Head of Department - Primary Market Oversight

About the FCA 

At the FCA, we’re creating a fair and more resilient financial system. We’re establishing more transparent relationships between financial services and customers, building trust in financial markets and protecting vulnerable consumers. 

We’re currently on an exciting journey as we drive forward significant organisational, people, process, and technology transformation to become a more forward-thinking, proactive regulator. We will use data more effectively to drive better regulatory decisions and build greater cohesion across our broad financial services remit.

Significant improvements in digital enablement, business intelligence, market data and information management maturity are all being pursued to maintain our position as a world leader in financial services regulation. 

The Role

Primary Market Oversight focuses on ensuring trusted and orderly primary markets in the UK. This is achieved through the specialist supervision of Sponsor firms and Primary Information Providers, and the live and post-event market monitoring of issuers and other market participants’ disclosures to the market.

PMO is made up of five teams; Primary Market Specialist Supervision, Primary Market Enquiries, the Corporate, Compliance and Thematic team, Primary Market Monitoring and Critical Guidance and Policy. Working closely with colleagues in Listings, Secondary Market Oversight and Market Oversight Data & Intelligence, the PMO department provides a link between the departments in Market Oversight. As a number of our listed entities are also supervised firms, we also work closely with our colleagues in Supervision.

We’re seeking a Head of Department who can provide strategic and tactical leadership to a highly motivated department of subject matter specialists. You will need to be able to challenge the established working practices and make changes as appropriate. You will need to have in depth experience of financial markets with excellent stakeholder management skills.

You will need clear and concise communication skills with the ability to influence senior interlocutors both inside and outside our organisation. You will need a cool head to anticipate and respond to challenge and change and the confidence to lead work in a high-profile area. The successful candidate will be a member of the Senior Leadership Team within Market Oversight.

At present, Market Oversight is going through a period of change, expanding its remit to increase its focus in FICC as well as investing further in the exploitation of our data.

What will the candidate get from the role? 

You will be part of the FCA's Senior Leadership Team at an exciting time of change for financial services and its regulation. You will lead a department of approximately 50 talented and committed people, working collaboratively to deliver an effective contribution to the FCA’s objective of market integrity. You will gain exposure to a broad range of issues which are key to market integrity, and you will contribute to shaping and influencing the organisation's strategy.

• Joining the Senior Leadership Team at the FCA during an exciting and challenging time of great change in financial services and its regulation 

• Leading a directorate of talented and committed people through significant projects whilst also delivering on business-as-usual objectives 

• Exposure to strategic issues and key players in the world of finance, both nationally and internationally 

Key responsibilities: 

• Developing, supporting, and delivering the FCA's strategy for Primary Market Oversight.

• Leading and overseeing the effective and efficient operation of a complex department

• As a member of the senior leadership team, actively contributing to the senior leadership and strategic development of the Market Oversight Directorate and the wider FCA.

• Forging and maintaining strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders across the FCA include Enforcement, Supervision, Policy, Authorisations, and Intelligence who all contribute to our work on Listing Rules and Market Abuse. Externally, this will include regulators carrying out similar activity in overseas jurisdictions and regulated firms to influence outcomes for the benefit of the FCA and UK markets.

• The individual will lead on interactions with Supervision, Enforcement, Policy and International to ensure Market Abuse issues are sufficiently represented.

• Developing, motivating, and leading a professional and highly qualified team to achieve the highest standards including managing change in the face of the everchanging current challenges.

• Developing and delivering a long-term strategy for the directorate, aligning to broader divisional and organisational strategies

• Leading on performance, capability and culture within the directorate, with a strong focus on operational excellence

• Delivering through others by relying on coaching, influencing and negotiating skills with a range of internal and external stakeholders

• Building a strong and inclusive directorate that attracts and develop diverse talent

Skills/Experience Required  

The FCA are a signatory to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. This means that the FCA guarantees an interview to any disabled candidates entering under the scheme, should they meet the minimum criteria for a role. A minimum criterion needs to be measurable from reviewing a candidate’s CV.

Minimum  

• Significant stakeholder management skills with the ability to negotiate, influence and collaborate with senior people within the FCA and externally (domestically and internationally) with the ability to talk credibly to industry experts and articulate complex issues.

