Policy Lead – Modernising Payments Regulation

Job title: Policy Lead – Modernising Payments Regulation

Division: Supervision, Policy & Competition

Department: Payments & Digital Assets

Salary: National (Edinburgh and Leeds) ranging from £60,700 to £73,000 and London from £66,600 to £80,000 (salary offered will be based on skills and experience)
Grade: Lead Associate – Regulatory
Internal Recruitment Contact: Louis Van de Burg via Louis.VanDenBurg@fca.org.uk
External Recruitment Contact: Tahir Khan via tahir.khan1@fca.org.uk. Applications must be submitted through our online portal. Applications sent via social media or email will not be accepted.

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 Payments and Digital Assets directorate, the Policy department develops policy to address the challenges and opportunities the FCA identifies in payment, crypto, open banking and open finance sectors.

Role Responsibilities

• Support the Payment Policy Manager in maintaining and managing a friendly, supportive, and high performing policy team, with direct line-management responsibilities for around five Associates and Senior Associates
• Managing key policy workstreams within our Modernising Payments Regulation programme, working closely with colleagues in Supervision, Authorisation, Legal, Communications and other policy teams
• Establishing and maintaining effective relationships with key internal and external stakeholders
• Work very closely with others in the regulatory family including the Treasury and Payments Systems Regulator (PSR), as well as other external stakeholders

Minimum Skills

• Prior experience of policy making in FCA, other financial services regulators or government
• An understanding of the UK payments ecosystem and regulatory framework
• Prior experience of managing complex projects, marshalling input from numerous teams, and managing challenging stakeholder relations

Essential

• An ability to consider complex information and to drive the development and delivery of policy
• Excellent collaboration skills needed to work with many other areas
• Excellent organisational skills with a capability to manage a variety of priorities and issues
• High standard of problem solving and strategic thinking with sound judgement
• Excellent interpersonal and stakeholder management skills with a clear ability to influence and collaborate with stakeholders at all levels both internally and externally
• Experience of influencing senior stakeholders and navigating governance to deliver policy solutions
• Able to prepare and deliver complex, strategic written technical communications
• Willingness to learn and develop, taking on new responsibilities and adopt a flexible and pragmatic approach to your work

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

We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture that is 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

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.