Finance Governance Officer

12 Month Fixed Term Contract

Canada Life UK looks after the retirement, investment and protection needs of individuals, families and companies. We help to build better futures for our customers, our intermediaries and our employees by operating as a modern, agile and welcoming organisation.

Part of our parent company Great-West Lifeco, Canada Life UK has operated in the United Kingdom since 1903. We have hundreds of respected and supported employees committed to doing the right thing for our customers and colleagues.

Canada Life UK is transforming to create a more customer-focused business by providing our customers with expertise on financial and tax planning, offering home finance and annuities propositions, and providing collective fund solutions to third party customers.

Job Purpose

To assist the Finance Governance & Controls Manager with ensuring UK Division compliance with ICOFR (Internal Controls over Financial Reporting) Canadian reporting requirements and that they are reported appropriately to Financial Accounting & Reporting Director and CLUK Chief Financial Officer.

To assist the Finance Governance & Controls Manager with ensuring that Data Governance standards (including those relating to GDPR) are met, the effectiveness of the end to end SII data controls and appropriate reporting to the relevant Boards and Committees.

Key Accountabilities

1) To play a key role in the required quarterly ICOFR CEO/CFO certification and annual ICOFR ‘Green Light’ certification ahead of annual control testing program.
Liaison with Shared Service (Finance, Actuarial, Operations, IT and Customer Service) and Business teams to ensure that ICOFR documentation is kept up to date:

• Process Narrative Report (PNR)
• Risk and Controls Matrix (RACM)
• EUC controls
• SAP accounts

2) To assist with the CLL Data Governance framework activities and Data Register held in SharePoint. To include:

• Working with the business teams in the maintenance of the individual Data Sets;
• Manage and facilitate the attestation of each Data Set by the Data Register Owners and Data Owners;
• Maintain the Issues and Remediation log – working with the business to resolve issues;
• Assist the Finance and Governance Controls Manager with the preparation of a Quarterly Data Quality Report for review and approval by the Financial Accounting & Reporting Director, Strategic Financial Planning & Analysis Director and Chief Actuary

3) To assist the Finance Governance and Controls Manager with General Data Protection Regulation compliance by the Finance team:

• Review and maintenance of the functional Record of Processing Activity (RoPA) to ensure it is accurate, up to date and made easily retrievable for inspection and ongoing monitoring.
• Review and maintenance of the Record Retention and Disposal Guide (RR&DG) to ensure that it is accurate, up to date and made easily retrievable for inspection and ongoing monitoring.
• Management and deletion of data in accordance with the Record Retention and Disposal Guide.
• Active member of Data Protection Forum ensuring communication to staff of requirements and any IOC changes.

4) To assist the Finance Governance and Controls Manager with the CLUK Company Policy FAR Team Attestation process for the CLUK policies. Activities to include:

• Review of the evidence to support the Business and Shared Service team’s implementation of policy requirements – where applicable;
• Review of the CLUK Data Governance Operating and Regulatory Reporting & Disclosure policy workbooks to ensure the implementation of these policies across CLUK;
• Liaison with Risk team to ensure that policy process is kept up to date.

5) Develop and enhance current controls and processes and work with the business to implement best practices – ensuring that procedures are kept up to date.

Desired Knowledge / Experience / Skills

Technical Expertise 
• Commercial awareness and understanding of the needs of the business. 
• Willing and capable of making decisions independently in order to progress issues, and able to exercise sound judgement and commercial sense to understand the importance of different issues and assess when matters need to be escalated.

Communication
• Strong communication skills, demonstrating a clear and articulate standard of written and verbal communication in a complex environment, tailored for all levels of management.
• Strong ability to adapt messages to the audience in a format that is easily understood by colleagues

Relationship Building
• The ability to develop and maintain strong relationships across the finance function, acting with integrity and role modelling the company values at all times. 
• Strong interpersonal/networking skills, with the ability to maintain a variety of relationships with multiple stakeholders,
• Ability to flex their style and delivery, in the moment, depending on the individual and/or audience.

Taking Initiative
• Sound problem solving skills and attention to detail with demonstrable ability in spotting issues, interdependencies and challenges to ensure work is produced to an accurate, commercial and informed standard.
• Self-motivated, well-organised, pragmatic and able to perform tasks independently.

Developing Self and Others
• An interested and inquisitive individual who is committed to their own ongoing professional and personal development 

Benefits of working at Canada Life

We believe in recognising and rewarding our people, so we offer a competitive salary and benefits package that’s regularly reviewed. As a Canada Life UK colleague, you’ll receive a competitive salary and comprehensive reward package including a generous pension and bonus scheme, along with, income protection, private medical insurance and life assurance. We have a fantastic number of other benefits and support services as well as regular personal and professional development.

How we work at Canada Life

Our culture is unique and incredibly important to us. We care about doing the right thing for our people, customers and community and helping others to build better futures. Our blueprint behaviours shape and influence how we work, and are central to the relationships we have with others. Every day we are encouraged to be more curious, own the outcome, face into things together and find a way forward. 

We want colleagues to have rewarding careers with us so we invest in the development of our people, technology and workplaces. That’s why we offer a range of training, flexible working and opportunities to grow and develop.

Diversity and inclusion

Building an inclusive workplace with a diverse workforce where everyone can feel they belong and achieve their potential regardless of gender, ethnicity or any other characteristic is a key commitment for us. We are proud of the progress we’re making in DEI, and we continue for it to be a significant focus. 

“At Canada Life we believe in the power of great people from different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives coming together to build better futures. Emerging talent is crucial to our growth and creating an environment that continues to inspire us all.” Nick Harding, Chief People Officer, Canada Life UK

We appreciate that everyone has different work and life responsibilities. We’re happy to discuss flexible working arrangements, including part time, for any of our roles should this be a requirement for.