Vice President, Strategy & Innovation – Public Policy

Cls Group; Greater London; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Holiday entitlement

Volunteer days

Parental leave

Wellbeing resources

Hybrid working

Pension plan

Private medical insurance

Dental coverage

Discover learning platform

Job summary

CLS in London seeks a Vice-President, Strategy & Innovation Public Policy to shape the firm’s global policy agenda and oversee strategic communications. You will translate complex regulatory developments into actionable positions and coordinate with senior leaders and external policymakers.

This role requires 5+ years in policy or financial services, a finance/legal degree, and excellent written and verbal skills; you will lead stakeholder engagement, contribute to governance, and advance CLS’s

Qualifications

• 5+ years’ experience in business development, policy or regulatory affairs in financial services.
• Deep understanding of CLS’s role in global financial policy.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong problem-solving abilities and data analysis.

Responsibilities

• Support evolution and maintenance of CLS strategy and governance.
• Lead public policy engagement with global policymakers.
• Coordinate with the CEO Office and external stakeholders.
• Develop evidence-based public policy positions and papers.
• Prepare meeting materials and minutes for related meetings.

Skills

Policy & regulatory affairs

Business development

Regulatory change management

Written communication

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor’s degree in finance, law, accounting or related field

Job description

About CLS:

CLS is the trusted party at the centre of the global FX ecosystem. Utilized by thousands of counterparties, CLS makes FX safer, smoother and more cost effective. Trillions of dollars’ worth of currency flows through our systems each day.

Created by the market for the market, our unrivalled global settlement infrastructure reduces systemic risk and provides standardization for participants in many of the world’s most actively traded currencies. We deliver huge efficiencies and savings for our clients: in fact, our approach to multilateral netting shrinks funding requirements by over 96% on average, so clients can put their capital and resources to better use.

CLS products are designed to enable clients to manage risk most effectively across the full FX lifecycle – whether through more efficient processing tools or market intelligence derived from the largest single source of FX executed data available to the market.

Our ambition to make a positive difference starts with our people. Our values underpin everything that we do at CLS and define our working environment:

• Pivotal purpose
• Trusted guardian
• Targeted innovation
• Facilitate connections
• Delivering excellence
• Inclusive culture

Job information:

• Functional title – Vice President, Strategy & Innovation Public Policy
• Department – Office of CEO
• Corporate level – Vice President
• Report to – Executive Director, Strategy & Innovation
• Location – London

What you will be doing:

The CEO Office supports the evolution and maintenance of the company’s strategy and owns the performance metrics. In this context, it monitors business and technology trends which may impact the company’s business, and steers innovation research and experimentation efforts. The CEO Office is responsible for determining and implementing the global communications marketing strategy across all external audiences and leads public policy efforts. It provides the secretariat function for CLS-internal governance bodies and facilitates the company’s decision‑making processes. The CEO Office also coordinates the firm’s public policy activities.

The Vice-President of Public Policy assists the Executive Director, Strategy & Innovation, the Managing Director, Office of the CEO, and the CEO in proactively supporting and facilitating the organization’s engagement with the global public policy agenda for financial market infrastructure. The role ensures that the organization contributes substantively to global policy discussions, develops well‑evidenced public policy positions, and supports senior management in their interactions with public policymakers. Concrete activities include:

• Supporting the CEO and the Head of the CEO Office in expanding CLS’s network of industry and public policy stakeholders; facilitating stakeholder management with policymakers and senior executives of CLS shareholders; preparing agendas, meeting materials and minutes for related meetings
• Supporting the firm’s activities around the FSB’s G20 cross‑border roadmap with a focus on membership in the CPMI Payment Interoperability and Extension Task Force; preparing and contributing to papers and participating in related meetings
• Coordinating and contributing to analysis around the BIS Triennial Survey of foreign exchange and over‑the‑counter derivatives markets and the regular surveys conducted at jurisdictional FX Committee level
• Coordinating CLS engagement with the Global Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC) and local FX Committees; coordinating the development of positions on FX Global Code reviews
• Tracking policy developments and consultations affecting CLS’s strategic direction of its services and innovation agenda; coordinating the preparation of consultation responses and drafting of consultation response letters
• Authoring white papers and speeches which focus on strengthening the firm’s institutional image; coordinating with Communications and Marketing to align events and media activities with CLS’s public policy objectives

What we are looking for:

• 5+ years’ experience in business development, policy or regulatory affairs, particularly in financial services, insurance or highly regulated environments
• Deep understanding of CLS’s role in the global financial system and public policy matters, as well as experience with regulatory change management
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, able to produce clear and concise documents
• Strong problem‑solving skills to manage ambiguity and analyze large, complex data sets

Typical Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in finance, law, accounting or a related field

Our commitment to employees:

At CLS, we celebrate inclusion and consider this to be one of our strongest assets. We are committed to fostering an environment in which everyone feels comfortable to be who they are, and inclusion is valued. All employees have access to our inclusive benefits, including:

• Holiday - UK/Asia: 25 holiday days and 3 ‘life days’ (in addition to bank holidays). US: 23 holiday days.
• 2 paid volunteer days so that you can actively support causes within your community that are important to you.
• Generous parental leave policies to ensure you can enjoy valuable time with your family.
• Parental transition coaching programmes and support services.
• Wellbeing and mental health support resources to ensure you are looking after yourself, and able to support others.
• Employee Networks (including our Women’s Forum, Black Employee Network and Pride Network) in support of our organisational commitment to embrace and always be learning more about inclusivity.
• Hybrid working to promote a healthy work/life balance, enabling employees to work collaboratively in the office when needed and work from home when they don’t.
• Active support of flexible working for all employees where possible.
• Monthly ‘Heads Down Days’ with no meetings across the whole company.
• Generous non‑contributory pension provision for UK/Asia employees, and 401K match from CLS for US employees.
• Private medical insurance and dental coverage.
• Social events that give you opportunities to meet new people and broaden your network across the organisation.
• Annual flu vaccinations.
• Discounts and savings and cashback across a wide range of categories including health and retail for UK employees.
• Discounted Gym membership – Complete Body Gym Discount/Sweat equity program for US employees.
• All employees have access to Discover – our comprehensive learning platform with 1000+ courses from LinkedIn Learning.
• Access to frequent development sessions on a number of topics to help you be successful and develop your career at CLS.