Senior Policy Advisor - Payments Regulation

Department: PSR Policy

Salary: National (Edinburgh and Leeds) ranging from £53,800 to £67,200 and London from £59,200 to £73,800 (salary offered will be based on skills and experience)

This role is graded as: Senior Associate, Regulatory

About The PSR And Team

The PSR is an independent economic regulator led by Managing Director, David Geale – who is also FCA Executive Director, Payments and Digital Finance. The PSR is a subsidiary of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the transition to full FCA integration is expected to complete in 2027. The Policy team drives delivery of our strategy, providing an exciting opportunity to work on policy development and analysis, project delivery and stakeholder engagement.

Role responsibilities:

• Coordinate and contribute to the delivery of policy projects and analysis, on your own and as part of a team, including overseeing the work of more junior colleagues.
• Work as part of multi-disciplinary project teams, building relationships with policy, economist, legal and communications colleagues, and delivering high‑quality work.
• Build relationships between the project team and external stakeholders, including firms, government, other regulators and consumer groups, to gather evidence, test policy options and explain our approach.
• Oversee and use robust policy and economic analysis to manage the development of policy.
• Draft briefings and papers to explain complex issues, often within tight timeframes, and present policy recommendations to the PSR leadership.
• Be a role model and share your knowledge and best practice with more junior colleagues.

Skills Required Minimum:

• Experience of working in a policy or regulatory environment.
• Experience of project delivery – including ability to lead workstreams, plan and work to deadlines and understand risks and opportunities.

Essential:

• Effective written and oral communication skills, including the ability to distil complex issues into succinct messages and present professionally to a variety of internal and external stakeholders.
• Effective relationship and influencing skills and an ability to work collaboratively at senior levels internally and externally.
• Solid prioritisation skills with the ability to define priorities and provide a quality contribution where it is most needed.
• An ability to identify and exercise judgement in collaboration with a multi-disciplinary team, including economists, lawyers, payment specialists and other policy advisors.
• An ability to take into account potentially very different views which may be conflicting, without losing sight of the overall strategic aims and objectives.
• Prior experience developing policy proposals and presenting recommendations to leadership, ideally as part of a previous role at a regulator.

Benefits:

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Non-contributory pension (8–12% depending on age) and life assurance at eight times your salary.
• Private healthcare with Bupa, income protection and 24/7 Employee Assistance.
• 35 hours of paid volunteering annually.
• Hybrid model where employees work a minimum of 40% in the office each month (expectation of 50% for senior leaders).
• From September, a minimum of 50% in the office each month (expectation of 60% for Directors and Executive Directors).
• A flexible benefits scheme designed around your lifestyle.