Senior Operational Resilience Specialist

Financial Conduct Authority; Leeds; On-site; GBP 43,000 - 58,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days annual leave

Non-contributory pension (8–12%)

Private healthcare

Volunteer hours

Flexible office pattern

Job summary

Financial Conduct Authority seeks a Senior Operational Resilience Specialist to join its Operational Resilience team in Leeds or London. You will act as resilience SME, lead BIAs, develop Business Continuity Plans and drive embedding of the FCA’s Operational Resilience Framework.

The role requires partnering with stakeholders, mapping dependencies, running scenario tests and supporting governance. It offers a path to strengthen resilience across financial services and protect consumers.

Qualifications

• Solid expertise in Operational Resilience with leadership in transition from BC frameworks.
• Experience in process analysis, governance, risk management and control frameworks.
• Ability to identify, assess and remediate resilience risks including third-party risk.

Responsibilities

• Act as a resilience SME and trusted advisor on operational resilience, BC and contingency planning.
• Embed the Operational Resilience Framework; deliver BIAs, BCPs and resilience testing.
• Identify Important Business Services and dependencies; assess impact tolerances and document resilience.
• Design and coordinate scenario testing; identify vulnerabilities and remediation actions with stakeholders.
• Support development/maintenance of Self-Assessment and governance reporting.
• Conduct due diligence of third-party suppliers and provide resilience risk insights.
• Work with Tech and business teams to close resilience gaps and implement controls.

Skills

Operational Resilience

Process analysis

Governance & risk

Third-party risk

Stakeholder management

Strategic thinking

Delivery focus

Innovative thinking

Regulatory knowledge (FCA)

Job description

Job title: Senior Operational Resilience Specialist

Division: Operations
Department: Operational Resilience

• Salary: National (Edinburgh and Leeds) ranging from £43,300 to £54,100 and London from £46,400 to £57,900 (salary offered will be based on skills and experience)

• This role is graded as: Senior Associate, Corporate

About the FCA and team

We regulate financial services firms in the UK, to keep financial markets fair, thriving and effective. By joining us, you’ll play a key part in protecting consumers, driving economic growth and shaping the future of UK finance services.

Cyber and Information Resilience and the Operational Resilience departments have recently joined together to form a new directorate, Cyber & Operational Resilience (C&OR). The new directorate is focused on enabling secure and resilientregulation across the FCA and the PSR. There are a range of ways the directorate supports the organisation, below are links to each of the teams that make up C&OR.

The team is responsible for enhancing the FCA’s operational resilience and business continuity capabilities, ensuring the organisation can respond effectively to disruption and crisis events. The role supports the embedding of the FCA’s Operational Resilience Framework by assessing Important Business Services, mapping dependencies, identifying vulnerabilities, validating impact tolerances and carrying out remediation activities.

Operational resilience is a strategic priority for the FCA and this role will play a key part in promoting an “Operational Resilience by Design” approach to reduce the risk of disruption and minimise potential harm to consumers and markets. Working closely with Important Business Service owners, Critical Supporting Service owners and subject matter experts across the organisation, you will help develop, maintain and continuously improve robust resilience and continuity plans.

This is a great opportunity to play a key role in shaping and enhancing the FCA’s operational resilience capability, helping ensure the organization can continue delivering critical services during periods of disruption.

Role responsibilities

• Act as a resilience SME and trusted advisor to business areas and functions, providing guidance on operational resilience, business continuity and contingency planning

• Partner with business stakeholders, resilience champions and SMEs to embed the Operational Resilience Framework, including the delivery of Business Impact Analyses (BIAs), Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) and resilience testing activities

• Support the identification and maintenance of Important Business Services and supporting services, including process and dependency mapping, impact tolerance assessments and resilience documentation

• Design, coordinate and participate in scenario testing exercises, identifying vulnerabilities and resilience risks and carrying out remediation activities with business stakeholders

• Support the development and maintenance of the FCA’s Operational Resilience Self-Assessment and related governance reporting

• Conduct resilience due diligence and ongoing assurance of third-party suppliers, identifying risks, recommending mitigating actions and providing insight into the organisation’s resilience risk landscape

• Work closely with Technology and business teams to identify resilience gaps, assess operational risks and support the implementation of appropriate controls and improvements

Skills required

Minimum

• Solid expertise in Operational Resilience, with a proven track record of leading the transition from traditional Business Continuity frameworks and delivering compliance with PS21/3 regulatory requirements within the financial services sector

• Experience in process analysis, process improvement, governance, risk management and control frameworks

• Demonstrated ability to identify, assess and remediate resilience risks, including experience of third-party risk management and supplier resilience oversight

Essential

• Effective stakeholder management, communication and negotiation skills, with the ability to build effective relationships, support constructively and collaborate across all levels of the organisation
• Ability to think strategically, support continuous improvement and adjust to a changing business and technology landscape
• Well-organised and delivery-focused, with the ability to manage competing priorities and coordinate multiple workstreams effectively
• Experience of promoting innovative thinking and bringing new perspectives to enhance resilience outcomes and stakeholder engagement
• Knowledge of FCA practices and regulatory processes would be advantageous but is not essential

Benefits

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

• Non-contributory pension (8–12% depending on age) and life assurance at eight times your salary

• Private healthcare with Bupa, income protection and 24/7 Employee Assistance

• 35 hours of paid volunteering annually

• Colleagues spend a minimum of 50% of their working time in the office each month (60% for Directors and Executive Directors) across our London, Leeds and Edinburgh offices. A flexible benefits scheme designed around your lifestyle

Our values and culture

Our colleagues are the key to our success as a regulator. We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture: one that’s free from discrimination and bias, celebrates difference and supports colleagues to deliver at their best. 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.

If you require any adjustments due to a disability or condition, your recruiter is here to help - reach out for tailored support.

We welcome diverse working styles and aim to find flexible solutions that suit both the role and individual needs, including options like part-time and job sharing where applicable.

Disability confident: our hiring approach

We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Employer and therefore, people or individuals with disabilities and long-term conditions who best meet the minimum criteria for a role will go through to