Executive Compliance Business Partner

Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 24,000 employees spanning over 56 countries. People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work / life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

ROLE PURPOSE:

• The job holder will be allocated a specific Division within the UK&I Specialty Pillar, for which that individual will be appointed as their dedicated Executive Compliance Business Partner to provide Compliance support and oversight.
• The job holder will develop business relationships and work alongside the Senior Management and other key stakeholders within their dedicated Division to support it in ensuring that it has appropriate and effective understanding, interpretation, application, and implementation of regulatory expectations within its governance, strategy, decision making, operational processes and people policies.
• The job holder will develop an in-depth understanding of the strategic, commercial and operational activities of their allocated Division and be able to maintain an up-to-date regulatory risk profile for that Division, which shall be presented on a regular basis to the relevant governance forums.
• The individual must ensure that regulatory matters, concerns and risks of the Division are visible and reported in a timely manner to both the Divisional Senior Management and to the appropriate assurance committee, to ensure appropriate action and oversight by both the first and second line of defence.
• The individual will be expected to act in an advisory and consultative role in supporting the Division with the interpretation and application of regulatory expectations.

Planning (and Strategy):

• Maintain an up-to-date regulatory risk profile of the Division.
• Develop a framework with the Divisional Senior Management to incorporate Compliance at appropriate strategic and decision-making forums.
• Develop and maintain an annual Compliance Plan which is suitable based on the strategic objectives and its regulatory risk profile.
• Develop and provide the Division with a clear terms of reference, setting out the scope, role and responsibility of the Executive Compliance Business Partner.
• Determines own work priorities and activities in line with agreed objectives to ensure the planning and achievement of the Annual Compliance Plan.

Technical:

• Prepares and submits for review and approval, a Compliance Plan and Strategy for the Division under their responsibility.
• Develops an in-depth understanding of the nature of each division within their remit and their respective conduct and regulatory risk profiles.
• Provides support and oversight in respect of all regulatory matters, including but not limited to Consumer Duty, Product Governance, ARs, Introducers, SMCR and Operational Resilience etc.
• Works closely with the Compliance Monitoring Team to develop conduct risk and general compliance metrics for their division(s).

Policy, Process and Procedures:

• Regularly reviews the Operating Entity’s policies and procedures to ensure that, from a conduct risk and general compliance perspective, they remain fit for purpose.
• Alerts the Divisional Senior Management and the relevant assurance committee if any systems and controls are no longer fit for purpose.

Environment, Customer Focus and Relationships:

• Builds strong and effective relationships across the business to promote a positive image of the Compliance Team.
• Maintains awareness of organisational structures and activities, including cross-border activities and intercompany relationships/dependencies.

People Management/Personal Development:

• Acts as a role model for positive management and leadership behaviours.
• Remains aware of external, industry, legal and regulatory developments to ensure practice and outputs are of a sufficiently high standard.

Regulatory and Compliance:

• Ensures compliance of self and team with all applicable legal, fiscal and regulatory obligations in the form of policies and procedures.
• Operates in an honest, professional and ethical manner.

Knowledge/experience:

• Must be deeply knowledgeable about regulatory expectations with regard to conduct risk and the implementation of appropriate systems and controls.
• Extensive experience of operating in the compliance department of a public company in the UK regulatory environment.

Skills/behaviours:

• People management skills.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Analytical, problem solving and project management skills.

Qualifications:

• University degree or recognised industry accreditation.
• Professional qualification (desirable).

What do we offer in return?

A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:

• Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new.
• We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges.
• We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond.

Reasonable adjustments:

We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs.