Principal Risk Specialist, Validation and Testing of Compliance Programs

at  Danske Bank

Would you like the opportunity to contribute to the further enhancement of the bank’s compliance program? Do you want to have an important role in guiding strategically important areas of the bank to achieve this? Do you have great project and stakeholder management skills and experience of working in an international environment? If yes, then we have an exciting role for you in the Post-Resolution Office (‘PRO’) team!
Join a professional, dynamic and fast-paced environment
In the PRO team, we manage delivery against the Commitments Danske Bank made to the US Department of Justice under the 2022 Plea Agreement. We work in an international environment together with our colleagues in business units and legal entities across all countries where the Group operates.
You will be part of a team of risk, compliance and project management experts overseeing strategically important areas of our Post-Resolution Program. Working from one of the Nordic countries or Poland, you will become part of the Group Risk Management organisation. Together we share a mutual goal: To enable a sustainable business; protect the bank from excessive risk and uphold a sound risk culture. As the PRO is highly prioritized by senior management, this role offers some of the financial services sector’s best opportunities for personal and professional development within risk, compliance and the banking industry.

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

We are looking for someone who is hands-on, a self-starter, who has a logical and pragmatic view of risk management. You can prioritize multiple tasks seamlessly in a time-sensitive setting while still paying attention to detail. You thrive in fast-paced environments and can communicate effectively with stakeholders of different nationalities and levels of seniority.

In addition, we imagine that you have following qualifications:

• A minimum of 6 years relevant experience in the financial services industry, working in an international environment.
• Experience of working in Group Compliance or Group Internal Audit.
• Experience of working on a large-scale, international, regulatory remediation program.
• Practical understanding of banking products and markets, Financial Crime disciplines, risk management, compliance and control frameworks.
• Fluency in English, both spoken and written, with great written communication skills.

The PRO team oversees and manages the Group’s compliance obligations as stipulated by the Plea Agreement. Interactions cut across multiple compliance programs and lines of defence, and involve responding to regulatory requests, overseeing delivery against the Commitments across multiple subsidiaries and branches simultaneously, and providing frequent reporting to all levels of senior management. We provide support and expertise for colleagues across the compliance programs (Human Resources, Financial Crime, Code of Conduct, Conflicts of Interest, Whistleblowing, Third-Party Risk Management and Mergers & Acquisitions), as well as project management-related matters (in liaison with the relevant Business Units and Legal Entities) and act as single-point-of-contact for any Plea Agreement-related regulatory interactions.
The role we offer is a Principal role, and it will report into the Deputy Head of Post Resolution Office.

Your responsibilities will be varied and will include but may not be limited to:

• Supporting the development of a consistent methodology including agreement and sign-off of and changes for the Validation and Testing of in-scope Compliance Programs (Financial Crime, Human Resources, Third Party Risk Management, Code of Conduct, Conflicts of Interest, Whistleblowing and Mergers and Acquisitions)
• Managing the relationship between Design Validation and Effectiveness Testing and the Closure process, including timing and entry and exit criteria for Design Validation and Effectiveness Testing.
• Providing expert support to Compliance Program Leads on the Design Validation and Effectiveness Testing plans of their Compliance Programs.
• Supporting the development and operation of a governance setup incl. end-to-end plan to track and manage the output of Validation and Testing and subsequent audits of Compliance Programs.
• Gathering management information (‘MI’) received from Validation and Testing teams, overseeing the collation of this information and presenting to senior management.