Senior Policy Advisor

Salary:
National from £51,200 up to £60,000, depending on experience

London from £56,400 up to £65,000, depending on experience

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Consumer Investments Distribution Policy team within the FCA’s Consumer Investments Market Analysis & Policy (MAP) department, to help shape the future of the sector.

The MAP department is responsible for strategic policymaking and providing market insights for the consumer investments sector which covers over 5,000 firms and 50,000 individuals, providing a range of crucial investment services to consumers.

We want consumers of all wealth levels to be able to make good investment decisions. We want people to invest with confidence, understanding the risks and the protection involved. A well-functioning consumer investments sector will also support capital raising, investment innovation and job growth in the real economy, driving wider economic growth that can benefit everyone. This is an exciting time to influence and set policy direction that will impact millions of consumers, as well as UK markets.

We are recruiting three Senior Policy Advisors in the Consumer Investments Distribution Policy team. The team is responsible for ensuring that the regulatory regime governing the distribution of investment products to consumers is robust, reliable and supports the FCA's objectives. The team has a broad remit covering widely applicable policy, such as financial promotions, product governance and disclosure (including the retail requirements in MiFID - the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, and PRIIPS - the packaged retail and insurance-based investment products regulation). We also lead online harms policy development.

What you will be doing
- Using evidence and analysis to develop practical policy solutions which support the FCA’s strategic commitments
- Delivering policy change and implementation, which includes managing complex projects and understanding and supporting good governance
- Identifying and managing key stakeholders, building rapport and constructive relationships with Government, industry and consumer groups
- Delivering a wide range of policy-related work including responding to queries, sharing knowledge and providing high quality policy advice to colleagues, including seniors, on complex regulatory regimes

What you will get from the role
- You will be at the heart of regulatory insights and analysis, policy making and standard setting for a sector that millions of consumers throughout the country rely on
- Opportunity to work on high-profile, complex and exciting projects and to shape regulatory change for the consumer investment sector for the long-term

Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifestyle. You can use 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:

- 25 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

We support hybrid working which means you will be able to work from home up to 60% of the time over a month with the remainder of your time in one of our three office locations.

The skills and experience you will have
- Minimum_
- Policy-making experience in a regulator, Government department, firm or other relevant organisation
- Proven experience of dealing with complex policy issues
- Experience in analysing complex information to draw reasoned and logical inferences, and to reach robust and practical conclusions
- Essential_
- Experience of identifying areas of harm and proposing and developing solutions, ideally in a policy context
- Excellent drafting and oral communication skills, including the ability to distil complex messages and tailor them to different internal and external audiences
- Ability to work autonomously, proactively and to prioritise and escalate issues appropriately
- Experience of working to deliver complex projects to tight deadlines, and ability to exercise a high degree of initiative in response to changing circumstances
- Strong persuading and influencing skills, and experience of building and managing relationships with internal colleagues and external stakeholders
- Respects the diversity of backgrounds across the FCA and are motivated to collaborate with others, contributing to an inclusive environment which enables problem-solving and reflective policymaking

About the FCA

The FCA regulates the conduct of 50,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work