Head of 1st Line Risk

**Our Story**

**Hello there. We’re Zopa.**
- We began our journey in 2005 with the drive to deliver customer-first financial products. Fast forward to 2020, we shifted gears and became a digital bank, leveraging our customer knowledge, money expertise and technical agility to forge ahead. Our diverse team is united by a mission to create simple, fair and honest financial products that have the customers’ needs at their heart.

We’re regularly recognised at industry awards for our game-changing products and are proud to be one of the market leaders in consumer lending in the UK. But our work doesn’t stop there.

After securing £220 million in our 2021 funding round led by SoftBank, we’ve entered the next stage in our journey. So far, we’ve lent out over £8 billion and made money work better for over half a million people across the UK who were looking to borrow or save with us. In less than 2 years after becoming a bank, we hit £2 billion in customer deposits and we’re also a top 5 credit card issuer in the UK. And this is just the beginning.
- We’re set on achieving big things with ambitious growth targets to match. This means there's a range of opportunities for you to excel and develop through a career at Zopa, while building better banking products that truly matter to our customers.

If you embrace unconventional challenges, are unafraid to think differently and are driven to make an outsized impact, you’ll thrive here at Zopa. For a closer look at our culture, check out our latest video here. And if you want to join us, have a look at our current open roles

The Non-Financial Risk Team are responsible for managing the non-financial risks across the organisation, working closely with senior management and the various product and operations tribes to embed effective and efficient risk management into everything we do.
- We are looking for an experienced risk leader to work closely with the customer deposits side of the business including the core savings products to understand and drive decision-making on the non-financial risks associated with their program of work. Key areas of focus will be Technology risks, Financial Crime and Fraud risks as well as strategic risk management across the product lifecycle. The role is an exciting opportunity for a leader motivated by driving change and contributing to delivering responsible growth and a truly customer centric experience.

**A day in the life**:

- You'll be the Senior first line risk lead across the customer deposits business who can work closely with our Chief Strategy Officer and the department heads to deliver the following:

- Recognise complex areas of risk, particularly associated with Technology, Financial Crime and Fraud. With the ability to assess complex problems and get to the heart of the matter to identify the types and level of risk in the light of Zopa risk appetite.
- Define solutions in response to risk which are i) smart ii) proportionate, iii) sustainable (eg. Automated controls over manual interventions) and iv) considered (ie not just plugging the gap but thinking more holistically about the issue and what we need to face into to improve the risk environment
- Mobilise and hold accountable teams where there are interdependencies in order to deliver the agreed solutions in a timely and high-quality way
- Improve the quality of discussion and debate around risk - ensuring appropriate escalation, a consistently evolving approach to MI and controls and clear expectation setting within the first line teams

**About you**:

- You'll be an experienced Compliance and Operational Risk leader with a passion for enabling teams to deliver better customer outcomes
- You'll be able to identify complex areas of risk, including proven track record of dealing with technology, financial crime and process-based risks. This also includes engagement with Zopa’s material suppliers and knowledge of 3rd party risk.
- You should be highly commercial, and outcome orientated, able to quantify risk vs reward for the business to propose the optimal outcomes for customers and Zopa
- Able to design and lead the implementation of smart solutions across multi-functional teams
- A strong communicator, able to well articulate the issues, trade-offs and solutions in order to gain buy in to your proposals
- Passionate about improving the risk environment by taking a holistic approach to assessing and dealing with risk and by consistently improving the control structures and MI which the teams rely on
- parts to ensure a coherent approach to Zopa risk appetite and an efficient sharing of best practice
- An experienced coach who can help to improve the quality of thought in the first line teams regarding risk assessment and promote a risk-aware culture across the business.

**Bonus points for**:

- A proven track record of managing first line risk in a B2C company which is highly technology enabled.
- Financial services experience desirable as y