Risk Advisor in Southampton

This position sits within the organisation's risk and governance landscape, focusing on workforce-related risk and regulatory compliance. While closely aligned with HR, its primary purpose is to strengthen governance, oversight, and risk visibility across people activity. Rather than purely maintaining process, the emphasis here is on maturity: building frameworks, improving visibility of risk, and supporting the business to operate with confidence in a regulated environment.

What you'll be responsible for:

• Risk & governance
  • Support the evolution of HR risk and governance frameworks, improving capability and consistency across the function.
  • Maintain and develop the HR risk register and Risk Control Self Assessments (RCSA).
  • Collate and analyse key risk indicators, producing meaningful insight for senior stakeholders.
  • Act as a central point of coordination for HR risk activity, ensuring visibility and alignment.
• Regulatory & compliance oversight
  • Work closely with Risk, Compliance and regulatory teams to provide robust oversight of people-related risk.
  • Prepare and review data for regulatory reporting (e.g. conduct or compliance breaches) and support submission processes.
  • Provide guidance to HR colleagues on regulatory requirements, including employee screening and policy adherence.
  • Support internal and external audits, ensuring readiness and appropriate follow-up.
• SMCR & governance processes
  • Support the administration and governance of Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SMCR) processes.
  • Maintain accurate records across relevant systems and ensure integrity of governance documentation.
  • Monitor key deadlines (e.g. Fit & Proper assessments) and support senior stakeholders to meet obligations.
  • Contribute to maintaining governance frameworks such as responsibilities mapping.
• Stakeholder engagement
  • Act as a trusted partner to HR, Risk, and business stakeholders.
  • Provide insight and guidance that balances regulatory compliance with operational practicality.
  • Represent HR Risk & Governance in relevant forums and working groups.
  • Support continuous improvement initiatives across the HR function.

What this role offers:

• Exposure to senior leadership and regulated governance structures.
• The opportunity to shape how people risk is understood and managed.
• A role with genuine influence on organisational resilience and decision-making.
• A collaborative environment where HR is positioned as a strategic partner.

About you:

You'll bring a blend of HR understanding and risk/compliance awareness, with the confidence to operate in complex environments.

Experience & knowledge:

• Experience in risk, governance, or compliance—ideally within a regulated environment.
• Understanding of HR processes and their regulatory context.
• Familiarity with frameworks such as SMCR or similar governance models is advantageous.
• Comfortable working with data, reporting metrics, and risk frameworks.

Capability:

• Strong attention to detail with the ability to see the wider context.
• Able to manage competing priorities and multiple workstreams.
• Confident communicator, able to adapt style to different stakeholders.
• Credible and collaborative, with the ability to influence without authority.
• Curious and improvement-focused, with a pragmatic approach to problem-solving.

In most organisations, people risk sits across multiple teams but lacks a single point of clarity. Roles like this bring coherence—linking policy, process, and behaviour to ensure the organisation remains both compliant and commercially effective. For HR leaders, this is less about process ownership and more about creating confidence: that governance is robust, risks are understood, and the function is equipped to support business decisions responsibly.