Head of Risk & Control Enablement (12 Month FTC) in London

About Starling

At Starling, we are on a mission to provide people with a fairer, smarter, and more human alternative to traditional banks. We are building a leading digital bank, driven by fast technology, fair service, and honest values. Our vision is to create a banking industry that serves everyone, which we accomplish by developing best-in-class proprietary technology, offering an exceptional customer experience, and establishing a strong, sustainable business. Our five core values – Listen, Keep It Simple, Do The Right Thing, Own It, and Aim for Greatness – are at the heart of everything we do, guiding our strategy and shaping our culture. We are a branchless, largely paperless bank, committed to responsible banking, sustainability, and fostering an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.

Hybrid working: All Starling colleagues spend a minimum of 10 days per month in the office with flexibility to work the rest from home.

Location: Manchester & London

Reporting to: Chief Control Officer

The Opportunity

This role will sit within the central 1LoD Risk and Control team and will lead the following activities across Starling:

• Drive effective governance and management of non-financial risks in the 1LoD.
• Provide specialist risk and control knowledge to stakeholders in order for Starling to operate within its risk appetite.
• Risk partnering with Risk and Control Owners.
• Monitoring of the 1LoD risk and control profile and supporting all related activities including; Risk and Control Self Assessments (RCSA), Oversight of Issues and Actions, Event Management, Risk Reporting and Provision of training.

Key Accountabilities Include:

• Create a culture of effective and consistent risk management, oversight and reporting.
• Working with Risk and Control owners.
• Providing advice.
• Challenge and input on key decisions.
• Ensuring Risk and Control owners are aware and accountable and enabling them to clearly articulate and manage their risk profile.
• Interpreting and communicating regulatory changes, ensuring that all findings are recorded and followed up with appropriate stakeholders/teams.
• Ensuring that compliance with external regulations is reflected in internal policies, procedures and the control environment.
• Lead the review existing controls relating to their effectiveness in mitigating identified risks, identifying gaps in controls, and recommending improvements.
• Maintain and enhance the bank’s control library ensuring ongoing alignment with risk framework, risk appetite and evolving business processes.
• Drive ownership across business for periodic reviews and updates to maintain relevancy and accuracy.
• Enhance control taxonomy ensuring clear and consistent application across all Risk and Control Assessments (RCSAs).
• Develop new controls or enhance existing ones to address identified risks, including documenting control procedures and ensuring their proper implementation.
• Lead the development and execute control testing plans covering manual and automated control testing approaches.
• Conduct control testing for both design and operating effectiveness ensuring controls are effectively designed to mitigate current and emerging risks.
• Manage control remediation activities of ineffective/weak controls and control gaps ensuring timely resolution, retesting and embedding into the control environment with clear action plans and ownership.
• Identify and perform thematic reviews and controls mapping exercise ensuring ongoing mapping of risks and controls supporting effective governance and reporting.
• Embed lessons learned capturing insights from incidents, issues and testing outcomes to drive continuous improvement of the control environment for business.
• Develop and maintain Key Control Indicators (KCIs) to measure effectiveness of critical controls enabling proactive and continuous monitoring of control performance.
• Design and management of risk reporting and metrics providing senior management with oversight of key themes, risks and issues for attention.
• Maintenance of records in the Governance, Risk and Control System.
• Collaborate with 2LoD/3LoD functions including operational risk and compliance to ensure ongoing alignment across RCSAs and ongoing monitoring of controls.
• Central oversight and management of Issues and Actions from identification, recording and ongoing monitoring to closure.
• Awareness of regulatory principles and regulation changes that are on the horizon and/or that may be of interest.
• Key contributor to the ongoing development of a risk aware culture within the 1LoD.

Requirements

Behaviours & Competencies:

• A natural ability to build strong stakeholder relationships and leverage those relationships to offer appropriate challenge in the risk environment.
• A proactive approach to managing workloads and ‘can do’ attitude, along with ability to use initiative, taking ownership and seeing things through.
• Ability to challenge the status quo, helping us shape risk operations to be the best in class across financial services.

Skills:

• Proficient in Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets - strong knowledge of database management and reporting.
• Exposure to working within First or Second line risk or as a risk champion within a business line.
• 3-5 years with a strong background in risk management, RCSAs and risk reporting.
• Experience in the management of regulatory compliance and conduct risks regulations Consumer Duty, CONC etc.
• A good understanding of risk and control, FCA regulatory environment and Consumer Duty.
• An understanding of risk management frameworks is essential.
• Experience in first line control testing is also a strong advantage.
• IRM qualification would be advantageous.

Benefits

Why Join Starling?

• Make an Impact: Work on projects that directly shape the future of banking and improve the financial lives of our customers. Starling is technology-led, and you’ll have the freedom to accomplish your goals in innovative ways.
• Culture of Excellence: Be part of a collaborative, empowered, and forward-thinking team. We encourage experimentation, ownership, and a relentless focus on "doing the right thing.”
• Growth and Development: We are committed to your professional growth, offering opportunities to learn new technologies, take on new challenges, and own interesting things from day one.
• A Bank That Cares: We’re a Living Wage employer, committed to flexible working, and dedicated to creating a fair, open, and safe working environment with compassion and inclusion at its core.
• Comprehensive Benefits: We offer a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package, including:

• Company-enhanced salary sacrifice pension scheme (7% employer contribution).
• Private Medical Insurance with Vitality including mental health support and cancer care.
• Partner benefits include discounts with Waitrose, Mr&Mrs Smith and Peloton.
• 25 days holiday (plus take your public holiday allowance whenever works best for you).
• An extra day’s holiday for your birthday.
• Life Insurance at 4x your salary.
• 16 hours of paid volunteering time a year.
• Ability to buy or sell annual leave.
• Generous family-friendly policies.
• Annual leave is increased with length of service, and you can choose to buy or sell up to five extra days off.
• Incentivised refer a friend scheme.
• Perkbox membership giving access to retail discounts, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, and weekly free and boosted perks.
• Access to initiatives like Cycle to Work, Salary Sacrificed Gym partnerships and Electric Vehicle (EV) leasing.

Our Commitment to Equality