Lead Credit Rating Agency Supervisor

Division – Infrastructure & Exchanges

Department – Capital Markets

Salary - National (Edinburgh and Leeds) ranging from £57,600 to £74,000 and London £63,300 to £82,000 per annum (Salary offered will be based on skills and experience)

About the FCA

The FCA regulates the conduct of 45,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. Follow this link to find out more About the FCA.

We are looking for someone to join the Credit Rating Agency (CRA) team in the Capital Markets Department within the Supervision, Policy and Competition Division. SPC has a vital role to play in enabling the FCA to act early and decisively when market issues appear on the horizon, in making smart policy proposals and in delivering the FCA's mandate to promote effective competition.

The CRA team is responsible for the supervision of UK regulated credit rating agencies and the policy making for this portfolio. CRAs play a key role in providing an assessment of the creditworthiness of governments, corporates and other issuers of securities. Where they perform this role effectively, investors are well-informed on the risks of investing in these assets and hence, capital is more efficiently allocated. These outcomes contribute particularly to the FCA’s statutory objective for market integrity, and also its consumer protection objective. We supervise CRAs according to the UK Credit Rating Agency Regulation and in line with the FCA Approach to Supervision.

What will you be doing?

As a senior member of the team, you will help to shape and deliver the FCA’s supervisory strategy for credit rating agencies to mitigate or reduce harm to consumers and enhance market integrity.

The successful candidate will be able to:

• Contribute to shaping the strategy of the team and setting of the team’s objectives and priorities

• Lead the implementation of our strategy to deliver forward-looking supervision of UK regulated CRAs by incorporating findings from firm regulatory reporting, ratings data and general market intelligence and allocating and prioritising workstreams

• Lead and deliver complex and high-profile pieces of work by effective project management, stakeholder management and team collaboration

• Communicate in a compelling way, including leading engagement with internal and external stakeholders

• Build strong networks and work collaboratively with a variety of stakeholders, including internally and externally, in order to deliver on the FCA’s regulatory remit

• Share knowledge and expertise across the team, department and wider FCA, as well as mentoring and developing the skills of others to build and support individual capability

What will you get from the role?

This role is an exciting opportunity to work at the heart of Supervision and Policy in the FCA. As part of this role, you will have the opportunity to:

• Develop a deep understanding of the credit rating agencies market and how it functions

• Operate in a fast-paced, flexible environment and apply strong leadership skills and analytical thinking to reduce and mitigate risks of harm arising from the CRA business model

• Get significant exposure to UK capital markets, working closely with a wide array of stakeholders, include market participants and other regulatory and government bodies

• Work with and learn from FCA colleagues covering wide ranging issues including other supervision and policy functions, technology and resilience, competition, authorisations and enforcement

Which skills are required?

We are a Disability Confident Employer; therefore, disabled people or individuals with long-term conditions who best meet the minimum criteria for a role will go through to the next stage of the recruitment process. (To learn more about the Disability Confident Scheme Click Here)

Minimum

• Prior experience working in a regulatory and/or financial services sector, preferably related to supervision or the application of our rules in wholesale financial markets

• Prior experience of processing and assessing intelligence on markets to form a basis for supervisory judgement and implementing appropriate mitigation of those risks

• Prior experience of planning, supporting and delivering complex work in a team setting

Essential

• Understanding of the CRA market, ratings process and potential risks posed by CRAs

• Strong self-management and project management skills to plan and drive a multiple range of tasks and projects to demanding deadlines, including delivering through others

• Strong communication skills, both verbal and written

• Capability to mentor and develop colleagues, support the manager of the team, and add value to the wider organisation by sharing knowledge and experience

Our Values & Diversity

We are proud to be an inclusive employer and our ambition is to cultivate a culture for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.

Within the workplace you will have access to various employee resource groups which aim to promote and achieve a healthy work / life balance and support our diversity ambitions.

Did you know? 50% of our Executive Committee were the first in their family to attend university.

The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisation. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, minority ethnic, disabled, and neurodivergent candidates for our lead associate role.

Benefits of working at the FCA

• 25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays

• Hybrid working (work from home up to 60% of your time)

• Private healthcare with Bupa 

• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8%

• Life assurance

• Income protection

We also have a competitive flexible benefits scheme which gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifestyle.

We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements.  Many of our staff work flexibly including working part-time, staggered hours, and job shares.  We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want but we can explore what might work best for both sides. Follow this link to see what life is like at the FCA - Life at the FCA

Application Support

We are dedicated to removing barriers and ensuring our application process is accessible to everyone. We offer a range of adjustments to make your application experience as comfortable and straightforward as possible.

If you have an accessibility need, disability, or condition requiring changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter using the details below and they will be happy to discuss this further with you.

Useful Information and Timeline

• This role is graded as: Lead Associate - Regulatory

• Advert Closing Date: 23rd February

• First Round Case Study Assessment: W/C 3rd March

• Competency Based Interview: W/C 10th March

Your Recruiter will discuss the process in detail with you during screening for the role, therefore, please make them aware if you are going to be unavailable for any date during this time. 

Got a question?

If you are interested in learning more about the role, please contact: 

• For external applicants, please contact Aaron Ward at [email protected]

• For internal applicants, please contact Lucy Matthews at [email protected]

Applications must be submitted through our online portal. Applications sent via email will not be accepted.