Senior Economist

This is an exciting new role to TPR and will have a broad remit to support us in evolving our market oversight.

You will be a crucial member of multi-disciplinary teams focusing on three main areas: Financial stability - ensure TPR will be able to prevent the build-up of financial stability risks generated by trust-based pension schemes and mitigate them.

Market structure - ensure the competitiveness of pension provision as the market rapidly consolidates.

Policy initiatives - ensure that the introduction of policy changes and new pension products are grounded in good economic theory and balance the benefits for the saver with the wider UK economy.

The main focus of the role, at least initially, will be informing our work on financial stability as we look to further enhance our capability in this area in response to recommendations made by the Financial Policy Committee of the Bank of England.

We are looking for the right candidate to join the Regulatory Policy Analysis and Advice Directorate working closely with investment consultants, actuaries, covenant and financial analysts and policy advisors some of whom have strong economic backgrounds.

More broadly within TPR you will liaise with strategy and risk colleagues to horizon scan developing needs and priorities within our corporate plan and providing high quality advice to the Board and Executive Committee.

You will need to be comfortable representing TPR externally and liaising with senior regulatory and policy colleagues at the Bank of England, Prudential Regulation Authority, Financial Conduct Authority, Department for Work and Pensions and HM Treasury.

You will be highly personally motivated, helping to shape this role as TPR develops a more effective market oversight function.

You will need to be content working in a matrix management set-up involving multi-disciplinary teams. Technical skills are important although there is strong modelling support.

Financial stability:

Lead on horizon scanning for risks inherent within pension schemes that could have a system wide financial impact and necessitate government intervention.

Your role will be to co-ordinate work within TPR on identifying these risks, collaborating with other regulators, and leading a programme of work to mitigate them.

Lead on contingency planning for the crystallisation of highlighted risks to ensure TPR is ready to respond to a market dysfunction - including liaising with the Bank of England to assist with the development of a new lending tool that could be made available to eligible pensions schemes.

Be part of the team that monitors LDI resilience and market volatility in general and assesses how pensions schemes interact with other financial institutions when put under stress.

Coordinate (with other regulators as appropriate) outreach with key asset managers and investment advisory firms to gather information on market risk and trends.

Economic advice:

Lead on assessing the evolution of the pensions' market as it consolidates to ensure value for money is achieved for savers.

This will involve advising on:

competitive market structure; the impact of market innovations; the impact of market capability and capacity constraints on the speed of efficient change; the balance of incentives between corporate risk, productive finance and saver protection.providing an economic framework to better assess the optimal balance over time of Defined Contribution, Collective Defined Contribution and Defined Benefit, and where we can nudge the market to change.

Lead on assessing the financial stability and economic impact of any new policy initiatives and interventions.
Develop economic framework to assess policy options.

Stay ahead of market developments and academic research, and share your economic knowledge more widely within TPR, providing training as appropriate.

Undertake thought leadership and commission research within TPR or in partnership with regulatory partners.

Essential criteria:
An undergraduate or postgraduate degree in economics, and strong experience in a relevant role. Understanding of the strategic context and macroeconomic landscape facing pension schemes and a desire to develop that understanding further. Significant practical experience of applying financial and economics concepts to policy issues.

Excellent analytical skills including experience of identifying, analysing and accurately interpreting a range of data and insights to inform evidence-based decisions and solutions on complex problems.

Experience of building constructive working relationships, working in multidisciplinary teams, engaging with internal and external partners and delivering through others.

Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to understand and concisely explain sophisticated issues in non-technical language and produce high quality analysis to tight timescales.

Track record of confidently challenging prevalent thinking and robustly defending position.

Desirable criteria:
Knowledge of workplace pension fund investment. Experience in applying macroeconomic and financial stability horizon scanning.

Deep knowledge of any of bond markets, Liability Driven Investment, derivatives, range of asset classes, financial ecosystem, buy-out insurer investment strategies.

Ability to identify and channel thought leadership and innovation into strategy and policy making and sell a policy vision at senior levels.

Undertaking or commissioning innovative research

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