Manager - Operations Legal Team

Financial Conduct Authority; City of Edinburgh; Hybrid; GBP 79,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A financial regulatory body seeks a Manager for its Operations Legal Team to oversee legal work and provide strategic advice. The ideal candidate is a qualified lawyer with strong stakeholders management and analytical skills, ready to tackle complex legal challenges in a collaborative environment. The role offers hybrid working and competitive benefits.

Benefits

28 days holiday plus bank holidays

Hybrid working (up to 60% remote)

Private healthcare

Pension of at least 8% of salary

Life assurance

Income protection

Qualifications

• Applicants must be a qualified lawyer with at least 10 years PQE.
• Extensive experience in public procurement and commercial law.

Responsibilities

• Lead and oversee the full range of legal work in the team.
• Provide strategic legal advice to senior members of the organization.
• Collaborate with colleagues to devise and implement pragmatic solutions.

Skills

Strong stakeholder management skills

Analytical skills

Collaborative work

Leadership and people management

Education

Qualified lawyer (solicitor, barrister, or Chartered Legal Executive)

Job description

Overview

Manager - Operations Legal Team

Division – Legal

Salary – London ranging from £87,300 to £125,000 and National ranging from £79,400 to £114,000 (Salary offered will be based on skills and experience)

About the FCA

The FCA regulates the conduct of 42,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. The role is for the manager of the Operations Legal team in the FCA’s Legal Division. The team undertakes a wide range of operational (commercial) legal work and provides operational legal advice and support to the Operations division and business areas across the FCA on public procurement, general commercial law, data protection, finance and business services, cyber and information resilience, technology and innovation, communications, corporate responsibility and HR. The Operations Legal Team is central to FCA operational decision making and provides a holistic view of the FCA as a business.

What will you be doing?

• Lead and oversee the full range of legal work in the team
• Provide strategic legal advice to senior members of the organisation and act as legal advisor to senior committees
• Collaborate closely with colleagues across the FCA to devise and implement creative and pragmatic solutions to legal issues
• Contribute to the leadership and management of the department and division

What will you get from the role?

• An opportunity to manage a high-performing team working on difficult, complex and often high-profile legal issues
• Experience of participating in the leadership and strategic management of a department and division
• A very high level of ownership and responsibility for your actions
• The opportunity to use your legal skills in complex situations, engaging with both internal and external stakeholders

Which skills are required?

We are a Disability Confident Employer; therefore, disabled people or individuals with long-term conditions who meet the minimum criteria for a role will go through to the next stage of the recruitment process. (To learn more about the Disability Confident Scheme, please contact the recruiting team for details).

Minimum

• Applicants must be a qualified lawyer (solicitor, barrister or Chartered Legal Executive or overseas equivalents): generally a person who is at least 10 years PQE (in house, public sector or private practice), but we will consider applications from candidates with lower PQE who have significant relevant experience
• Extensive experience of advising on public procurement and general commercial law

Essential

• Strong stakeholder management skills
• Understanding of leadership and people management skills including: formal performance reviews, coaching/mentoring, developing future talent, managing resources and the well-being of a team
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team, valuing different perspectives and backgrounds
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to create solutions and deliver pragmatic outcome-focused judgments
• The ability to advise in a confident and reasoned manner both in writing and verbally, and to challenge appropriately

Our Values & Diversity

We are proud to be an inclusive employer and our ambition is to cultivate a culture 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. We offer employee resource groups to promote work-life balance and support our diversity ambitions.

Benefits of working at the FCA

• 28 days holiday per year plus bank holidays
• Hybrid working (work from home up to 60% of your time)
• Private healthcare with Bupa
• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8% of basic salary each month (with contribution levels that can increase up to 12% with age)
• Life assurance of eight times your basic salary
• Income protection

We also have a competitive flexible benefits scheme which gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifestyle. Applications from candidates seeking flexible arrangements are welcome; arrangements can be explored.

Application Support

We are dedicated to removing barriers and ensuring our application process is accessible to everyone. We offer adjustments to make your application experience as comfortable as possible. If you have an accessibility need or condition requiring changes to the recruitment process, contact your recruiter for discussion.

Useful Information and Timeline

• This role is graded as Manager, Practising Legal
• Advert Closing Date: 5 October (midnight)
• CV Review: 6–7 October
• Case Study and Interview: w/c 13 October
• Second Round - psychometric assessment: w/c 20 October

Please note that a cover letter is not required as part of the application process. Ensure that your CV clearly outlines your experience and ability to meet the criteria for the role, and that it is a maximum of three A4 pages and submitted as a single document for upload to the FCA Careers Portal. If you are unavailable for any date during the process, please inform your Recruiter.

Got a question? If you are interested in learning more about the role, please contact Raimonda Stankute at [e-mail]. Applications must be submitted through our online portal; applications sent via email will not be accepted.