Benchmarks & Credit Ratings Policy Lead

at  Financial Conduct Authority

Salary: National ranging from £57,600 to £71,900 and London £63,300 to £79,100 per annum – Salary offered will be based on skills and experience
Are you interested in joining a diverse and dynamic team at the heart of developing future policy frameworks for the UK’s wholesale markets?
The team/department
We have an exciting opportunity for a skilled, ambitious, and proactive individual with project management and policymaking experience to join the Benchmarks & Credit Ratings Policy team within the Capital Markets Department.
You will join a dedicated team of policy professionals who are focused on shaping creative and evidence-based policy solutions that benefit consumers, markets, and competition. We work collaboratively, including with stakeholders across the FCA and externally, to solve problems and deliver market integrity. We are committed to sharing our knowledge and encouraging new ideas.
Our team is responsible for making policy which aims to prevent harm to consumers and markets from the use of benchmarks and credit ratings. We are particularly looking for candidates with an understanding of the legal framework relating to any of these policy areas and/or a regulatory or policy background.

What you will be doing

• Supporting the manager in overseeing the activity of the team, helping to motivate and set direction and allocating and tracking delivery of tasks whilst pushing forward high-quality performance
• Line managing 2/3 associates, coaching, and developing members of the team and sharing knowledge actively across the team
• Driving and overseeing policy workstreams to support the Government agenda to lead innovation and efficiency in the UK markets
• Critical and creative thinking as the UK moves into a new phase of policymaking in wholesale markets
• Helping to manage relationships with a diverse range of external stakeholders in this field as well as engaging effectively with key internal and other regulatory stakeholders, including international regulators, HM Treasury, Prudential Regulation Authority, the Bank of England, and our independent panels, to communicate FCA policy views and influence others

What will you get from the role?

This role is an exciting opportunity to work at the heart of policy in the FCA in an evolving area. As part of this role, you will have the opportunity to:

• Develop line management skills
• Get significant exposure to UK capital markets, working closely with a wide array of stakeholders, include market participants, trade bodies and other regulatory and government bodies
• Play an important role in shaping wholesale markets in the UK at a time of significant change
• Gain exposure to FCA Senior Management, with periodic discussions at both the executive regulation and policy committee and FCA board
• Develop a deep understanding of the benchmarks and credit ratings portfolios and how they function
• Contribute and support wider strategic issues, such as Environmental Social & Governance (ESG), which are cross-cutting in these and other portfolios

Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifecycle. You can use this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work or you have the option top up your base salary by taking this as cash. Core benefits that you will receive as standard are:

• 25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays
• Private healthcare with Bupa
• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8% of basic salary each month (there are several contribution levels that increase depending on your age – up to 12% a month once you reach age 35)
• Life assurance of eight times your basic salary
• Income protection

We support hybrid working which means you will be able to work from home up to 60% of the time over a month with the remainder of your time in one of our three office locations.
The skills and experience you’ll have
We are a signatory to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to disabled candidates entering under the scheme, who best meet the minimum criteria for a role.

Minimum

• Proven experience of leading and delivering complex pieces of work using a project-based approach
• Proven policy-making experience within wholesale financial markets

Essential

• Leadership skills and the ability to work collaboratively and act as a role model
• Experience of exercising judgement in complex situations, and of senior stakeholder management and influencing effectively
• Good self-management skills to plan and drive forward work to meet deadlines, while also having the flexibility to change priorities when required
• Good understanding of the UK policy and legislative processes
• Working effectively and inclusively as part of a team
• Familiarity with benchmarks and/or credit ratings through whether gained in industry, research, economics, insight, or policy work

About the FCA
The FCA regulates the conduct of 45,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work well for individuals, businesses and the economy as a whole. For more information on what we do, our three-year strategy can be found
here.
The FCA’s Values & Diversity
Our ambition is to cultivate a culture of inclusion for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.
The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisations. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, disabled and minority ethnic candidates for our lead associate role.
Flexible working
We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements. Many of our staff work flexibly including working part-time, staggered hours, and job shares. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want but we won’t judge you for asking.
Multilocation
As part of the FCA’s on-going commitment to develop our national presence, most of our vacancies are now open to working in our Edinburgh, Leeds, or London offices. This means that as part of the application process you will be able to select your preference of which office location you would like to work from.
Useful information
Applications for this role close at midnight on 17th November
This role is graded as Lead Associate – Regulatory
What to expect from our interview process

The process will involve the below stages:

• A case study followed by a competency interview
• A further competency based interview

Your Recruiter will discuss the process in detail with you during screening for the role.
Recruitment Timetable
Advert closing Date: 17th November
First Round interviews & Assessment: W/C 25th November
Final Interview: 4th-10th December
Please make the recruiter aware if you are going to be unavailable for any date during this time.
Got a question?
If you are an external candidate and you are interested in learning more about the role, please contact Aaron Ward on
aaron.ward@fca.org.uk
If you are an internal candidate and you are interested in learning more about the role, please contact Lucy Matthews on
lucy.matthews@fca.org.uk
Please note that all applications must be submitted through our online portal before the closing date, applications sent via email will not be accepted.
Application support
We want to remove any possible barriers and are committed to providing a wide range of reasonable adjustments so that you can keep the focus on your conversations and be at your best.
If you have an accessibility requirement, disability, or condition that means you might require changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter to discuss this further. Our aim is to make your application as easy and comfortable as possible, and your recruiter will be happy to work with you to make any necessary arrangements where possible

What you will be doing

• Supporting the manager in overseeing the activity of the team, helping to motivate and set direction and allocating and tracking delivery of tasks whilst pushing forward high-quality performance
• Line managing 2/3 associates, coaching, and developing members of the team and sharing knowledge actively across the team
• Driving and overseeing policy workstreams to support the Government agenda to lead innovation and efficiency in the UK markets
• Critical and creative thinking as the UK moves into a new phase of policymaking in wholesale markets
• Helping to manage relationships with a diverse range of external stakeholders in this field as well as engaging effectively with key internal and other regulatory stakeholders, including international regulators, HM Treasury, Prudential Regulation Authority, the Bank of England, and our independent panels, to communicate FCA policy views and influence other

This role is an exciting opportunity to work at the heart of policy in the FCA in an evolving area. As part of this role, you will have the opportunity to:

• Develop line management skills
• Get significant exposure to UK capital markets, working closely with a wide array of stakeholders, include market participants, trade bodies and other regulatory and government bodies
• Play an important role in shaping wholesale markets in the UK at a time of significant change
• Gain exposure to FCA Senior Management, with periodic discussions at both the executive regulation and policy committee and FCA board
• Develop a deep understanding of the benchmarks and credit ratings portfolios and how they function
• Contribute and support wider strategic issues, such as Environmental Social & Governance (ESG), which are cross-cutting in these and other portfolio