Senior Complex Investigator

Location(s): London, Bristol, Edinburgh, Halifax, Leeds

Salary: £92,701 - £109,060

Hours: Full-time

Working pattern: Hybrid – at least two days per week or 40% of time at an office site.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end specialist investigations involving high-level complexity, sensitivity, independence or organisational risk, including senior or executive conduct, high-stakes whistleblowing matters, criminal or regulatory-sensitive concerns, and matters with UK or international dimensions.
• Operate effectively in highly ambiguous, high-pressure or high-profile circumstances, balancing legal, regulatory, colleague, reputational and business considerations while maintaining independence, pace, quality and standards.
• Prioritise and manage multiple complex investigations, escalating risks, dependencies and resource pressures as required.
• Act as point of contact for external or third-party investigation support where required.
• Maintain accurate case records and ensure investigations comply with internal standards, employment law, regulatory expectations and industry best practice.
• Maintain strong knowledge of the Equality Act, Employment Rights Act, ACAS Code, SYSC18 whistleblowing obligations and other relevant UK expectations.
• Analyse complex and sometimes conflicting information to identify key facts and clearly articulate risks.
• Apply sound professional judgement to reach objective, proportionate and well-reasoned conclusions in high-quality investigation reports that set out facts, analysis and findings.
• Communicate complex, sensitive or high-stakes issues in a clear, structured and credible way for senior leadership and executive audiences, maintaining independence, objectivity and defensibility in all verbal and written outputs.
• Act as a trusted partner to executive-level senior leaders, HR, Legal, Risk and other specialist functions.
• Identify opportunities to improve WRI investigation practices, processes and outcomes.
• Contribute to shaping team capability and direction by coaching and bringing in external insights and best practice.
• Support a learning culture through knowledge sharing and personal development.

Qualifications and Experience

• Strong investigations skills leading complex, sensitive or high-risk internal investigations end-to-end.
• Professional judgement, with ability to operate independently in ambiguous, high-pressure or high-profile situations while maintaining pace, quality and procedural fairness.
• Experience analysing complex, incomplete or conflicting evidence, identifying key facts, assessing risk and reaching objective, proportionate and well-reasoned conclusions.
• Excellent written communication skills, able to produce clear, structured, evidence-based and defensible investigation reports suitable for senior or executive-level audiences.
• Strong verbal communication and stakeholder management skills, with credibility to engage effectively with senior leaders, HR, Legal, Risk and other specialist functions while maintaining independence and objectivity.
• Good working knowledge of relevant UK employment law, regulatory expectations and industry practice, including the Equality Act, Employment Rights Act, ACAS Code and SYSC18 whistleblowing obligations.
• Ability to manage and prioritise multiple complex investigations, balancing competing risks, deadlines, stakeholder needs and resource pressures.
• High standards of integrity, independence and professional courage, including the confidence to provide clear challenge and deliver difficult messages where required.
• Experience handling executive-level, board-sensitive, criminal, whistleblowing, regulatory-sensitive or internationally complex investigations.
• Experience acting as a point of contact for external investigators, legal advisers, consultants or third-party investigation support.
• Experience coaching, mentoring or upskilling other investigators, including supporting improvement in investigation planning, evidence analysis or report writing.
• Experience contributing to investigation standards, quality assurance, process improvement, management information, reporting or wider capability-building activity.
• Ability to bring external insight, best practice or lessons learned from other organisations, sectors or professional networks into investigation practice.
• Experience working in a regulated financial services, professional services or similarly complex corporate environment.

Benefits

• Generous pension contribution of up to 15%
• Annual performance-related bonus
• Share schemes including free shares
• Discounted shopping and 30 days’ holiday, with bank holidays on top
• Range of wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies
• Flexibility