Product Governance Lead

St. James's Place; Cirencester; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

28 days annual leave

Private Medical Insurance

Pension scheme

Parental leave

Life assurance

EV salary sacrifice

Job summary

St. James's Place seeks a governance professional to oversee product governance and risk across its manufactured wrappers, ensuring compliant, well-designed products and strong client outcomes. You will shape frameworks, controls, and reporting across multiple business areas.

You will coordinate with Actuarial Product Support, ensure timely risk and control actions, and drive continuous improvement while maintaining business continuity plans. A seasoned regulator-aware professional will thrive.

Qualifications

• Experience in a regulated Financial Services environment with governance, risk, control frameworks and regulatory requirements.
• Experience coordinating governance activities with multiple stakeholders.
• Strong written and verbal communication for senior audiences.
• Ability to analyse information, challenge constructively and improve governance processes.
• Experience building relationships across functions and influencing stakeholders.
• Strong organisational skills to manage priorities and governance cycles.

Responsibilities

• Lead annual product review of manufactured wrapper products with independent challenge and recommendations.
• Own and enhance the Group-wide Product Policy frameworks for wrapper products.
• Produce Consumer Duty outcome assessments for manufactured wrapper products.
• Lead relationships with Governance Advisory Arrangement and coordinate information responses.
• Manage risk reporting including risk and control register and RCSA processes.
• Drive audit and compliance monitoring actions and ensure effective remediation.
• Maintain divisional business continuity plans including testing coordination.

Skills

Governance

Regulatory requirements

Stakeholder management

Risk management

Communication

Continuous improvement

Job description

Are you ready to chart your own career path? With our refreshed strategy, we’re building on our rich heritage and transforming our business to be more scalable and efficient, unlocking the capabilities needed for future success. This includes significantly investing in technology, streamlining the way we work and creating an environment where colleagues feel engaged, empowered and accountable; where they can show up, speak up and perform - because we believe in the difference our work makes.

At a glance:

Location: Cirencester Office

Workplace Type: Hybrid

Employment Type: Permanent

Seniority: Mid-Senior Level

About the role:

The role of Group Products (“the Division”) is to develop and oversee the suite of products and services available to clients of St. James's Place, ensuring they are fairly priced, aligned to regulatory expectations, support business growth and deliver good client outcomes.

The main purpose of the Product Governance Lead is to lead the oversight of governance and risk across SJP's manufactured wrapper products, ensuring strong client outcomes and regulatory compliance. The role is responsible for developing, maintaining and continuously enhancing the product governance framework, standards and control environment, supporting good client outcomes, regulatory compliance, sustainable commercial performance and the delivery of the Group's strategic objectives.

The role plays a key part in influencing product governance and decision-making across multiple business areas, providing assurance that manufactured products are appropriately designed, governed, monitored and managed throughout their lifecycle.

What you'll be doing:

• Leading and delivering the annual product review process of the Group’s manufactured wrapper products, providing independent challenge, insight and recommendations to support good client outcomes and informed decision-making, working closely with Product Leads and the Actuarial Product Support team.
• Owning and continuously enhancing the supporting frameworks and procedures to the Group-wide Product Policy relating to manufactured wrapper products, enabling product development and ensuring robust, proportionate governance is applied.
• Producing Consumer Duty outcome assessments relating to manufactured wrapper products to support Divisional outcome owners, including collation, analysis, and insight generation from management information.
• Leading the ongoing relationship with the appointed Governance Advisory Arrangement, coordinating and analysing responses to information requests to support their value for money assessments.
• Managing manufactured product-related risk reporting, by maintaining the risk and control register, ensuring timely reporting of risk issues and completion of the RCSA process in line with the Group frameworks.
• Driving and coordinating the progression of all audit and compliance monitoring actions across the Division, while independently challenging progress, direction and proposed outcomes to support effective remediation.
• Maintaining the Divisional business continuity plans, including coordinating testing of the plan.

About you:

We're looking for a governance professional with strong Financial Services experience who can bring structure, oversight and challenge to a complex product environment. You'll be confident working across multiple stakeholder groups, able to navigate governance frameworks and regulatory requirements, and comfortable influencing at all levels of the organisation. The ideal candidate will combine strong organisational skills with a continuous improvement mindset, helping to enhance product governance processes whilst ensuring good customer outcomes remain at the heart of decision making.

Essential Criteria:

• Proven experience operating within a regulated Financial Services environment, with a strong understanding of governance, risk, control frameworks and regulatory requirements.
• Experience coordinating complex governance activities involving multiple stakeholders, ensuring actions, decisions and outcomes are effectively managed and delivered.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce high-quality papers, reports and governance documentation for senior audiences.
• Ability to analyse information, challenge constructively and identify opportunities to improve existing governance processes and controls.
• Experience building effective working relationships across business functions, with the confidence to influence and hold stakeholders accountable.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities, deadlines and governance cycles in a fast-paced environment.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of Product Governance, Consumer Duty or Product Review frameworks.
• Knowledge of Wealth Management, Investments, Pensions or Insurance products.
• Background in Product, Risk, Compliance, Audit or Governance functions.
• Experience leading governance enhancements, policy development or continuous improvement initiatives.

What's in it for you?

Whatever stage of life you're in, our benefits are designed to provide the support, flexibility, and peace of mind you need to thrive both at work and beyond.

In addition to our discretionary annual bonus scheme, which reflects both individual and company performance, you'll benefit from a market-leading benefits package tailored to support your wellbeing, financial security, and family life.

Our benefits include:

• 28 days' annual leave plus bank holidays, with the option to purchase up to 5 additional days.
• Private Medical Insurance – company-funded cover for you and your immediate family
• Generous Pension Scheme – a non-contributory employer contribution of 10%, increasing with length of service up to 15%, plus the opportunity to increase this through salary sacrifice
• Enhanced Parental Leave – up to 26 weeks' full pay to support growing families.
• Protection Benefits – company-funded critical illness cover, income protection, and life assurance
• EV salary sacrifice scheme through Tusker

Reasonable Adjustments

We're an equal opportunities employer and want to ensure our recruitment process is accessible and inclusive for all, if you require reasonable adjustment(s) at any stage please let us know by emailing us at [e-mail].

Research tells us that applicants (especially those from underrepresented groups) can be put off from applying for a role if they do not meet all the criteria or have been on an extended career-break.

As a business regulated by the FCA we would advise you to familiarise yourself with the conduct regulations and in particular consumer duty obligations prior to an interview with SJP.