The Bank of England is the UK's central bank. Our mission is to deliver monetary and financial stability for the British people.

The Bank of England is a diverse organisation. Each of its 4,000 people are committed to public service and dedicated to promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.

On 1 April 2013 the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) became responsible for the prudential regulation and supervision of banks, building societies, credit unions, insurers and major investment firms. The PRA was created by the Financial Services Act (2012) and is part of the Bank of England.

As a directorate of the PRA, Risk and Operations supports and compliments the work of the Supervision and Policy areas of the Bank. It ensures that the PRA can execute its operational responsibilities, facilitating the smooth running of the organisation.

Risk and Operations is split into two main divisions:

• Chief Operating Office Division
• PRA Risk Governance & Controls Division

Department Overview

The Supervisory Oversight Function (SOF) is a quality assurance team of about 12 staff, in the Risk Governance & Controls Division. We form part of the PRA's internal control framework, independent of day-to-day supervision. Our role is to help the PRA to deliver high quality, forward-looking and judgement-led supervision.  SOF has a key role to play in the coming years, helping to measure how effectively the PRA has implemented the changes to its supervisory approach after the Strategic Review.

The way we do assurance continues to evolve.  We carry out reviews looking at the supervision of banks, insurance companies, and financial market infrastructure (FMI) participants (such as Visa).  But we plan to spend more of our time assessing broader themes - for example, particular types of activities carried out by supervisors across different teams, or even directorates. We provide assurance to senior management and the PRA’s most senior governance committee (and to the FMI equivalent) on supervisory effectiveness. We make recommendations on how the PRA can improve. By delivering training, we share lessons learned with supervisors. We also coordinate feedback from firms about their experience of being supervised by the PRA.

Job Description

Are you looking for a high-profile role, calling for thought leadership, with plenty of exposure to senior management, and a real focus on people management? If so, this could be your new role!

As SOF's senior manager, you'll drive the development and delivery of the quality assurance plan.  You will have about six direct reports.  Defining the team's roles and responsibilities, you'll have day to day responsibility for leading them and handling all staff-related matters that may arise. By communicating a clear vision, and setting clear goals and SMART objectives, you'll make sure your team are productive, engaged and motivated. Supporting and mentoring them, you'll empower them to produce high-quality strategic analysis of supervisory effectiveness, deliver sound feedback, and make vital recommendations. You'll also play a meaningful role in the wider management of the division.

If you love variety, working in SOF gives you a breadth of skills and experience you’d find it hard to match elsewhere in the PRA! Working on a wide range of topics, across different sectors of the financial services industry, you’ll also improve your ability to challenge constructively and tackle problems.

Role Requirements

Minimum Criteria

• Effective, inclusive and supportive leadership that commands the respect of the team and the wider organisation; and a great teammate, able to be flexible, pragmatic, and adaptable to changing situations, with a willingness to help others to achieve results
• Strong interpersonal and stakeholder management skills – able to build and maintain relationships with individuals at all levels of seniority and to influence and challenge where appropriate
• Experience of managing, mentoring, and developing staff; able to set team objectives, and meet targets, and to prioritise work proactively and independently, with a clear focus on achieving the PRA’s objectives
• Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to express complex issues clearly and authoritatively
• Strong analytical skills – being able to identify, assess and challenge potentially complex issues and draw pragmatic conclusions

Desirable Criteria

• Understanding of the PRA and its objectives, including its supervisory approach
• Experience in a regulation or policy-making setting; for example, experience in supervising PRA regulated firms, or experience gained at a PRA regulated firm or in a public sector organisation
• Relevant professional qualifications (e.g. CFA, FRM, ACCA etc.)

Additional Information

The Bank values diversity and inclusion – we want to reflect the society we serve better, we want the best people to work for us and we want our workplace to be inclusive.  We value all forms of diversity, including but not limited to age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religion and sexual orientation.  One way we support diversity and inclusion is through our staff-run networks, which are summarised here.

We are fully committed to having a diverse and inclusive working environment, and are open to considering how the role might be carried out with flexible working.  This role is therefore open to flexible working patterns. 

Where a role can be carried out from home, we are working towards colleagues spending at least half of their time in the office, so that we can all benefit from working together in person, while maintaining the flexibility offered by home working. From 6 June 2022, we expect colleagues to spend a minimum of 40% of their working time in the office per month.  Subject to that minimum requirement, individuals and managers should work together to find what works best for them and their team.

We are also committed to making workplace adjustments for all of our employees as needed, and also for candidates throughout all stages of the selection process. We are a member of the Disability Confident scheme, summarised here, and people who wish to apply under this scheme should check the box in the ‘Candidate Personal Information’ under the ‘Disability Confident Scheme’ section of the application.

We anonymise applications so hiring managers will not be able to see your personal information when reviewing your submission, including your CV. Please fully complete the application form questions as requested, as any incomplete submissions may not be reviewed. 

Reward Package

The Bank of England is a distinctive institution and our rewards are one of the things that set us apart. As well as enjoying a competitive salary you will work in a collaborative, inclusive environment, with a subsidised restaurant, flexible working opportunities and plenty of wellbeing initiatives.  

The salary range for this vacancy is approximately Â£74,400 - £96,000, dependent on relevant skills and experience. In addition, the total reward package also includes: 

• A non-contributory, career average pension giving you a guaranteed retirement benefit of 1/95th of your annual salary for every year worked. There is the option to increase your pension (to 1/50th) or decrease (to 1/120th) in exchange for salary through our flexible benefits programme each year.
• A discretionary performance award based on a current award pool.
• A 7% benefits allowance with the option to take as salary or purchase a wide range of flexible benefits.
• 25 days annual leave with option to buy up to 13 additional days through flexible benefits.
• Private medical insurance and income protection.