Senior Policy Advisor – Consumer Investments

Salary:

National from £51,200 up to £60,000, depending on experience

London from £56,400 up to £65,000, depending on experience

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Consumer Investments Distribution Policy team within the FCA’s Consumer Investments Market Analysis & Policy (MAP) department, to help shape the future of the sector.

The MAP department is responsible for strategic policymaking and providing market insights for the consumer investments sector which covers over 5,000 firms and 50,000 individuals, providing a range of crucial investment services to consumers.

We want consumers of all wealth levels to be able to make good investment decisions. We want people to invest with confidence, understanding the risks and the protection involved. A well-functioning consumer investments sector will also support capital raising, investment innovation and job growth in the real economy, driving wider economic growth that can benefit everyone. This is an exciting time to influence and set policy direction that will impact millions of consumers, as well as UK markets.

We are recruiting three Senior Policy Advisors in the Consumer Investments Distribution Policy team. The team is responsible for ensuring that the regulatory regime governing the distribution of investment products to consumers is robust, reliable and supports the FCA's objectives. The team has a broad remit covering widely applicable policy, such as financial promotions, product governance and disclosure (including the retail requirements in MiFID – the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, and PRIIPS - the packaged retail and insurance-based investment products regulation). We also lead online harms policy development.

What you will be doing

Using evidence and analysis to develop practical policy solutions which support the FCA’s strategic commitments

Delivering policy change and implementation, which includes managing complex projects and understanding and supporting good governance

Identifying and managing key stakeholders, building rapport and constructive relationships with Government, industry and consumer groups

Delivering a wide range of policy-related work including responding to queries, sharing knowledge and providing high quality policy advice to colleagues, including seniors, on complex regulatory regimes

What you will get from the role

You will be at the heart of regulatory insights and analysis, policy making and standard setting for a sector that millions of consumers throughout the country rely on

Opportunity to work on high-profile, complex and exciting projects and to shape regulatory change for the consumer investment sector for the long-term

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 to 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

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

Policy-making experience in a regulator, Government department, firm or other relevant organisation

Proven experience of dealing with complex policy issues

Experience in analysing complex information to draw reasoned and logical inferences, and to reach robust and practical conclusions

Essential

Experience of identifying areas of harm and proposing and developing solutions, ideally in a policy context

Excellent drafting and oral communication skills, including the ability to distil complex messages and tailor them to different internal and external audiences

Ability to work autonomously, proactively and to prioritise and escalate issues appropriately 

Experience of working to deliver complex projects to tight deadlines, and ability to exercise a high degree of initiative in response to changing circumstances

Strong persuading and influencing skills, and experience of building and managing relationships with internal colleagues and external stakeholders

Respects the diversity of backgrounds across the FCA and are motivated to collaborate with others, contributing to an inclusive environment which enables problem-solving and reflective policymaking

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 - Regulatory 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 2nd July 2024

This role is graded as Senior Associate – Regulatory

What to expect from our interview process

All applications will be reviewed once the advert has closed.

Successful candidates will be invited to complete a written case study. Those candidates who proceed beyond the case study will then be invited to a competency-based interview.

Got a question?

If you are interested in learning more about the role:

For Internal applicants, please contact Cheryl Cheung at k

For External applicants, please contact Aaron Ward at k

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 – Applications must be submitted through our online portal. Applications sent via email will not be accepted.