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, made up of approximately 4,000 people – each committed to public service and dedicated to promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.

The Markets Directorate promotes monetary and financial stability by leading the Bank's market operations, and by using our presence, expertise and influence in financial markets to advise and shape the Bank's policy decisions and priorities.

The Markets Directorate includes 6 Divisions which are:

• Sterling Markets
  
• Foreign Exchange
  
• Market Intelligence
  
• Financial Risk Management
  
• Middle Office
  
• Markets & Banking COO
  

Department Overview

Sterling Markets Division (SMD) is at the heart of what the Bank does. Through the Sterling Monetary Framework (SMF) and Asset Purchase Facility (APF) it implements monetary policy and provides liquidity insurance to the financial system. SMD also contributes to wider market intelligence and analysis, and uses its influence in financial markets, to support the Bank’s monetary policy and financial stability objectives.

The SONIA Team is responsible for the production and administration of the SONIA benchmark, which is a critical function for the Bank. Our responsibilities include organising and coordinating the daily production of the rate, undertaking data surveillance in order to identify benchmark manipulation attempts, preparing Management Information on the benchmark, and ensuring the operational risks in the end to end process are well understood and mitigated. The team is an internationally recognised centre of excellence and maintains regular contact with other central banks who are also producing benchmarks.

We are a small and friendly team that embraces flexible working and diversity. We work closely and collaboratively within the division and with colleagues across the Bank.

Job description

An exciting opportunity has become available in the SONIA team, within Sterling Markets Division, which is responsible for administration of the SONIA benchmark. We are looking for someone with a genuine interest in helping the team in the SONIA production, learning about the market that underpins SONIA and becoming money market data specialist. This role has a high profile that will allow the job holder to be involved in the production of analysis for a senior Bank audience.

The role encompasses a broad spectrum of benchmark administration responsibilities and requires engagement and collaboration with colleagues from a number of areas of the Bank. The main responsibilities of SONIA Research Assistant will include:

• Producing the regular surveillance reports of the underlying market and regular Management Information (MI) on SONIA benchmark
• Assist analysts with their policy work and analysis
• Becoming a go-to person for technical questions on the money market data collection
• Engaging in improvement of MI outputs and tools used in the MI production
• Supporting the wider benchmark administration by undertaking tasks including dealing with external queries, system testing, creating the SONIA production rota and becoming a secretary for various groups and meetings (producing agendas and papers, and writing minutes)

The SONIA Research Assistant will also have the opportunity to support the division in the market intelligence gathering, and to get involved in broader opportunities within the division/directorate.

The successful candidate will form close relationships with the Data and Statistics Division to review and improve the operational processes supporting SONIA. They will also have opportunities to engage and develop a strong network of relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

Role Requirements

A strong candidate is likely to be able to demonstrate most of the following attributes and experiences. But please don't be put off applying if you don't have everything on the list. If you think you can only do some of the role, we still want you to apply!

Minimum Essential Criteria
 

• Ability to produce accurate, reliable information promptly
• A good level of general IT skills, particularly Excel
• Strong interest in data visualisation and willingness to learn analytical/visualisation packages such as R and Tableau
• Good time and workload management, ability to prioritise and organise a large and varied task list
• Be a self-starter, able to take ownership and demonstrate initiative, creativity and drive
• Strong interpersonal skills, ability to build strong working relationships

Desirable Criteria

• Experience in manipulating large data sets and producing high quality outputs
• Experience of working with transactional data
• R programming skills
• Experience in data visualisation (ideally Tableau)
• Operational experience or experience in system testing would be useful

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. (Delete if operationally this may not be feasible)

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 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.

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 £24,225 - £29,000 per annum (depending on skills and experience), 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.