Competition & Digital Policy Lead, Corporate Legal

NatWest Group; City of Edinburgh; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial institution is seeking a Competition & Digital Policy Lead to navigate regulatory changes in digital assets and AI. The role involves advising on competition law, engaging with regulators like the FCA and CMA, and forming strategic policy positions. Candidates should have over 10 years of experience in competition law and strong analytical skills. Join a dynamic team dedicated to shaping the future of digital finance and policy development.

Qualifications

• More than 10 years of experience working on competition law and policy issues.
• Strong understanding of financial and digital markets regulation.
• Experience working with regulators or government is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and advise on legal and regulatory developments in competition and digital policy.
• Develop external policy positions based on competition principles.
• Lead external engagement with regulators and government.

Skills

Competition law expertise

Analytical skills

Advocacy skills

Proactive approach

Entrepreneurial mindset

Flexibility in perspectives

Job description

Join us as our Competition & Digital Policy Lead in Corporate Legal

• This is an opportunity for a competition law and policy expert to join us in Corporate Legal and apply expertise in competition law and economics to help deliver our strategy
• You’ll be responsible for monitoring, advising on, and influencing legal and regulatory developments across all competition and digital policy issues
• Your remit will include, but not be limited to digital assets such as stablecoins, digital wallets, open banking, open finance, and AI

What you'll do

We’ll look to you to help us to navigate a period of rapid change in the competition and digital policy landscapes as we move towards a future of digital assets, AI agents, open finance, and digital wallets. You’ll be a member of the Regulatory Engagement and Policy team, made up of lawyers, economists, and regulatory specialists, reporting to the Head of Competition, Consumer, and Digital.

Using your deep understanding of competition and digital policy issues in financial services, you’ll advise on the likely trajectory of regulatory change, and develop compelling external policy positions based on competition principles. You’ll work with a broad range of internal stakeholders across the entire bank to help develop our house view on these important questions, and you’ll lead external engagement with regulators and government.

In addition, you’ll:

• Leverage and build relationships with the FCA, PSR, and CMA, as well as HMT and DBT
• Build relationships with industry association bodies and engage in industry forums on competition and digital policy matters
• Build relationships with key internal stakeholders such as the CEO of the Retail Bank, the Chief Payments Officer, the Retail Head of Payments, the Head of Open Banking, and the Director of Regulatory Engagement & Policy
• Draft submissions to regulators, government, and other external stakeholders
• Identify and understand differences in perspectives among different stakeholders and build credibility and trust with each of them

The skills you'll need

To succeed in this role, you’ll need extensive experience in competition law and economics, together with an understanding of financial and digital markets regulation, although no formal legal or economics qualifications are required. Experience of working with regulators or government, or a wide network of relationships across regulators and government, is desirable.

You will also need:

• More than 10 years of experience working on competition law and policy issues
• Very strong analytical and advocacy skills, both written and spoken
• A proactive and entrepreneurial approach
• A curious and flexible mindset that seeks out and understands a range of perspectives
• Experience of delivering work through others