Compliance Manager (Financial Advice) in London

NOVA Wealth is a fast-growing start-up looking to change the face of financial advice and the way it's delivered in the UK. We firmly believe that a human adviser needs to be at the heart of every client relationship; however, by leveraging technology, we can empower our advisers to deliver higher levels of service and cut out a lot of the day-to-day admin that gets in the way.

At our core, we're here to build a game changer in the advice industry that delivers better customer outcomes, at a lower cost, for more people. Through customer-centric advisers supported by our innovative Lifeline technology, we empower our customers to go beyond just making smarter financial decisions to living the lives they dream of.

At NOVA, we like to do things differently. We deliver full holistic financial advice across investments, pensions, protection, and mortgages in an entirely digital way, and we hold ourselves to an exceptionally high standard on advice quality.

We're looking for a technically excellent Compliance Manager to be our go-to expert on what good advice looks like. You'll be the person who really knows the detail; the suitability and Finprom rules and the technical nuances of advice across products. You will use that knowledge to keep our advice quality high and our marketing compliant as we grow.

You'll work closely with our Head of Compliance, our advisers, and our technical planners, balancing rigour with a practical, supportive approach that helps advisers do their best work for clients.

What you'll be doing:

• Running our advice quality, file checking and monitoring programme, reviewing the suitability of holistic financial advice across investments, pensions, protection, and mortgages.
• Being the internal regulatory authority on advice: the person people come to with the tricky suitability and regulatory questions.
• Interpreting and applying FCA rules (especially COBS) in a practical, real-world way that supports good advice being delivered quickly.
• Maintaining the compliance monitoring plan and working with other teams to embed compliance within them.
• Supporting financial crime / AML checks and other second-line controls.
• Spotting trends in advice quality and feeding back to advisers and the business to drive continuous improvement.
• Helping keep our policies, procedures and training up to date as rules and propositions evolve.
• Supporting the Head of Compliance with regulatory reporting, projects and FCA interactions.

Requirements:

• Deep technical advice knowledge. This is the most important thing. You really know your stuff on suitability and the technical detail of advice across investments, pensions, protection, and mortgages.
• Advice qualification preferred. A Level 4 or Level 6 Diploma in financial advice with a recognised professional body (CII, CISI, etc.) is a real plus.
• Compliance monitoring / advice experience. A background as a file checker, compliance monitoring specialist, senior paraplanner, technical consultant or experienced adviser.
• Detail-oriented. High attention to detail, and the ability to explain technical points clearly and constructively to advisers.
• Knowledge of the rules. Strong working knowledge of the FCA Handbook (COBS), Consumer Duty, Financial Promotions, and the basics of financial crime / AML.
• Practical and commercial. While technical depth is the priority, you bring a pragmatic, solutions-focused approach that supports advisers and helps the business move quickly and safely.

You'll feel right at home if you're…

• Helpful: random acts of kindness make the workplace a better place so, go out of your way to be helpful, and give people reasons to smile.
• Straightforward: life is complicated enough. Don't make it harder for yourself, or for others. Sometimes the simplest approach works wonders.
• Bold: every great business started with a flash of inspiration. If you've got a great idea, don't keep it to yourself.

Benefits:

• Join a firm with genuine purpose and impact on our customers, along with a strong moral code.
• Competitive salary + benefits (bonus, pension, private medical, income protection, death in service).
• Potential to get equity in the company in the future.
• Access to Wellness / mental health support (Headspace App + mental health support through private medical).
• Budget for additional learning / cost of exams.
• Electric vehicle leasing through salary sacrifice / cycle to work scheme.
• Flexible working hours and hybrid remote working (typically 2-3 days a week working in the office (20 Farringdon Street)).
• Exceptionally open and diverse, multinational team.
• Entrepreneurial, creative environment.