Lead Interventions Associate in Leeds

Division: Enforcement and Market Oversight

Department: Interventions

Salary: National (Edinburgh and Leeds) ranging from £69,700 to £78,100 and London from £76,600 to £85,000 (salary offered will be based on skills and experience)

This role is graded as: Lead Associate – 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 Retail and Regulatory Investigations Directorate, the Retail 4 Interventions teams in Enforcement provide strategic support, guidance and legal advice across Supervision to allow us to effectively intervene to prevent harm to consumers and the industry and seek to assist firms in establishing and maintaining high regulatory standards.

Role Responsibilities:

• Progressing a portfolio of demanding interventions, often with tight deadlines, without close day to day oversight.
• Clear, accurate drafting of all forms of interventions documents (including statutory notices, legal advice notes and Tribunal documents).
• Presenting to senior stakeholders with credibility, including at internal committee meetings and in meetings with external legal advisors.
• Building and maintaining effective working relationships with colleagues in other areas at all levels within the FCA, regulated firms and their representatives and with external bodies.
• Overseeing the work of others within your team including more junior staff.
• Escalating to management key issues and trends arising on cases.
• Contributing to training, knowledge sharing and being a point of escalation on technical matters.
• Line managing L8/L9 Associates where appropriate/required, including being responsible for their professional development and appraisals, and ensuring optimal performance by managing any cases of poor performance or conduct in a timely manner.

Minimum Skills Required:

• Qualified lawyer, with a valid practising certificate issued by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for England and Wales (if a solicitor), or the General Council of the Bar for England and Wales (if a barrister) (or a similar internationally recognised qualification allowing you to practice within the England and Wales).
• Prior significant post qualification experience in any of the following areas: contentious financial services or other regulatory investigations or proceedings; financial markets; investigations involving serious fraud or other complex financial crime; complex litigation or disputes.
• Demonstrable experience of managing and progressing a challenging and varied caseload involving a range of legal processes, balancing your own workload and responsibilities with appropriate delegation to junior staff.

Essential:

• Ability to analyse complex evidence in order to form a view as to what action is warranted, what further evidence may be required/available and how it might be obtained.
• Capacity to manage a range of competing tasks efficiently, set priorities effectively, and meet agreed deadlines.
• Effective communication skills in order to present the outcome of analysis clearly and effectively, orally and in writing.
• Ability to exercise own judgement and defend those judgements where necessary and appropriate and to adapt advice in light of limited or changing evidence.
• Ability to advise, mentor and delegate work to other more junior colleagues.
• Effective relationship management skills to build and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues within your team and department, in other business units, with external bodies and with regulated firms and their representatives.
• Ability to thrive whilst managing a varied, changing and urgent caseload, maintaining appropriate progress across your portfolio of cases.

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.

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:

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.

Useful information and timeline:

Advert Closing: 16th June

CV Review/Shortlist: 18th June

Case study/Interviews: w/c 29th June

Your Recruiter will discuss the process in detail with you during screening for the role, therefore, please make them aware if you are going to be unavailable for any date during this time.