Lead Critical Third-Party Professional – CPT Oversight Team

at  Financial Conduct Authority

Lead Critical Third-Party Professional – CPT Oversight Team
Salary: London £63,300 to £97,300 and National ranging from £57,600 to £88,500 per annum – salary offered will be based on skills and experience
Would you like to play a central role protecting consumers and markets from the impact of operational disruption and cyber-attack? Are you interested in pioneering the FCA’s oversight of Critical Third Parties (CTP) and the services they provide to the UK financial services industry?
The Team
We have an exciting opportunity for a number of Lead Associates to join the CTP Oversight team within the Technology, Resilience and Cyber department (TRC) at the FCA.
Under FSMA 2023, the FCA will be taking on joint responsibility with PRA and the Bank of England for overseeing the operational resilience of CTPs. This is a high-profile area of work that is central to the FCA’s strategic commitment to minimise the impact of operational disruptions on the financial services industry.
As a Lead Associate, you will play a role in shaping our Oversight approach for the CTPs that HMT designate, and then take forward our oversight of these third parties.

What you will be doing

• Work with a blended team of FCA supervisors and operational resilience specialists in developing the regulators’ joint oversight approach to Critical Third Parties and the services they provide to the FS sector
• Get involved in the preparation and take ownership the department’s engagements with a range of stakeholders, including across HM Treasury, the Bank of England, PRA and National Cyber Security Centre, as well as international stakeholders
• Work on the FCA’s oversight of Critical Third Parties’ (CTPs) by assessing their compliance with the proposed rules and expectations on their operational resilience, to help minimise the systemic risk they pose to the UK Financial Sector. This includes setting the annual Oversight strategy for CTPs, preparing briefings/agendas for CTP meetings and drafting internal papers/briefings for internal stakeholders
• Lead and contribute to meetings with managers (e.g. CISOs, CIOs and COOs) from CTPs on the resilience of their services

What you will get from the role

• This is an opportunity to make a significant difference. Your work will play a key part in the FCA delivering and supporting its strategic commitment to minimise the impact of operational disruptions
• The UK is leading the way globally, in implementing a regulatory regime where the financial regulators will oversee third parties critical to the financial system. You are presented with this unique opportunity to shape the international regulatory agenda on CTPs, alongside third-party risk management, cyber security, and the regulation of emerging technologies

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 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, who best meet the minimum criteria for a role.

• Significant experience working with financial services, with large third-party providers, or with a consultancy with a focus on operational resilience
• Excellent written communication skills, including experience in conveying complex issues in a coherent and compelling way, e.g. communicating technical issues to non-technical audiences and diplomatically deliver difficult messages
• The successful candidate will hold or will be required to obtain Security Clearance (SC) level vetting

Essential

• Proven ability to successfully influence, build and develop effective relationships with key stakeholders – both internal and external
• Very good judgement with a proven ability to make risk-based choices in a complex and changing landscape, utilising available information
• Highly organised and experienced in managing different priorities in a high-pressure environment at the same time, prioritising appropriately and escalating where necessary
• An ability to get up to speed on new concepts quickly and harness innovative thinking on how to deal with new complex problems most effectively
• Experience of working in an agile way with both in person and virtually

About The FCA
The FCA regulates the conduct of 50,000 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.
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 on Thursday 19th September (midnight)
• This role is graded as Lead Associate – Regulatory
• We are hiring for a number of Lead Associate positions
• We will be screening applications on a rolling basis; therefore please apply early to avoid disappointment
• All internal candidates are invited to a Question-and-Answer session attended by hiring managers in the Technology Resilience and Cyber Division, taking place on Friday 5th September between 13:00 and 14:00; please email the Hiring Manager for details

Got a question
If you are interested in learning more about the role please contact:
For internal applicants, please contact Linda Bradley at
linda.bradley@fca.org.uk
For external applicants please contact Chhavi Bartaria at
chhavi.bartaria@fca.org.uk
What To Expect From Our Interview Process
If your application is successful you will be invited to complete a case study followed by a 1-hour competency based interview. Interviews are likely to take place w/c 30th September.
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.
Security Clearance/Vetting
The successful candidate will hold or will be required to obtain Security Clearance (SC) level vetting.

What you will be doing

• Work with a blended team of FCA supervisors and operational resilience specialists in developing the regulators’ joint oversight approach to Critical Third Parties and the services they provide to the FS sector
• Get involved in the preparation and take ownership the department’s engagements with a range of stakeholders, including across HM Treasury, the Bank of England, PRA and National Cyber Security Centre, as well as international stakeholders
• Work on the FCA’s oversight of Critical Third Parties’ (CTPs) by assessing their compliance with the proposed rules and expectations on their operational resilience, to help minimise the systemic risk they pose to the UK Financial Sector. This includes setting the annual Oversight strategy for CTPs, preparing briefings/agendas for CTP meetings and drafting internal papers/briefings for internal stakeholders
• Lead and contribute to meetings with managers (e.g. CISOs, CIOs and COOs) from CTPs on the resilience of their service

What you will get from the role

• This is an opportunity to make a significant difference. Your work will play a key part in the FCA delivering and supporting its strategic commitment to minimise the impact of operational disruptions
• The UK is leading the way globally, in implementing a regulatory regime where the financial regulators will oversee third parties critical to the financial system. You are presented with this unique opportunity to shape the international regulatory agenda on CTPs, alongside third-party risk management, cyber security, and the regulation of emerging technologie

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.

• Significant experience working with financial services, with large third-party providers, or with a consultancy with a focus on operational resilience
• Excellent written communication skills, including experience in conveying complex issues in a coherent and compelling way, e.g. communicating technical issues to non-technical audiences and diplomatically deliver difficult messages
• The successful candidate will hold or will be required to obtain Security Clearance (SC) level vettin