Agentic Payments Technical Specialist

Financial Conduct Authority; Leeds; Hybrid; GBP 75,000 - 89,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

28 days annual leave

Office time in London/Leeds/Edinburgh

Pension 8–12% and life assurance

Private healthcare

Job summary

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is recruiting a Technical Specialist – Regulatory in the Payments and Digital Assets Policy team. You will lead policy work on agentic payments, shaping proposals that support innovation while protecting consumers.

You will apply deep expertise in agentic AI for payments, engage with regulators and industry, and mentor colleagues as part of a senior leadership team.

Qualifications

• Significant experience applying agentic AI in payments.
• Proven ability to present complex issues to senior leaders.
• Demonstrable experience building relationships with stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with FCA teams to lead policy work on agentic payments and shape proposals.
• Apply deep technical expertise in agentic AI to policy and strategy for domestic and international use cases.
• Engage with government, regulators, consumer groups, and industry experts to shape payments regulation.

Skills

Agentic AI in payments

Present complex issues

Stakeholder relationships

Job description

Division: Supervision, Policy & Competition (SPC)

Department: Payments and Digital Assets Policy

Salary: National (Edinburgh and Leeds) ranging from £74,900 to £88,966 and London £82,300 to £97,800 (salary offered will be based on skills and experience)

• This role is graded as: Technical Specialist – RegulatoryYour external recruitment contact is Steve Christopher via [e-mail].
• Your internal recruitment contact is Jennifer Wishart via [e-mail].

About The FCA And Team

We regulate financial services firms in the UK, to keep financial markets fair, thriving and effective. By joining us, you’ll play a key part in protecting consumers, driving economic growth and shaping the future of UK finance services.

SPC oversees firms and individuals (supervision), creates and reviews the rules by which they operate (policy) and identifies and remedies ineffective competition in markets (competition).

The Payments Policy Team is a large and growing team that works closely with HMT Treasury, and colleagues across FCA and PSR, to modernise the payments regulatory framework. This includes work to realise the benefits of agentic payments, whilst maintaining a safe and trusted payments system. The payments policy team sits in Payments & Digital Assets Policy, alongside teams working on tokenised payments and crypto policy.

Role Responsibilities

• Collaborate with teams across the FCA to lead policy work on agentic payments, shaping proposals that will directly support innovation, and impact consumers and industry
• Apply your deep technical expertise in agentic artificial intelligence (AI) and its application to payments to the development of FCA policy and strategy both for domestic as well as international use cases for agentic payments
• Lead engagement with key stakeholders by building strong relationships with government, other domestic and international regulators, consumer groups, and technical experts in industry and beyond, to help shape the future of payments regulation
• Provide expert insight by delivering impactful advice and briefings on issues relating to agentic payments to colleagues and senior management
• Grow your expertise further, by developing deep knowledge of payments services and regulations and leading FCA thinking on the risks and opportunities of agentic AI and agentic payments
• Coach, mentor, and develop talent across the FCA, building analytical and risk management capabilities that elevate organisational performance
• Role model FCA values as part of the senior leadership team, fostering a culture of integrity, collaboration, and excellence

Skills Required

Minimum

• Significant professional experience in the application of agentic AI in payments
• Proven experience presenting complex issues clearly and succinctly to senior leaders and stakeholders, both orally and in writing
• Demonstratable experience of building and managing constructive relationships with key internal and external stakeholders

Essential

• Evidence of leading complex projects, requiring strong problem solving and organisational skills, and the ability to manage a variety of competing priorities and issues
• An inclusive team player with experience of teaching, coaching and/or mentoring colleagues
• Demonstratable experience of engaging internationally on issues relating to regulation and innovation

Benefits

• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Colleagues spend a minimum of 50% of their working time in the office each month (60% for Directors and Executive Directors) across our London, Leeds and Edinburgh offices.
• Non-contributory pension (8–12% depending on age) and life assurance at eight times your salary
• Private healthcare with Bupa, income protection and 24/7 Employee Assistance
• 35 hours of paid volunteering annually
• A flexible benefits scheme designed around your lifestyle
• For a full list of our benefits and our recruitment process as a whole visit our benefits page.

Our Values and Culture

Our colleagues are the key to our success as a regulator. We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture: one that’s free from discrimination and bias, celebrates difference and supports colleagues to deliver at their best. 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.

If you require any adjustments due to a disability or condition, your recruiter is here to help - reach out for tailored support.

We welcome diverse working styles and aim to find flexible solutions that suit both the role and individual needs, including options like part-time and job sharing where applicable.

Disability Confident: our hiring approach

We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Employer and therefore, people or individuals with disabilities and long-term conditions who best meet the minimum criteria for a role will go through to the next stage of the recruitment process. In cases of high application volumes we may progress applicants whose experience most closely matches the role’s key requirements.

Useful information and timelines

Timeline:

• Job advert closes: Monday 21st September (midnight)
• CV Review/Shortlist: Wednesday 23rd September
• Case Study / Competency Based Interview: w/c 28th September

Your Recruiter will discuss the process in detail with you during screening for the role, therefore, please make them aware if you are going to be unavailable for any date during this time.