Financial Controls Manager

Country: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Creation Date: 27-Jan-2026

Employment Type: Permanent, Full time

Ref #: 1234572177

Department: Finance

Team: Financial Control team

Location: London

Type: Permanent

About the Role:

Lead the day-to-day delivery, embedding and continuous improvement of Liberty Specialty Markets’ Financial Control Framework (FCF) across legal entities and branches and own the end-to-end assurance lifecycle (design assessment, operating testing, attestation, remediation and reporting). Act as the primary trusted advisor to Finance, Risk, Compliance, Internal Audit and External Audit on control effectiveness, assurance planning and regulatory attestations, ensuring the finance control environment reduces the risk of material financial misstatement and meets Group/SOX and other regulatory expectations.

About the Department & Team:

Finance in London consists of circa 100 FTE and has a number of key roles:

• To partner the business to enhance decision making with a focus on strategy, planning, analysis and reporting. Support is provided both to two management ‘Demand Pillars’ of GRS Reinsurance and GRS International - and also to the supporting functions within GRS.
• To ensure that all external financial reporting requirements (statutory, regulatory, tax, capital etc) are fulfilled. GRS International consists of a Lloyd’s Syndicate, a UK insurance company with European branches, a number of small service companies and a portion of a US balance sheet.
• To provide insightful performance analysis on the GRS International legal entities to the Legal Entity Management Committees enabling effective performance planning and management.
• To report to our US Parent on standard monthly requirements and ad-hoc requests on both a pillar and a legal basis.
• To ensure superior management of our investments, cash and all financial risks.
• To give finance operations support to the business and finance. Finance strives for continuous improvement in all areas and aims for excellent customer service, supported by quality and efficient processes, all operating within a robust control environment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own and develop the FCF, attestation policies and minimum control design criteria to ensure alignment with Group SOX expectations, the Risk Management Framework, Liberty’s risk appetite and other regulatory requirements.
• Define and maintain testing methodologies, sampling standards, documentation requirements and governance for FCF controls across legal entities.
• Maintain and version-control the control population, process maps and risk-control matrices used for attestations and external audit.
• Proactively challenge business owners and the existing control environment: identify weaknesses in control design and operating effectiveness, question assumptions, and drive pragmatic remediation and control enhancements.
• Develop, manage and deliver the assurance and controls testing programme (scoping, sampling, test scripts, calendar).
• Lead quality control over testing activities: review evidence, validate conclusions, ensure consistent application of methodologies and produce executive test conclusions for CFO Committee and Audit Committee audiences.
• Integrate ITGC, application controls, interfaces and EUC considerations into test plans; evaluate SOC reports and outsourced provider controls.
• Lead proactive risk identification across finance processes — identify emerging, systemic and jurisdictional risks and translate these into control and testing requirements.
• Deliver thematic deep dives, root‑cause analysis and ad‑hoc assurance reviews across processes, new regions, new systems, or material change programmes; scope and execute targeted controls testing and remediation validation as required.
• Provide rapid assurance capability for incident response, regulatory queries or external audit requests through focused controls testing and evidence collation.

Remediation & control improvement:

• Own remediation governance for all test exceptions and control deficiencies: prioritise remediation plans, assign owners, monitor progress and validate remediation effectiveness.
• Escalate persistent, systemic or material issues to Head of Financial Controls and relevant committees.
• Identify and drive control enhancement and automation opportunities to reduce residual risk and testing burden (e.g. automated reconciliations, system extracts for evidence).
• Manage end to end SOX assurance activities: control population maintenance, walkthroughs, testing, deficiency logging and closure.
• Act as primary Finance contact for External Audit and external testing providers; agree scope, manage deliverables and timelines, and coordinate evidence and remediation activities.
• Manage relationships and performance of external testing providers and consultants; ensure value, quality and timely delivery.
• Coordinate integrated assurance plans with Internal Audit, Compliance and Risk to avoid duplication and ensure comprehensive coverage.
• Prepare and present clear, insight led attestation and control effectiveness reporting to CFO Committees, Finance Controls forums, Risk & Audit Committees and the Board highlighting trends, root causes, KPIs and remediation progress.
• Build trusted pragmatic relationships with finance process owners and senior stakeholders across legal entities; provide coaching on control design, ownership and attestation responsibilities.

Team leadership & capability:

• Lead and grow a high‑performing testing & attestation team (typical size: 4–8 direct reports, depending on scope); set objectives, build capability in testing methodologies, SOX and maintain high quality standards.

Skills and Experience:

• Demonstrable experience — minimum 3 years — in controls testing, assurance or an equivalent assurance role (testing of design and operating effectiveness, attestation and remediation lifecycle).
• Qualified accountant (ACA/ACCA/CIMA/CPA) or equivalent professional qualification.
• Practical knowledge of finance processes (close, premiums, claims, reserving, reinsurance, investments) and experience mapping processes to financial statement assertions.
• Strong stakeholder management and clear written/verbal communication skills.
• Good project management and ability to work to deadlines.
• Proven people leader with experience managing, mentoring and building testing/assurance teams.
• Experience in financial controls, SOX / attestation, operational risk, internal audit, external audit or an assurance function within insurance - London Market / Lloyd’s experience strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of SOX frameworks and practical experience applying a risk‑based (SOX‑lite) approach to finance controls.
• Experience operating in a multinational group or with a US parent and familiarity with Group SOX expectations.
• Hands‑on experience with OpenPages, Decision Focus, Archer or other GRC/attestation platforms.

About Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM):

Liberty Specialty Markets is part of Global Risk Solutions and the broader Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, which is a leading global insurer. We offer a breadth of world-class insurance and reinsurance services to brokers and insureds in all major markets.

Our people are key to our success. That is why "Put People First" is one of the five Liberty values which unite us as a global organisation. We bring this to life for our colleagues through:

• Offering a vibrant and inclusive environment and committing to their career development.
• Promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Our Inclusion Matters framework and employee-led networks strengthen the diversity of our workforce and our inclusive environment.
• Reinforcing that collaborating together to share our unique perspectives help us make better decisions, deliver innovative solutions and pursue our ambitious goals.
• A supportive culture, which includes promoting a healthy work-life balance and working flexibly.