• In-depth experience of wholesale financial markets and their retail interfaces.

• Strong leadership skills: ability to lead, motivate and inspire teams as well as a willingness to tackle performance issues if necessary, in building a high performing team.

• A strong track record in delivering results against business priorities.

• Role model strong leadership behaviours in line with the FCA values and capabilities, embedding the Mission and delivering organisational priorities. 

Essential  

• Knowledge of the Listing Rules and MAR and familiarity with the FCA’s organisational response to Primary Markets and MAR.

• Robustness in the face of challenge, ability to make decisions/judgements in a rapid and balanced way. This includes an ability to deal with a wide range of issues and manage competing priorities effectively.

• Able to demonstrate strong understanding of the UK and external political context and environment within which the FCA is operating.

• Significant breadth of wholesale industry knowledge across relevant sectors and products, with the ability to recognise and address complex interconnected issues.

• Knowledge of the aspects of MAR, Listing Rules and other rule books as they impact Primary markets.

• Good technical understanding of the overall regulatory framework in the UK and the FCA's place within it.

• Experience of escalating, prioritising, and progressing enforcement casework and/or pre-referral enquiries/information gathering.

• The ability to inclusively lead a group of talented individuals with a wide variety of professional expertise, experience, and backgrounds.

• An open and flexible management style and the ability to communicate effectively to a wide-ranging audience with different skills and perspectives

Desirable 

• Good understanding of other areas in the FCA and their roles. 

The FCA’s Values & Diversity  

Our ambition is to create a diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects the society we serve, helping us to be a better regulator. We serve the public and our decisions directly affect the wellbeing of people, businesses and the UK economy. So, our values matter. They represent the culture we aspire to every day, guiding our judgements, building trust and helping us to be ‘At our best’.

The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of our organisation. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, disabled, and minority ethnic candidates, as under-represented groups.

As an inclusive employer, we are open to considering flexible working arrangements, including job shares. Please inform your recruiter if you wish to apply for this role on a flexible basis.

As part of the FCA’s on-going commitment to develop our national presence, most of our vacancies are now open to working in our Edinburgh, Leeds or London offices. This means that as part of the application process you will be able to select your preference of which office location you would like to work from.

Application Support

We want to remove any possible barriers and are committed to providing a wide range of reasonable adjustments so that you can keep the focus on your conversations and be at your best.

If you have an accessibility requirement, disability, or condition that means you might require changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter to discuss this further. Our aim is to make you application as easy as possible, and your recruiter will be happy to work with you to make any necessary arrangements where possible.

Benefits

Our competitive benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifecycle. You can this this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work, or you have the option to top up your base salary by taking this as cash.

Core benefits that you will receive as standard are:

• 30 days holiday per year plus bank holidays

• Private healthcare with Bupa

• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8% of basic salary each month (there are several contribution levels that increase depending on your age- up to 12% a month once you reach age 35)

• Life assurance of eight times your basic salary

• Income protection

Conflicts of interest 

All applicants to the FCA are required to demonstrate that they do not have other interests likely to conflict with their responsibilities as an employee of the FCA. You should declare any potential conflict of interest as early as possible in the selection process, and also disclose information or personal connections that, if appointed, might be open to misperception.

Any potential conflicts of interest will not prevent candidates going forward to interview but may, if appropriate, be explored during the interview to establish how the candidate would address the issue(s) should they be successful in their application.

Useful information 

• The closing date for this role is 23:55 on Sunday 12 January.

• Selection will be via a two-stage interview and psychometric assessment

• If successful, you will be required to obtain and retain SC Clearance.  

• We operate a hybrid working policy with an expectation that senior leaders spend a minimum of 50% of their working time each month in the office. 

• The salary range for the role is London £140,000- £175,000 and National £126,000- £158,000.

• To apply for this role please use the below Odgers link and submit your CV & Cover letter.

The FCA has retained Odgers Berndtson to advise on this appointment. For further information about the position and additional details on qualifications, requirements, terms and conditions of service and how to apply please visit www.odgers.com/92855 or for an informal conversation please contact [email protected]