Controls Assurance Officer

**Application Deadline: Friday 4th October 2024**:
**Hybrid Working Pattern - 3 days in Office & 2 WFH**

**About us**

Cynergy Bank is the UK’s human digital bank serving the needs of ‘scale up’ or medium sized and fast-growing SMEs; professionals; high net worth and mass affluent individuals, in essence those market segments that still value human service enabled by great technology.

We recognise that professional and personal lives often overlap and our mission is to help empower our customers to achieve their ambitions by serving all their interdependent banking needs. We provide a comprehensive range of digitally enabled products and services to meet the property finance, business and commercial banking, private banking and personal savings needs of our customers.

Our human and digital model transforms banking for customers who still value a face-to-face relationship that is enabled by the latest digital technology.

We partner with firms such as Google Cloud, Cigniti and Slalom as we continue to innovate in the human digital space.

Cynergy Bank plc is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Eligible deposits with Cynergy Bank plc are protected by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

**Company Benefits**
- Competitive Salary and Company Bonus
- Competitive holiday allowance plus bank holidays
- Option to purchase an additional 10 days holiday
- Pension contribution and Life Assurance
- Income Protection Scheme and Season Ticket Loan
- Medical Cover (After Probation)
- Electric Car Scheme and Money Coach (After Probation)

**The role**

**Control Assurance Plan**:

- Support and deliver the timetable for Control Assurance with agreed focus on High-Risk Processes as directed by the Controls Assurance Senior Manager.
- Annually
- Deliver the agreed plan achieving the frequency and amount of monitoring necessary - which will be related to the frequency and materiality of the activity performed not the control itself.
- Deliver as directed the control effectiveness testing plan for year.

**Control Design and Performance - will in part support SMF Attestations**
- Deliver the monitoring needed to confirm the control performance for completion and accuracy i.e. control is performing as expected and achieving the intended risk mitigation
- Annually - Review key controls and complete required control assessments.
- Quarterly - Review individual control effectiveness ratings (minimum),
- Ongoing - Key control assurance (frequency as specified for each key control in the control assurance plan)

**Control Assurance (Monitoring Performance and Continuous Improvement)**
- Support the drive for continuous improvement in terms of the control effectiveness, but also the quality of testing writeups - report as required to the Risk and Controls Senior Leadership team.

**Control Reviews and escalations**
- Quarterly -Report control framework effectiveness by Risk - will in part support SMF Attestations
- Monthly - provide information as part of Control reporting, to appropriate Risk and Control Senior Leadership team.

**Control improvement**
- Help, support and identify any High-Risk Processes that are not adequately controlled i.e. Lack Control Frameworks
- Propose changes including to the individual control itself if this is possible and cost effective, or by replacing it with an alternative control.
- Recommend to Controls Assurance Senior Manager actions necessary and track via Resolver Issue Management process to completion.
- Carrying out any subsequent validation that the control improvement is embedded after an agreed period to allow evidence of control to be in place.

**Requirements of role**:
**Technical skills**
- Experience within a Risk Management Environment and related experience in a UK banking environment.
- Experience in the Key Controls utilised within Financial Services and/or FinTech to mitigate risk within processes.
- Knowledge of Risk and Control methodology framework procedures and principles. Experience with regulatory guidelines of FCA & PRA. Ideally will have professional qualifications in Risk Management and / or Banking.

**Soft skills**

The role will be responsible for providing strong technical 1st Line Controls Assurance support within the Bank and provide guidance on control design and effectiveness within the 1st Line of Defence. Ensuring there is sufficient (risk based i.e. for identified High Risk Process) Senior Management Function support.
- Good Negotiation and conflict management skills
- Must be able to work in a timely manner to strict deadlines
- Pragmatic approach to problem solving

The role requires analytical thinking and logic, combined with the ability to link seemingly unrelated issues and techniques together. The incumbent needs to have enough knowledge of all changes occurring within the Regulatory landscape and as the business as it evolves. The