Regulatory Compliance and Consumer Protection Lead, UK

Block; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A global payments infrastructure company is seeking a Regulatory Compliance and Consumer Protection Lead to ensure compliance with FCA regulations and oversee critical consumer protection frameworks. This role offers the flexibility to work remotely from anywhere in the UK or office-based in London. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in FCA compliance with proven experience in retail lending and a strategic mindset.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a senior FCA Compliance role with a proven track record in a retail lending or consumer credit environment.
• Deep demonstrable expertise in the FCA Handbook including an expert-level understanding of key sourcebooks such as CONC, SYSC, and DISP.
• Mastery of the Consumer Duty with practical hands-on experience in designing and monitoring frameworks.
• Experience communicating with senior stakeholders and engaging with regulators like the FCA.

Responsibilities

• Lead the BNPL Regulatory Uplift Programme ensuring compliance framework readiness.
• Provide expert advice on FCA regulations focused on consumer protection.
• Champion and embed Consumer Duty principles across the business.
• Oversee product governance and fair value assessments.
• Design policies to support vulnerable customers and ensure fair treatment.

Skills

Proven experience in a senior FCA Compliance role

Expert understanding of the FCA Handbook

Mastery of Consumer Duty

Experience engaging with senior stakeholders

Strategic and commercial mindset

Job description

Join a movement in which everyone can win. We started a movement in which everyone can win shoppers retailers society and every person on our team. To play fair trust people and reward them for doing the right thing. We see and feel the impact of our work as more and more people gain financial freedom and retailers grow across the globe.

Founded in 2014 in Sydney Australia Afterpay has over 11 million active customers globally and more than 64000 of the worlds best retailers around the world including Anthropologie Revolve DSW GOAT Finish Line Levis Mac Cosmetics Ray-Ban and many others. Afterpay is on a mission to power an economy in which everyone wins.

Afterpay is completely free for customers who pay on time helping people spend responsibly without incurring interest fees or extended debt. Afterpay empowers customers to access the things they want and need while still allowing them to maintain financial wellness and control by splitting payments in four for both online and in-store purchases. Afterpay is deeply committed to delivering positive outcomes for customers. We are focused on supporting our community of shoppers.

We trust in the next generation and share a vision of a more accessible and sustainable world in which people are rewarded for doing the right thing.

The Role

We are seeking a senior and highly experienced regulatory compliance leader to join Clearpay UK as our Regulatory Compliance and Consumer Protection Lead. This is a critical high-impact role reporting directly to the Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) and serving as the businesss foremost expert on FCA consumer protection regulations.

You will be the architect of our consumer protection framework responsible for leading the uplift of our practices ahead of imminent BNPL regulation. This role requires a deep technical understanding of the FCA handbook and a strategic mindset to ensure our products processes and culture deliver demonstrably good outcomes for our customers. You will be the central point of accountability for embedding Consumer Duty principles and ensuring Clearpay not only meets but exceeds regulatory expectations.

This role can work remotely from anywhere in the United Kingdom. We also have an office in London should you prefer to be office based or work in a hybrid approach.

You Will

• Lead the BNPL Regulatory Uplift Programme : Own and drive the strategic initiatives required to enhance our compliance framework ensuring Clearpay is prepared for the transition into the FCAs regulatory perimeter.
• Serve as the Subject Matter Expert on FCA Regulation : Provide expert and pragmatic advice to the business on all relevant FCA regulations with a primary focus on consumer protection. This includes interpreting and applying rules from key sourcebooks such as CONC SYSC and DISP.
• Champion and Embed the Consumer Duty : Architect and oversee the implementation of our Consumer Duty framework. Ensure the cross-cutting rules and four customer outcomes are deeply embedded in our business processes culture and strategy.
• Spearhead Product Governance : Own and manage the product governance and fair value assessment frameworks ensuring all new and existing products are designed marketed and sold in a way that meets customer needs and regulatory standards.
• Design and Oversee Vulnerable Customer Frameworks : Design and oversee policies to identify and support vulnerable customers including ensuring customers in arrears and forbearance are treated fairly and receive good outcomes.
• Drive Outcomes-Focused Monitoring : Lead deep-dive reviews and thematic assessments to test the effectiveness of our controls and ensure we are delivering good customer outcomes.
• Oversee Complaints and Redress : Provide senior oversight of our complaints handling root cause analysis and any customer remediation programmes acting as the key compliance liaison for our engagement with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
• Lead Critical Customer-Focused Governance : Chair or be a key member of senior governance forums related to consumer protection ensuring that customer-centric issues receive appropriate challenge and executive-level visibility.

You Have

• Proven experience in a senior FCA Compliance role with a proven track record in a retail lending or consumer credit environment.
• Deep demonstrable expertise in the FCA Handbook including an expert-level understanding of key sourcebooks such as CONC SYSC and DISP.
• Mastery of the Consumer Duty with a thorough understanding of the cross-cutting rules and the four customer outcomes. You must have practical hands-on experience in designing implementing and monitoring frameworks to evidence compliance.
• Proven experience engaging and communicating with senior stakeholders including presenting to the Board / Executive Committees and directly engaging with regulators like the FCA.
• A strategic and commercial mindset with a proven ability to provide pragmatic risk-based advice that enables sustainable business growth.
• Practical knowledge of the FCAs expectations for assessing affordability and creditworthiness for consumer credit applicants.
• Proven experience and technical mastery in the review and approval of financial promotions for consumer credit products.
• In-depth knowledge of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) and its practical application within a regulated firm.
• Proven experience leading high-profile regulatory change programmes and translating complex regulatory requirements into actionable business processes.

Were working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Block is a proud equal opportunity employer. We work hard to evaluate all employees and job applicants consistently based solely on the core competencies required of the role at hand and without regard to any legally protected class. We believe in being fair and are committed to an inclusive interview experience including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with their recruiter who will treat these requests as confidentially possible. Want to learn more about what were doing to build an inclusive workplace Check out our Inclusion & Diversity page

Key Skills

• Accounting
• Auditing
• Heavy Machinery
• ABB
• BPO
• Claims
• ASIC

Employment Type: Full Time

Experience: years

Vacancy: 1