Lead Prudential Policy Associate

This role is graded as: Lead Associate – Regulatory

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. SPC oversees firms and individuals (supervision), creates and reviews the rules by which they operate (policy) and identifies and remedies ineffective competition in markets (competition). Sitting in the Specialists Directorate, the Prudential Policy team develops, implements, and maintains prudential regimes for over 46,000 FCA‑regulated firms, working closely with supervision to enhance understanding of these frameworks and their role in supporting financial resilience across the sector.

Role responsibilities

• Lead the delivery of high‑profile prudential policy projects, including the development of the prudential regime for payments and the COREPRU sourcebook.
• Identify emerging issues and make informed decisions independently, while guiding team members to deliver practical solutions, ensuring proactive and effective policy responses, empowering others and fostering a collaborative problem‑solving culture.
• Mentor and coach associates, reviewing and assuring the quality of their work, and providing structured feedback and training, building a high performing team.
• Support team management with resourcing, prioritisation, and project delivery, assisting the manager where required.
• Collaborate with supervision and authorisations teams to address financial resilience challenges.
• Represent and promote the FCA’s prudential objectives in domestic and international forums.

Skills required

Minimum:

• Experience within financial services regulation, with a particular focus on supervising the prudential standards of financial services firms.
• Experience analysing policy issues relevant to regulated industries.

Essential:

• A self‑starter with the ability to get up to speed on new issues quickly and work independently to deliver key initiatives with limited oversight.
• Experience of rapidly assimilating new facts, understanding complex issues, and conveying their implications in a concise manner, showing proven analytical skills.
• Organisational skills – being able to lead a variety of competing, high profile tasks with challenging targets.
• Effective decision‑making, making sound judgements in a timely manner.
• Teamwork and collaboration, showing ability to coach and work effectively and flexibly with others as part of a team to achieve desired outcomes.
• Strong communication skills showing both written and oral ability to communicate key messages and explain complex issues in a clear and concise manner, including to senior audiences.
• Stakeholder management - ability to develop strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders at all levels.
• Experience in financial services policy development and/or analysis at a UK or international level and/or experience in accounting/auditing/actuarial or balance sheet assessment.

Benefits

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Hybrid model with up to 60% remote work.
• 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 and 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.

If you require any adjustments due to a disability or condition, your recruiter is here to help - reach out for tailored support. We welcome diverse working styles and aim to find flexible solutions that suit both the role and individual needs, including options like part‑time and job sharing where applicable.

Disability confident: our hiring approach

We’re proud to be 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.

Useful information and timelines

• CV Review/Shortlist: 19th November.
• First Interview: w/c 24th November.
• Job advert close: 17th November at 23:59pm.