Surveillance Lead

NatWest Group; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

NatWest Group seeks a Surveillance Lead in Model Oversight to oversee surveillance models across their lifecycle, from deployment to retirement. You will coordinate performance monitoring, calibration, and governance reporting, ensuring models remain fit for purpose and within approved tolerances.

The role involves collaboration with Model Owners, Internal Audit, and Independent Validation to manage risk and remediation.

Qualifications

• Experience in surveillance and model risk governance within financial services.
• Awareness of MiFID/market abuse surveillance expectations and governance reporting.
• Ability to work with cross-functional stakeholders and escalate issues clearly.

Responsibilities

• Provide proportionate oversight of surveillance models across their lifecycle.
• Coordinate performance assessment, calibration, and evidence-based reporting.
• Govern and report model changes, limitations, and remediation actions.
• Engage with Model Owners and Independent Validation to ensure fitness for purpose.
• Maintain records of performance decisions and governance outcomes.
• Escalate material risks and ensure timely closure through governance.

Skills

Surveillance leadership

Model risk governance

Regulatory compliance

Stakeholder management

Effective communication

Job description

Join us as a Surveillance Lead in Model Oversight

• You'll support the business in managing Market Abuse Risk by providing proportionate oversight of surveillance models across their lifecycle, from deployment and initial proving through to ongoing performance monitoring, calibration, change, restriction and retirement
• You'll support management and key stakeholders in monitoring whether surveillance models remain effective, reliable and fit for purpose
• You'll co-ordinate performance assessment, calibration, model change evaluation and evidence-based reporting, with clear escalation where models operate outside agreed tolerances or present material limitations
• Support management and key stakeholders in identifying, assessing and escalating model performance, deployment and control risks
• You'll also co-ordinate proportionate remediation and monitoring actions where performance concerns, limitations or exceptions are identified

What You’ll Do

As a Surveillance Lead, you'll report material deployment, calibration and model performance issues through relevant surveillance, model and control governance, supported by clear evidence, impact assessment and proposed actions.

You’ll manage and ensure tight governance, including accurate reporting to governance fora on a regular basis and regularly engage and inform the BAU surveillance team of model changes, performance concerns, limitations and calibration outcomes so that procedures, training and operational monitoring remain aligned.

You’ll Also

• Provide model risk oversight across the surveillance model lifecycle, ensuring model ownership, classification, documentation, approvals, limitations, dependencies and residual risks are clearly recorded and escalated through the appropriate governance
• Co-ordinate Ongoing Model Performance Monitoring (OMPM), including the definition and periodic review of performance indicators, thresholds and tolerances; assessment of model drift, data quality, alert volumes, outcomes and control effectiveness; and clear RAG reporting with evidence-based conclusions and actions
• Engage with the Model Owner to assess whether surveillance models remain fit for purpose and operate within agreed tolerances, identifying when recalibration, enhancement, remediation, control weaknesses, restriction or retirement should be considered by the accountable decision-maker
• Support calibration and optimisation activity across surveillance scenarios, providing documented parameter rationale, challenge, outcome analysis and traceability to the relevant model design, performance objective and governance decision
• Act as a key Surveillance contact for Independent Model Validation, coordinating submissions, evidence packs, walkthroughs and responses to challenge; tracking findings and remediation actions; and supporting timely, evidenced closure through formal governance
• Evaluate the impact of model, vendor, data, parameter and methodology changes, including whether a change is material and requires additional testing, validation, approval or post-implementation monitoring
• Maintain clear records of model performance decisions, limitations, issues, compensating controls and accepted residual risks, with accurate reporting to model, surveillance and control governance fora

The Skills You’ll Need

We’re looking for someone comfortable operating within and managing a vast amount of change and you’ll need broad technical knowledge of products and services relevant to a large financial services organisation, together with an understanding of regulatory expectations for effective market abuse surveillance and model oversight.

You’ll bring significant experience in the banking industry and a track record of delivery in surveillance, model risk, control assurance, remediation or regulatory compliance. You’ll have awareness of trade and communication surveillance techniques and industry standards as well as practical experience of model risk governance, including model inventories, lifecycle documentation, issue and finding management, risk acceptance and governance reporting.

In Addition, You’ll Need

• Experience designing or operating OMPM frameworks, including performance metrics, thresholds, tolerances, trend analysis, model drift assessment and escalation of exceptions
• Experience engaging with Independent Model Validation, Internal Audit, Risk and control stakeholders, including preparing evidence, responding to challenge and managing remediation to closure
• Ability to analyse surveillance model outputs and supporting data to form clear, evidence-based conclusions on adequacy, effectiveness and ongoing fitness for purpose
• An understanding of calibration, optimisation, regression testing, post-implementation proving and change-impact assessment for surveillance models and scenarios
• Evidence or qualification demonstrating broad technical knowledge of MiFID products
• The ability to build successful working relationships and collaborate and lead across multiple disciplines
• Good communication skills and a clear understanding of how to define and manage the critical path, regularly assessing and prioritising competing tasks to maximise value
• To articulate in summarising complex issues to influence with impact
• Attention to detail and well-honed problem-solving skills
• Strong awareness of key Surveillance vendors in the market and their offerings
• To display behaviours in line with Beyond