Head of Compliance (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've built a regulated advice business that delivers full holistic advice across investments, pensions, protection and mortgages in an entirely digital way. We see great compliance and risk management not as a brake on that, but as what lets us scale with confidence.

We're looking for a commercially minded Head of Compliance to own and lead our compliance & risk framework as we grow. This isn't a role for someone who treats compliance as a blocker. We want a senior leader who can weigh risk against opportunity, find the path to 'yes', and help the business move quickly while protecting our customers and our licence to operate.

You’ll sit at the heart of the business, working closely with our founders, advisers, marketing and product teams to make sure good customer outcomes and strong governance are built into everything we do.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Owning the firm's compliance, risk and financial crime framework, and evolving it as the business scales.
• Acting as a true commercial partner to the management team. Helping the business grow quickly and safely, and finding pragmatic, risk‑based routes to bring new propositions and journeys to market.
• Embedding Consumer Duty and a good‑outcomes mindset across advice, product and operations.
• Maintaining our relationship with the FCA, and keeping the business ahead of regulatory change through effective horizon scanning.
• Overseeing our advice quality and monitoring framework so we maintain high standards as we scale, with support from two Compliance Managers and outsourced compliance specialists.
• Advising the board on risk appetite, controls and emerging risks, with clear, commercially grounded judgement.
• Building and leading the compliance function (the people, processes and tooling) as the firm grows. Fostering a culture of excellence and continuous improvement across the business.

Requirements

• Commercial mindset. This is the most important thing. We want someone who can balance risk against opportunity, enable the business to grow, and reach for solutions rather than reasons to say no.
• Strong risk manager. A proven ability to design and run a risk and controls framework in a regulated financial services business, and to make sound, defensible judgement calls.
• Senior compliance experience. A track record in a compliance and/or risk leadership role at a UK FCA‑regulated firm (ideally one that is scaling or has scaled). Experience holding (or readiness to hold) an SMF is important.
• Knowledge of the rules that matter to us. Strong working knowledge of the FCA Handbook (COBS in particular), Consumer Duty, SMCR and financial crime / AML.
• Advice background (preferred). Experience in or close to regulated financial advice is a real plus. Having worked in financial advice, qualified as an adviser, or having designed advice propositions will help you hit the ground running. But we care more about commercial judgement and risk management.
• Startup mentality. Comfortable being hands‑on, wearing multiple hats and building things from scratch in a fast‑moving environment.

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.