Head of Risk & Control Enablement (12 Month FTC)

Description

About Starling

At Starling, we are on a mission to provide people with a fairer, smarter, and more human alternative to traditional banks. We are building a leading digital bank, driven by fast technology, fair service, and honest values. Our vision is to create a banking industry that serves everyone, which we accomplish by developing best-in-class proprietary technology, offering an exceptional customer experience, and establishing a strong, sustainable business.

Our five core values - Listen, Keep It Simple, Do The Right Thing, Own It, and Aim for Greatness - are at the heart of everything we do, guiding our strategy and shaping our culture. We're a branchless, largely paperless bank, committed to responsible banking, sustainability, and fostering an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.

Hybrid working: All Starling colleagues spend a minimum of 10 days per month in the office with flexibility to work the rest from home.

Location: Manchester & London

Reporting to: Chief Control Officer

Closing date: Wednesday 28th January at 10am.

The Opportunity

This role will sit within the central 1LoD Risk and Control team and will lead the following activities across Starling;

• Drive effective governance and management of non-financial risks in the 1LoD.
• Provide specialist risk and control knowledge to stakeholders in order for Starling to operate within its risk appetite.
• Risk partnering with Risk and Control Owners
• Monitoring of the 1LoD risk and control profile and supporting all related activities including;

• Risk and Control Self Assessments (RCSA),
• Oversight of Issues and Actions, Event Management,
• Risk Reporting and
• Provision of training

Key Accountabilities Include:

• Create a culture of effective and consistent risk management, oversight and reporting;

- Working with Risk and Control owners

- Providing advice

- Challenge and input on key decisions

• Ensuring Risk and Control owners are aware and accountable and enabling them to clearly articulate and manage their risk profile.
• Interpreting and communicating regulatory changes, ensuring that all findings are recorded and followed up with appropriate stakeholders / teams
• Ensuring that compliance with external regulations is reflected in internal policies, procedures and the control environment
• Lead the review existing controls relating to their effectiveness in mitigating identified risks, identifying gaps in controls, and recommending improvements.
• Maintain and enhance the bank's control library ensuring ongoing alignment with risk framework, risk appetite and evolving business processes. Drive ownership across business for periodic reviews and updates to maintain relevancy and accuracy.
• Enhance control taxonomy ensuring clear and consistent application across all Risk and Control Assessments (RCSAs).
• Develop new controls or enhance existing ones to address identified risks, including documenting control procedures and ensuring their proper implementation
• Lead the development and execute control testing plans covering manual and automated control testing approaches.
• Conduct control testing for both design and operating effectiveness ensuring controls are effectively designed to mitigate current and emerging risks.
• Manage control remediation activities of ineffective/weak controls and control gaps ensuring timely resolution, retesting and embedding into the control environment with clear action plans and ownership.
• Identify and perform thematic reviews and controls mapping exercise ensuring ongoing mapping of risks and controls supporting effective governance and reporting.
• Embed lessons learned capturing insights from incidents, issues and testing outcomes to drive continuous improvement of the control environment for business.
• Develop and maintain Key Control Indicators (KCIs) to measure effectiveness of critical controls enabling proactive and continuous monitoring of control performance.
• Design and management of risk reporting and metrics providing senior management with oversight of key themes, risks and issues for attention.
• Maintenance of records in the Governance, Risk and Control System
• Collaborate with 2LoD/3LoD functions including operational risk and compliance to ensure ongoing alignment across RCSAs and ongoing monitoring of controls.
• Central oversight and management of Issues and Actions from identification, recording and ongoing monitoring to closure
• Awareness of regulatory principles and regulation changes that are on the horizon and/or that may be of interest.
• Key contributor to the ongoing development of a risk aware culture within the 1LoD.

Requirements

Behaviours & Competencies:

• A natural ability to build strong stakeholder relationships and leverage those relationships to offer appropriate challenge in the risk environment.
• A proactive approach to managing workloads and 'can do' attitude, along with ability to use initiative, taking ownership and seeing things through.
• Ability to challenge the status quo, helping us shape risk operations to be the best in class across financial services.

Skills:

• Proficient in Microsoft Excel/ Google Sheets- strong knowledge of database management and reporting.
• Exposure to working within First or Second line risk or as a risk champion within a business line.
• 3-5 years with a strong background in risk management, RCSAs and risk reporting
• Experience in the management of regulatory compliance and conduct risks regulations e.g Consumer Duty, CONC etc
• A good understanding of risk and control, FCA regulatory environment and Consumer Duty.
• An understanding of risk management frameworks is essential.
• Experience in first line control testing is also a strong advantage.
• IRM qualification would be advantageous.

Benefits

Why Join Starling?

• Make an Impact: Work on projects that directly shape the future of banking and improve the financial lives of our customers. Starling is technology-led, and you'll have the freedom to accomplish your goals in innovative ways.
• Culture of Excellence: Be part of a collaborative, empowered, and forward-thinking team. We encourage experimentation, ownership, and a relentless focus on "doing the right thing."
• Growth and Development: We are committed to your professional growth, offering opportunities to learn new technologies, take on new challenges, and own interesting things from day one.
• A Bank That Cares: We're a Living Wage employer, committed to flexible working, and dedicated to creating a fair, open, and safe working environment with compassion and inclusion at its core.
• Comprehensive Benefits: We offer a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package, including:
  • Company-enhanced salary sacrifice pension scheme (7% employer contribution)
  • Private Medical Insurance with Vitality including mental health support and cancer care. Partner benefits include discounts with Waitrose, Mr&Mrs Smith and Peloton.
  • 25 days holiday (plus take your public holiday allowance whenever works best for you)
  • An extra day's holiday for your birthday
  • Life Insurance at 4x your salary.
  • 16 hours of paid volunteering time a year.
  • Ability to buy or sell annual leave.
  • Generous family-friendly policies.
  • Annual leave is increased with length of service, and you can choose to buy or sell up to five extra days off
  • Incentivised refer a friend scheme
  • Perkbox membership giving access to retail discounts, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, and weekly free and boosted perks
  • Access to initiatives like Cycle to Work, Salary Sacrificed Gym partnerships and Electric Vehicle (EV) leasingOur Commitment to Equality

Starling Bank is an equal opportunity employer, and we're proud of our ongoing efforts to foster diversity & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Starling Bank are considered without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. When you provide us with this information, you are doing so at your own consent, with full knowledge that we will process this personal data in accordance with our Privacy Notice. By submitting your application, you agree that Starling Bank will collect your personal data for recruiting and related purposes. Our Privacy Notice explains what personal information we will process, where we will process your personal information, its purposes for processing your personal information, and the rights you can exercise over our use of your personal information.