Senior Economist - Interventions - Regulatory Reform and Remedies Department

at  Financial Conduct Authority

Salary: National ranging from £51,200 to £67,000 and London £56,400 to £70,000 per annum – Salary offered will be based on skills and experience
Would you like to shape policymaking at the Financial Conduct Authority?
We are currently looking to recruit someone with an economics background in our remedies function, sitting in the Regulatory Reform and Remedies Department in our Competition directorate.
You will be joining a pioneering new remedy design unit, one of the first of its kind in UK regulation. The unit brings advanced evidence-led and foundational thinking to how the FCA intervenes in UK financial services, drawing on cutting edge practitioner and academic evidence on what works in public policy, as well as embedding the latest competition thinking into wider policymaking. We will achieve impact by shaping the frameworks, evidence base and options analysis that underpin what rules and other interventions the FCA might choose to make.
The team/department

Our remedies function has developed an exciting programme of work to support intervention design at the FCA, including:

• Advancing the next generation of outcomes-based regulation thinking for the FCA, as part of evolving the principles and frameworks for how the FCA chooses different interventions
• Fusing evidence, causal chain and design thinking to support policy and supervisory teams in creating interventions, drawing on the full range of the FCA’s regulatory toolkit
• Deploying competition thinking when FCA interventions are being considered, ensuring any FCA action is underpinned by a strong understanding of how firms compete in the relevant markets
• Harnessing the latest evidence from other policymakers and academic literature on what works in public policy, developing a common evidence base for designing interventions at the FCA
• Collaborating with, influencing and supporting policy and supervisory teams across the organisation

What you will be doing
You will play a key role within the remedies function, helping to progress a diverse programme of work within a new team, including scoping the role of the team on individual projects and leading on stakeholder engagement with colleagues across the FCA. Providing high-quality analysis you will influence a range of policy issues, where you will support the development of the FCA regulatory approach. You will be responsible for leading engagement with colleagues across the FCA and influencing senior colleagues and decision makers to advocate for the positive role of competition in markets. You will scope and lead assessments of the impact of FCA interventions on markets, provide expert competition economics input on FCA publications and help to develop the Remedies team’s economics expertise.
What you will get from the role
You will build relationships with policy and other colleagues right across the FCA and get exposure at senior levels. You will also actively share and continue to develop your technical knowledge and skills in remedy design, as well as having the opportunity to support junior colleagues through work management.
The FCA has a thriving economics profession, with links to the Government Economic Service and beyond. You will enjoy a stimulating, collaborative environment with a range of opportunities for professional and personal development.
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’re a signatory to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to any disabled candidates entering under the scheme, who best meet the minimum criteria for a role.

Minimum

• A degree in Economics or equivalent experience working as an Economist
• Experience of working within Competition Policy either in policy-making or casework. This could be gained as: a policymaker in a competition authority, another regulator, consultancy or government department; in an analytical role supporting policymakers, behavioural scientist or data analyst; or in any other policy-related role, for example advocacy or compliance

Essential

• Ability to apply economic principles to issues you are not familiar with and provide high quality analytical advice
• Ability to make a strong personal impact, influencing with well-reasoned arguments and questioning where appropriate
• Engage and collaborate effectively with stakeholders to build and maintain strong working relationships. Drafting and presenting for senior audiences. Experience in explaining complex issues well to both specialist and non-specialist audiences, orally and in writing
• Be comfortable with ambiguity, identifying the most important issues. Creative problem-solving, framing and structuring problems conceptually, prioritising work, and distilling results to generate insight
• Experience in leading delivery of complex analytical projects, maintaining both pace and quality and including identifying and analysing different sources of information to inform analysis. Management capability to help plan, prioritise and allocate work within the team
• Role model commitment to self-awareness and learning. Build own network and support others to identify effective coping techniques
• Demonstrated knowledge and/or work experience relating to wholesale markets are non-essential but highly advantageous, particularly if gained in a public policy context

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 senior 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 16th June
This role is graded as Senior Associate - Regulatory
What to expect from our interview process

The process will involve the below stages:

• A timed case study to be competed and returned in 90-minutes
• If successful in the case study you will be invited to a 60-minute competency based interview
• If successful in the competency interview you will be invited to a virtual meeting with the Head of Department

Your Recruiter will discuss the process in detail with you during screening for the role.
Recruitment Timetable
Advert closing Date:
Case study: 24th-26th June
Competency Interview: 2nd-4th July
Final round: 8th-10th July
Got a question?
If you are an external candidate and you are interested in learning more about the role, please contact Chhavi Bartaria on
Chhavi.bartaria@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

Please refer the Job description for details