstrable ability to influence senior leaders, both inside and outside the regulatory system.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to balance creative challenge and pragmatism.
• Role model strong leadership behaviours in line with the FCA values and capabilities, and delivering cross-organisational priorities.
• Strong subject matter expertise in risk management and compliance, and in developing and operating associated frameworks in different contexts, including how they can support the strategy of an organisation.
• Experience in reporting to and working with Board and Board Risk Committees.
• Deep expertise in the three lines of defence model, with the ability to adapt this experience to a regulator if gained in another context.
• Strong experience of using insights from second line of defence functions to inform and shape continuous improvement in the first line.

Desirable:

• Deep understanding of the political and wider external (including media) environment which the FCA is operating in.
• Experience of data protection and privacy issues.

Benefits

Our competitive benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifecycle. You can use this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work, or you have the option to top up your base salary by taking this as cash. 30 days holiday per year plus.