Senior Third Party Risk Lead - Banking

PSD Group; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

PSD Group in London seeks a Senior Third Party and Operational Resilience Lead to manage the vendor lifecycle and the resilience framework across ~350 vendors, including 12 high-risk/critical ones.

You will report to the COO, with board-level reporting and one direct report, guiding governance, performance and risk. The role requires strong regulatory acumen and leadership in a hybrid work setting.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of third-party/vendor management in financial services or a regulated environment.
• Strong grasp of regulatory requirements and ability to adapt as they evolve.
• Experience with change activity and delivering governance.
• Clear written and verbal communication, including presenting to senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end vendor lifecycle in Gatekeeper: due diligence, contracting, onboarding, monitoring, performance, exit and termination.
• Maintain the register of third-party and outsourcing arrangements, including materiality and criticality ratings.
• Deliver the material third-party register for the regulatory deadline and keep it accurate going forward.
• Review contracts with Legal and Compliance for audit and access rights, data location, incident notification, subcontracting and termination provisions.
• Set and monitor SLAs and KPIs, and test exit plans for outsourced services.
• Chair the third-party and resilience governance committee and report to senior leadership and the Board.
• Act as liaison to Group colleagues on third-party matters.
• Line manage a third-party management and resilience analyst.
• BAU function to maintain the operational resilience framework and embed it into third-party processes.
• Support business leaders on Important Business Services, mapping and scenario testing.
• Oversee business continuity, including BIAs, continuity plans, crisis management and DR/recovery testing.
• Lead or support crisis response when a critical supplier fails.

Skills

Stakeholder communication

Regulatory knowledge

People management

Change management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business/Finance/Risk

Job description

Job title: Senior Third Party and Operational Resilience Lead

Location: London

Hybrid: 4 days in the office

The role

Excellent career opportunity to join small and highly esteemed foreign bank to lead its third-party management framework and operational resilience model. Reporting to the COO, with Board-level reporting and one direct report, you'll be accountable for governance, performance and risk across c.350 vendors (12 critical/high risk).

Third party management

• Own the end-to-end vendor lifecycle in Gatekeeper: due diligence, contracting, onboarding, monitoring, performance, exit and termination
• Maintain the register of third-party and outsourcing arrangements, including materiality and criticality ratings
• Deliver the material third-party register for the March 2027 regulatory deadline, then keep it accurate going forward
• Review contracts with Legal and Compliance for audit and access rights, data location, incident notification, subcontracting and termination provisions
• Set and monitor SLAs and KPIs, and test exit plans for outsourced services
• Chair the third-party and resilience governance committee and report to senior leadership and the Board
• Act as liaison to Group colleagues on third-party matters
• Line manage a third-party management and resilience analyst

Operational resilience and BCM

• BAU function to maintain the operational resilience framework and embed it into third-party processes
• Support business leaders on Important Business Services, mapping and scenario testing
• Oversee business continuity, including BIAs, continuity plans, crisis management and DR/recovery testing
• Lead or support crisis response when a critical supplier fails

Regulatory scope

PRA SS2/21, SS1/21 and SS4/21, FCA SYSC 8 and 15A, EBA outsourcing guidelines, UK Critical Third Parties regime, and DORA for EU operations.

About you

• 7+ years' third-party/vendor management in financial services or another regulated environment, with line management experience
• Strong grasp of regulatory requirements and the ability to adapt as they evolve
• Experience with change activity
• Clear written and verbal communication, including presenting to senior stakeholders
• Degree in Business, Finance, Risk or a related field (or equivalent experience)
• DR exposure is a bonus

This role is suited to an excellent communicator who would like to manage an established and well-run function as part of a stable team.