Surveillance Optimisation Lead

NatWest Group; Maney; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A large financial services organization based in the UK seeks a professional to manage market abuse surveillance risk. Key responsibilities include designing surveillance models, supporting compliance efforts, and overseeing data quality in reporting. The ideal candidate will have a strong technical understanding of MiFID products and excellent communication skills to effectively manage and influence stakeholders. This role is integral to maintaining the integrity of market practices and ensuring compliance with regulatory obligations.

Qualifications

• Broad technical knowledge of MiFID products.
• Experience in managing competing tasks to maximize value.
• Ability to summarize complex issues to influence stakeholders.
• Comfort in operating within and managing a vast amount of change.
• Awareness of communication surveillance techniques.

Responsibilities

• Manage the surveillance coverage model for market abuse risk.
• Support the delivery of the surveillance framework to monitor effectiveness.
• Engage with Model Risk to ensure governance across surveillance models.
• Collaborate to develop and deliver remedial action plans for identified risks.
• Embed robust data quality oversight within surveillance reporting.

Skills

Technical knowledge of MiFID products

Good communication skills

Attention to detail

Problem-solving skills

Awareness of key surveillance vendors

Job description

Responsibilities

• You'll support the business in managing their market abuse risk, through managing the design of the surveillance coverage model needed to detect behaviour indicative of market abuse.
• You'll support the management and key stakeholders in their delivery of the surveillance framework and our ability to monitor its effectiveness in mitigating conduct risk and meeting regulatory obligations, through representing surveillance in business owned Market Abuse Risk Assessments, owning requirement documentation and control evaluation and by assessing existing coverage against the businesses needs and agreeing action plans to address concerns and deployment testing.
• You'll work with Model Risk to ensure governance across our communication surveillance models and ensure they are calibrated and tested regularly.
• You'll also support in the identification and assessment of material risks, and in determining their position relative to agreed appetites. Identifying control weaknesses and pro‑actively collaborating with stakeholders across the organisation to drive forward the development and delivery of remedial action plans where identified risks are considered out of appetite.
• Support model governance, develop the surveillance AI strategy and identify control weaknesses.
• Regularly engage and inform our BAU surveillance team of any changes to our coverage model or gaps in our controls, ensuring procedures can be maintained and training can be provided to improve operational effectiveness.
• Manage and ensure tight governance, including accurate reporting to governance fora on a regular basis.
• Represent surveillance in business owned Market Abuse Risk Assessments.
• Evaluate adequacy of controls and processes to identify any potential risks to surveillance and its service, identifying gaps in coverage against BRDs and incumbent key controls.
• Provide an adequacy and effectiveness assessment of the incumbent controls in meeting the agreed surveillance coverage model.
• Ensure issues are logged in our internal risk management system (Vantage) to trigger an assessment of market abuse risk.
• Report on design and deployment issues into the surveillance control testing and control attestation to senior stakeholders.
• Be tasked with annual independent deployment testing, creating and updating artificial instances of market abuse per surveillance scenario, in line with market abuse exposure.
• Embed and oversee robust data quality oversight within our communication surveillance reporting to ensure full coverage and ensure control weaknesses are effectively reported through our internal risk management framework.

Qualifications

• Evidence or a qualification demonstrating broad technical knowledge of MiFID products.
• Good communication skills, both written and verbal, and a clear understanding of how to define and manage the critical path, regularly assessing and prioritising competing tasks to maximise value.
• To summarise 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.

We're looking for someone comfortable operating within and managing a vast amount of change. You'll have a broad technical knowledge of products, services relevant to a large financial services organisation and regulatory obligations regarding market abuse. You’ll have calibration experience across communication surveillance and awareness of communication surveillance techniques and industry standards with the ability to create fabricated instances of market abuse to test control deployment and model drift.