Lawyer

at  Financial Conduct Authority

Lawyer
Salary - National Ranging from £47,200 to £70,800 and London ranging from £49,100 to £73,600
Are you looking for an opportunity to work for an organisation that makes a difference to the lives of the millions of people who use financial services and to work at the cutting edge of financial regulatory developments?
We are recruiting for two Lawyer roles in the Wholesale & Perimeter and the Trading & Securitisation Teams in the Legal Division.
The teams/departments
The Wholesale and Perimeter team is one of two teams in the Funds & Wholesale Department of the Regulatory and Corporate Legal Directorate, Legal Division. The team advises on the regulatory perimeter, cryptoassets, wholesale firm supervision and wholesale conduct issues, benchmarks, ESG matters including the sustainable disclosures regime, operational resilience, the critical third parties regime, and the senior managers and certification regime.

What you will be doing in the Wholesale & Perimeter role

• The development of the UK’s regulatory regime for cryptoassets
• The development and implementation of the new regulatory regime for critical third parties
• The FCA’s disclosure requirements relating to ESG matters, including the new sustainable disclosures regime
• Advising on the regulatory perimeter
• Providing legal support in respect of the supervision of wholesale firms supervised by the FCA, including investment banks, wholesale intermediaries, asset managers, benchmark administrators and commodity firms
• Advising FCA Policy and Supervision on the senior managers and certification regime

The Trading and Securitisation team is one of three teams in the Markets & Prudential Department of the Regulatory and Corporate Legal Directorate, Legal Division. The team advises on trading venues (recognised investment exchanges, MTFs and OTFs), securitisation, MiFID/MiFIR wholesale issues, commodity derivatives, emissions trading, OTC derivatives (EMIR), crypto asset trading platforms, securities financing transactions and regulated covered bonds.

What you will be doing in the Trading & Securitisation Team role

• The development of PISCES (Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange Service)
• Supporting the launch of the Digital Securities Sandbox
• Smarter Regulatory Framework (SRF) securitisation work
• Providing legal support for improving transparency for bonds and derivatives markets, and for the reform of the commodity derivatives regime
• Advising on crypto asset trading platforms, as part of the development of the UK’s regulatory regime for cryptoassets

What you will get from the roles

• Work at the forefront of financial regulation on a range of matters including those that involve difficult, complex and often high-profile legal issues
• Advise on the application and effect of regulatory requirements and powers in practice, and work with colleagues to ensure firms comply with all applicable rules, legislation and law
• Devise and implement creative and pragmatic solutions
• Acquire broader experience of financial services regulation, of how a regulator works and of how law and regulation is made
• Be fully involved in the FCA’s policy development, and draft rules and guidance in the FCA Handbook
• Develop problem-solving and project management skills
• Have a high level of ownership and responsibility for your actions
• Interact with colleagues across the FCA and with government departments and bodies and other organisations engaged in financial services such as the Bank of England and HM Treasury on exciting and pioneering projects
• Work in a diverse, inclusive and supportive environment

Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifestyle. 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 will have
Minimum

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, should they meet the minimum criteria for a role.

• Applicants must be a qualified lawyer (solicitor, barrister or Chartered Legal Executive) or foreign qualified, who is newly qualified to 3 years’ PQE
• Direct experience of in house, public sector or private practice

Essential

• Strong analytical skills and the ability to deliver good and clear analysis of issues
• Ability to learn about new or novel legal issues quickly and with enthusiasm, with the necessary oversight and support of colleagues
• Ability to create solutions and deliver pragmatic outcome-focused judgments
• Ability to advise in a confident and reasoned manner, and to challenge appropriately
• Ability to build and sustain positive relationships and good communication skills

About the FCA
The FCA regulates the conduct of nearly 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 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.
Multi-location
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 23.59 on the 1st December 2024
These roles are graded as Associate - Practicing Legal
Got a question?
If you are interested in learning more about the role please contact:
For internal applicants, please contact Katie Ayling at
katie.ayling@fca.org.uk
For external applicants, please contact Chhavi Bartaria at
chhavi.bartaria@fca.org.uk
What to expect from our interview process
The assessment process consists of an initial screening call with one our Recruitment Partners. If successful, you will be invited to complete a technical case study and attend a competency-based interview.
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.
Please note that all applications must be submitted through our online portal, applications sent via email will not be accepted.

What you will be doing in the Wholesale & Perimeter role

• The development of the UK’s regulatory regime for cryptoassets
• The development and implementation of the new regulatory regime for critical third parties
• The FCA’s disclosure requirements relating to ESG matters, including the new sustainable disclosures regime
• Advising on the regulatory perimeter
• Providing legal support in respect of the supervision of wholesale firms supervised by the FCA, including investment banks, wholesale intermediaries, asset managers, benchmark administrators and commodity firms
• Advising FCA Policy and Supervision on the senior managers and certification regim

What you will be doing in the Trading & Securitisation Team role

• The development of PISCES (Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange Service)
• Supporting the launch of the Digital Securities Sandbox
• Smarter Regulatory Framework (SRF) securitisation work
• Providing legal support for improving transparency for bonds and derivatives markets, and for the reform of the commodity derivatives regime
• Advising on crypto asset trading platforms, as part of the development of the UK’s regulatory regime for cryptoasset

What you will get from the roles

• Work at the forefront of financial regulation on a range of matters including those that involve difficult, complex and often high-profile legal issues
• Advise on the application and effect of regulatory requirements and powers in practice, and work with colleagues to ensure firms comply with all applicable rules, legislation and law
• Devise and implement creative and pragmatic solutions
• Acquire broader experience of financial services regulation, of how a regulator works and of how law and regulation is made
• Be fully involved in the FCA’s policy development, and draft rules and guidance in the FCA Handbook
• Develop problem-solving and project management skills
• Have a high level of ownership and responsibility for your actions
• Interact with colleagues across the FCA and with government departments and bodies and other organisations engaged in financial services such as the Bank of England and HM Treasury on exciting and pioneering projects
• Work in a diverse, inclusive and supportive environmen

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, should they meet the minimum criteria for a role.

• Applicants must be a qualified lawyer (solicitor, barrister or Chartered Legal Executive) or foreign qualified, who is newly qualified to 3 years’ PQE
• Direct experience of in house, public sector or private practic