Associate Director, Operational Risk

Key Responsibilities:

• Advisory partnership: Act as a trusted advisor to first line business teams, providing expert guidance on the identification, assessment, and management of operational risks, and supporting the enhancement of control monitoring within business assurance activities. 
• Stakeholder engagement: Build strong relationships with senior management, risk owners andcontrol owners and their teams to promote a proactive and transparent risk culture across the organisation. 
• Risk and Control Self-Assessment (RCSA): Support the planning, execution, and review of RCSAs, ensuring risks are appropriately identified, assessed, and mitigatedwith outputs that are consistent with the bank’s risk framework and regulatory expectations. 
• Embed risk technology platforms: Support the implementation and integration of the Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) tool AuditBoard and the incident management tool Incident.io into operational risk management processes. 
• Operational incident management: Oversee the management and analysis of operational events and issues, ensuring timely investigation, root cause analysis, and implementation of remedial actions. 
• Governance and reporting: Prepare and review risk reporting and insights for governance committees, providing clear, concise analysis to inform decision-making and maintain regulatory alignment. 
• Payments risk oversight: Advise on risks and controls related to payments processes and systems, ensuring robust governance, incident management, and regulatory compliance with payment scheme. 
• Third-party risk management: Provide oversight and advice on the identification, assessment, and monitoring of risks associated with third-party and outsourced service providersensuring compliance with PRA and FCA outsourcing and operational resilience requirements. 
• Operational resilience: Contribute to the ongoing development and execution of the bank’s Operational Resilience programme, providing continuous assurance and ensuring alignment with regulatory expectations and internal frameworks. 
• Change Management:Provide independent risk advice and challenge to the Change Impact Review Panel and Change Management Working Group, ensuring operational and regulatory risks are properly considered in decision-making. 
• Support to Director, Operational Risk:Provide high-quality advice, analysis, and project support on key operational risk initiatives and regulatory deliverables as required. 

Experience & Skills:

• Operational risk management: Proven experience in operational risk or governance roles within financial services (including People, Payments, Third Party, Operational Resilience and Change Management), ideally in a regulated banking environment. 
• GRC and technology expertise: Strong understanding of Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) tools and incident management systems (e.g.  AuditBoard, Incident.io or equivalent), with hands-on experience implementing or optimising such platforms. 
• Regulatory knowledge: Strong understanding of UK regulatory requirements and expectations relating to operational risk, including PRA and FCA frameworks, third party risk, operational resilience, and governance standards. 
• Data and analytics: Strong analytical capability (including use of AI tools), with experience developing dashboards and management information that provide actionable insights for senior stakeholders and governance forums. 
• Stakeholder management: Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to influence, collaborate, and gain buy-in from diverse stakeholders across business lines and control functions. 
• Continuous improvement mindset: Proactive and solutions-oriented, with the ability to identify opportunities to strengthen processes and adopt new tools or automation to enhance operational efficiency. 
• Professionalism and adaptability: Self-starter who can work independently within a small team, managing competing priorities and maintaining high standards of delivery in a part-time capacity. 

Benefits & Perks:

• Equity. We want people to have a stake in the business so that all our interests are aligned.
• 25 days holiday
• Personalized benefits – opt-in to what matters to you
• Subsidised Private Medical Insurance with Bupa
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
• Wellbeing and social events
• Support causes that matter to you – Volunteering time off
• Salary sacrifice schemes (Cycle to work, nursery, gym, electric car scheme)