Senior Compliance Specialist - Central Compliance in Manchester

With an ambition for continued growth across Europe and a core objective of delivering superior outcomes to our customers and clients, an exciting opportunity has arisen for a Senior Compliance Specialist to join our newly formed Central Compliance team. The successful candidate will be a key member of the Central Compliance Team with dual responsibility for supporting the implementation, operation, and oversight of the European Policy Framework, and driving the delivery of core activities under the Compliance Risk Management Policy. Together, these responsibilities form two central pillars of the role and are fundamental to maintaining a strong and effective European Compliance framework.

In this position, you will act as a trusted advisor to Compliance colleagues and business stakeholders, providing guidance on policy governance expectations and compliance risk methodology. You will coordinate governance cycles, annual assessments, stakeholder engagement, and reporting across both frameworks, monitoring performance, identifying gaps, and producing clear, high-quality reporting for senior management. The role requires confident representation of Compliance at internal forums, engaging with senior leaders and contributing to wider Central Compliance initiatives, including conduct programmes, individual accountability regime processes for UK and Ireland, policy governance cycles, reporting and training.

You will adopt AI and other workflow technologies to streamline documentation, enhance governance processes, support the production of governance materials, and improve the overall efficiency and quality of compliance outputs.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the operation of the European Policy Framework, coordinating drafting cycles, annual reviews, stakeholder engagement, change control processes, and Senior Manager approvals.
• Provide expert guidance to Compliance colleagues and business stakeholders on policy governance expectations, policy ownership responsibilities, and end-to-end policy management.
• Monitor the effectiveness of the Policy Framework by tracking overdue items, identifying gaps or inconsistencies, and preparing clear reporting and escalation materials for senior stakeholders.
• Own and coordinate core activities under the Compliance Risk Management Policy across Europe, including delivery of the annual Compliance Risk Assessments and Compliance Risk Tolerance Opinions.
• Work collaboratively with the US Methodology Team to develop consistent tooling, reporting suites, templates, and training programmes for crew across Europe.
• Represent Compliance at internal meetings, presenting updates, risks, and insights clearly and confidently to senior audiences.
• Partner with Compliance Advisory and first-line teams to embed compliance frameworks and strengthen risk-management practices across the business.
• Contribute to wider Central Compliance activities including compliance training, Board agenda scheduling, regulatory reporting and the smooth running of the wider Compliance team.
• Use AI tools and workflow technology to analyse documentation, summarise regulatory updates, generate draft materials, enhance reporting, and improve the quality and efficiency of compliance processes.

What it takes:

• Previous significant experience in compliance, risk, or a related governance function, ideally within financial services.
• Experience working with first-line and second-line teams to embed compliance frameworks and strengthen risk-management practices.
• Understanding of policy governance, regulatory frameworks, or enterprise risk practices - or the ability to rapidly develop this expertise.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex regulatory themes into clear, actionable guidance for stakeholders.
• Strong organisational and analytical skills, capable of managing multiple governance cycles while maintaining high-quality documentation and accurate record-keeping.
• Confidence in engaging with crew at all levels to support collaborative working.
• A proactive, improvement-focused mindset, with enthusiasm for using technology to streamline processes, enhance reporting, and increase operational efficiency.
• High levels of integrity, sound judgement, and the ability to handle sensitive information with discretion.
• A collaborative working style, comfortable partnering across Compliance, OGC, business teams, and global colleagues.

Special Factors:

• This is a hybrid position and would require you to work in the office 3 days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday).
• This role encompasses activities that fall within the remit of UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulation. The successful candidate will therefore be subject to UK regulatory requirements in relation to conduct rules, regulatory references and the assessment of fitness and propriety, knowledge, experience and competence.

Why Vanguard?

Vanguard is a different kind of investment company. It was founded in the United States in 1975 on a simple but revolutionary idea: that an investment company should manage its funds solely in the interests of its clients. It is a philosophy that has helped millions of people around the world to achieve their goals with low-cost, uncomplicated investments. It’s what we stand for: value to investors.

Inclusion Statement:

Vanguard's continued commitment to diversity and inclusion is firmly rooted in our culture. Every decision we make to best serve our clients, crew (internally employees are referred to as crew), and communities is guided by one simple statement: "Do the right thing." We believe that a critical aspect of doing the right thing requires building diverse, inclusive, and highly effective teams of individuals who are as unique as the clients they serve.

Our commitment to equal employment opportunity:

Vanguard is an equal opportunity employer. Vanguard is committed to providing all crew members a working environment that is free from discrimination, prejudice and bias.

How We Work:

Vanguard has implemented a hybrid working model for the majority of our crew members, designed to capture the benefits of enhanced flexibility while enabling in-person learning, collaboration, and connection.