Senior Model Validation & AI Risk Lead

Starling Bank; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday

Birthday leave

Pension scheme

Life insurance 4x salary

Private Medical Insurance

Perkbox membership

Cycle to Work

Salary Sacrificed Gym

Job summary

Starling Bank is seeking a skilled Model Validation Manager to join the Model Risk Oversight Team. You will validate AI/ML models and traditional risk models (e.g., IFRS 9, Forecasting, Operational Risk) across the business, ensuring robust risk controls.

In this role, you will lead complex validations, mentor quantitative analysts, produce validation reports, present findings to senior leadership, and contribute to governance frameworks while partnering with model developers and stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Graduate-level education is preferred, ideally in a numerical discipline (or equivalent work experience).
• Proven track record of building, mentoring, and managing high-performing technical teams of quantitative analysts.
• Extensive experience overseeing a broad portfolio of model types.
• Expert in validating AI/ML algorithms alongside traditional models.

Responsibilities

• Act as a senior escalation point for complex validation challenges.
• Support validations of AI/ML and traditional models across Starling.
• Contribute to model risk governance framework development.
• Produce and review validation reports with model developers.
• Lead on Risk Assurance reviews.
• Prepare committee papers and present to committees.
• Present high-level findings to senior leadership.
• Engage stakeholders to enable model risk management.

Skills

Team leadership

Communication

Problem-solving

Attention to detail

Education

Graduate-level education in numerical discipline

Tools

Python

R

SQL

SAS

Job description

Starling Bank is seeking a skilled Model Validation Manager to join the Model Risk Oversight Team. You will validate AI/ML models and traditional risk models (e.g., IFRS 9, Forecasting, Operational Risk) across the business, ensuring robust risk controls.

In this role, you will lead complex validations, mentor quantitative analysts, produce validation reports, present findings to senior leadership, and contribute to governance frameworks while partnering with model developers and stakeholders.