Lead Investigator

Division: Enforcement and Market Oversight

Department: Wholesale and Unauthorised Business Investigations

Salary: Regulatory – National (Edinburgh and Leeds) ranging from £60,700 to £75,600 and London from £66,600 to £82,000. Practicing Legal – National (Edinburgh and Leeds) ranging from £69,700 to £86,000 and London from £76,600 to £94,000 (salary offered will be based on skills and experience)

Grade: Lead Associate – Regulatory/Practicing Legal

About The FCA And Team

We regulate financial services firms in the UK, to keep financial markets fair, thriving and effective. By joining us, you’ll play a key part in protecting consumers, driving economic growth, and shaping the future of UK finance services. Enforcement & Market Oversight (EMO) is responsible for the FCA’s responsibilities for market monitoring, delivery of the functions of the UK Listing Authority (UKLA) and the investigation and prosecution of misconduct using the whole spectrum of criminal, civil and administrative sanctions and remedies against firms and individuals. Sitting within the Enforcement & Market Oversight Division, the Wholesale and Unauthorised Business Investigations (WUBI) Directorate safeguards market integrity and consumer confidence by investigating serious misconduct and unauthorised activity in wholesale markets, working closely with domestic and international partners to deliver a coordinated response to financial crime and market abuse.

Role Responsibilities

• Leading a portfolio of demanding investigations often with competing deadlines, being responsible for the strategy, scope, and risks of an investigation and the gathering of evidence using appropriate tools and powers.
• Building and maintaining effective working relationships with colleagues in other business areas within the FCA and with external bodies while managing tight deadlines.
• Conducting challenging interviews of subjects and witnesses using compulsory powers, on a voluntary basis and under caution (and deciding when each is appropriate).
• Carrying out detailed analysis of high volume and complex evidence, formulating findings and making recommendations regarding the appropriate way forward.
• Drafting (or overseeing the drafting of) all forms of documents (including witness statements, statutory notices, settlement papers) and correspondence with subjects, their legal representatives and witnesses.
• Being responsible for the line management and/or overseeing the work of more junior staff, including being responsible for their development and appraisals and ensuring optimal performance by ensuring effective progression of investigations and managing any cases of poor performance or conduct in a timely manner.

Minimum Skills Required

• Significant post-qualification or equivalent experience in any of the following areas: Financial markets; regulatory investigations; investigations involving serious fraud or other complex financial crime; complex litigation or disputes.
• For lawyer candidates to be a qualified lawyer (able to practice in the UK), with a valid practising certificate.

Essential Skills

• Capable of managing and progressing a difficult, complex and challenging investigation portfolio, including cases that may involve criminal conduct or high-profile regulatory breaches.
• Ability to assess and analyse complex evidence to form a view on what action is warranted, what further evidence may be required/available and how it might be obtained.
• Ability to develop a case strategy and take decisions in a timely way, including identifying key risks and ways to mitigate them.
• Clear communication skills to present the outcome of complex analysis clearly and effectively, orally and in writing.
• Demonstrated relationship management skills to build and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues in other business units and with external bodies.
• Ability to line manage, motivate, drive and coach less experienced members of a team.
• Works collaboratively as part of a team, valuing different perspectives and backgrounds, and working with other departments and divisions collaboratively, minimising silos.
• Acts in a professional, open and transparent way, challenging when you see behaviour that goes against the principles of the FCA or EMO.
• Open to learning, feedback and change, and ready to accept different tasks and responsibilities.
• Continuously seeks out new and more effective ways to conduct work, and feeds this back to management.

Benefits

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Hybrid model where employees work a minimum of 40% in the office each month (expectation of 50% for senior leaders). Changing from September to a minimum of 50% in the office each month (expectation of 60% for Directors and Executive Directors).
• Non-contributory pension (8–12% depending on age) and life assurance at eight times your salary.
• Private healthcare with Bupa, income protection, and 24/7 Employee Assistance.
• 35 hours of paid volunteering annually.
• A flexible benefits scheme designed around your lifestyle.

Our values & culture

Our colleagues are the key to our success as a regulator. We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture: one that’s free from discrimination and bias, celebrates difference, and supports colleagues to deliver at their best. 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.

Disability Confident: our hiring approach

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.