Head of Operational Risk

Union Bancaire Privée; Genf; Hybrid; CHF 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Union Bancaire Privée in Geneva seeks a Head of Non-Financial Risk to lead the 2nd line of defence across the bank and Group, ensuring proactive risk management and regulatory readiness. The role partners with 1LOD to strengthen controls, governance and risk culture across Switzerland and beyond.

You will build a high-performing team, advise senior leaders, and embed risk-aware decision-making with a focus on operational, cyber, third-party and conduct risk within a growing private banking

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in private banking and risk management.
• Deep expertise in governance frameworks and control environments.
• Proven track record advising senior leaders and balancing risk with business goals.
• Strong experience designing risk governance, appetite, incidents management and reporting.
• Ability to lead complex change with stakeholder engagement.

Responsibilities

• Act as senior trusted advisor on non-financial risk, supporting strategic decisions.
• Provide challenge and oversight on risk profile, control effectiveness and change.
• Lead governance framework, including committees, reporting, escalation and decisions.
• With 1LOD, ensure material risks are identified, assessed, managed and reported.
• Build and lead a high-performing risk team across locations.

Skills

Non-financial risk

Governance

Stakeholder management

Risk reporting

Leadership

Regulatory knowledge

GRC systems

Job description

Mission

As Head of Non-Financial Risk with 2nd line of defence, you will lead non-financial risk across the bank and Group, acting as a trusted advisor to senior business leaders to enable sustainable growth.
In cooperation with 1st line of defence, you will ensure non-financial risks are identified, assessed and managed within appetite, deploy oversight and support effective decision-making, and regulatory compliance.
You will provide strategic risk counsel, drive robust governance and embed a proactive risk culture across the portfolio.
The role also focuses on strengthening the control environment with 1LOD, processes and governance, with a particular attention to operational risk, cyber risk, third-party risk and conduct risk.
In addition, you will build and lead a high-performing team, partnering closely with business and risk stakeholders to anticipate emerging risks, provide constructive challenge and continuously uplift the maturity and effectiveness of the non-financial risk framework.

Main responsibilities

• Act as the senior trusted advisor on non-financial risk, supporting strategic decision-making and sustainable growth within appetite
• Provide constructive challenge and oversight on business risk profile, key risk themes, control effectiveness and risk in change
• Build strong partnerships across the business, 2LOD and control functions to ensure aligned and effective risk outcomes at Group level and for Switzerland
• Lead the non-financial risk governance framework, including committees, reporting, escalation and decision-making processes
• With 1LOD, ensure material non-financial risks are identified, assessed, managed, monitored and reported within appetite, with clear ownership and timely escalation
• Grant particular attention to incident management framework in cooperation with all divisions and locations, arbitrage and action plan challenge.
• Act as a senior trusted advisor to uplift non-financial risk control environment through improvements to controls, tools, data and processes to enhance risk management maturity and take in charge action plan in cooperation with process owner.
• Define and deploy thematic reviews driven by key risk monitoring as well as emerging risk reviews. Implement strong non-financial risk management community across the Risk Management Teams across locations / entities.
• Monitor program-related risks, issues and actions, escalating material concerns to senior stakeholders and governance forums
• Build, lead and retain a high-performing non-financial risk team, driving capability uplift through hiring, coaching and development
• Represent the business on non-financial risk matters with senior stakeholders, including risk partners, Internal and External Audit and governance forums
• Maintain regulatory readiness by ensuring strong governance, high-quality documentation, effective issue management and proactive response to emerging risk and regulatory themes
  

Your Profile

• Extensive experience in private banking, with strong understanding of Operations, IT, Cyber, Third-Parties, and operating environments
• Deep expertise in non-financial risk management, governance frameworks and control environments within large and complex financial services organisations
• Proven track record operating as a trusted advisor to senior business leaders, influencing strategic decisions while balancing commercial outcomes with sound risk management
• Strong experience designing and overseeing risk governance, risk appetite, issues and incidents management, control uplift and risk reporting
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex change or uplift programmes, with disciplined execution and strong stakeholder engagement
• Exceptional communication and influencing skills, with executive presence and the ability to distil complex risk issues into clear, actionable insights
• Strong people leadership capability, including building high-performing teams, developing talent and fostering a proactive risk culture
• Knowledge of prudential and conduct-related regulatory expectations relevant to banks and non-financial risk management
• Ability to leverage data, management information and visualisation tools to generate risk insights and support decision-making
• Exposure to cross-border or multi-jurisdiction institutional banking environments
• Familiarity with GRC systems, governance tools and control monitoring frameworks
  

Others

• Swiss Residence

Core Competencies : Adherence to the company’s values: Dedication, Conviction, Agility and Responsibility - Compliance with regulations and internal directives