Banking, Payments and Innovation Directorate (BPI - formerly Banking, Payments and Financial Resilience) supports the Bank’s mission to maintain monetary and financial stability by using and sharing its expertise to: develop and operate resilient and efficient banking, payment and custody services; set and influence policy; and to promote innovation.

We are at the heart of the Bank both in terms of our core role in Monetary and Financial Stability, and the wide range of internal stakeholders we collaborate with.  BPI has a lead role in one and a significant role in four of the Bank’s strategic priorities. The variety and immediacy of the work we do means we are one of the most outward facing and fast moving areas of the Bank, operating the UK's high value payments system (the Real Time Gross Settlement System and CHAPS), maintaining the Bank’s readiness to provide Emergency Liquidity Assistance to banks and other financial institutions, and acting as the 'bank' within the Bank of England for government, UK CCPs and other central banks.

Department Overview
Banking Operations in Customer Banking Division (CBD), sits within the BPI structure. The Sterling Payments Operations (SPO) team provides wholesale banking services to the Government and other customers such as central banks and CCPs. Activities include the settlement of high value CHAPS payments and retail/BACs payments. The team comprises around 20 staff with around 50% of staff working on a shift basis at any one time.

Job Description

An opening for an Operational Analyst role has arisen to support the SPO manager and to undertake some of the analytical, stakeholder engagement and managerial work, with the Manager and Senior Analyst for support and direction.

There will be times when the Operational Analyst will be required to cover the Manager at internal/external meetings. The Analyst will be required to work alongside and closely with other SPO Operational Analysts.

The Sterling Payments Operational Analyst will own, co-ordinate and work on various issues/work topics. These will typically be non-operational issues/tasks (i.e. not live payment processing) that relate closely to SPO’s payment processes. Initially the focus will be on Retail Banking operations for BACS and from 2023 there will be scope to get involved with the CHAPS side of the operations.

Work can arise from internal issues or projects e.g. from operational incidents, audit findings or efficiency/risk improvements; or system upgrade projects. Analysis work can also be initiated from external industry or market changes. Examples include work arising from: ISO20022; the New Payment Service Operator; from schemes such as CHAPS, BACS and the Payment Systems Regulator and from other external organisations such as SWIFT.

The Analyst will be expected to own or input to some cyclical tasks and complete them to deadlines e.g. Risk Register Reviews or annual payment system code of conduct work.

The Analyst will attend external committee and working group meetings related to both the BACS and CHAPS schemes such as the BACS Operations Committee, Kestral Maintenance Releases, vendor relationship meetings and Chaps Testing Working Group.

You will be required to support the SPO manager and other SPO analysts in developing the SPO team. This will be achieved through sharing information effectively, mentoring staff, and clearly delegating actions to ensure that staff are productive, engaged and motivated to deliver the area's aims.

Role Requirements

Essential Criteria

• Knowledge and experience of the payments industry â€“ The job holder is expected to become a subject matter expert in SPO’s work and the systems it uses (e.g. T24, SAA, FCRM) as well as have a good understanding of market initiatives or changes which may impact the area’s work.
• Strong analytical skills â€“ The jobholder will need to think broadly to complete robust and thorough analysis and identify the key impacts and risks for SPO.
• Strong communication skills â€“ The jobholder will need to present complex issues in a clear high-level form understandable by colleagues with less specialist knowledge e.g. to Senior Managers/HoDs.  This will include in the form of written notes, power point slides, and verbally.
• Drive and determination â€“ Self-starter with the ability to drive forward and co-ordinate tasks or groups of tasks within required timeframes, to a high standard.
• Ability to develop and build relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders 
• Good workload management skills
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Problem solving skills â€“ To act as a point of escalation and support the operational team in resolving operational issues, including being able to provide assistance in the event of a live operational incident.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of leading and developing others â€“ Experience of leading and developing staff is preferred although is not expected to have full experience of performance management (i.e. PRS and moderation process).
• Knowledge of Market’s and Banking’s change management processes

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 ,

We are fully committed to having a diverse and inclusive working environment.

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 adjustments for candidates and employees where possible, and have partnered with external expert organisations to support us in this.  We are a member of the Disability Confident scheme, summarised , 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.

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.  

This specific role offers a base salary of Â£36,000 - 45,900 per annum, along with our comprehensive benefits package as follows:

•    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.