Head of Operational Risk

Purpose

The Head of Operational Risk will lead the Operational Risk Team in their engagement with the business divisions. The role will involve the promotion of the requirements of the Risk Management Framework, the embedding of discipline and rigour in risk management practices and providing oversight, advice and constructive challenge to divisions to support them to take ownership of their risks and operate effective and proportionate controls.

You and your team will engage with colleagues across the business including Executives; this will be in formal committees and on a bilateral basis. Relationship building is an important part of this role but you will also have strong technical expertise and practical experience in risk management practices. Winning the ‘hearts and minds’ of the business from Executive through to junior colleagues will be critical to the success of the role, driving the right risk culture as well as developing the risk capability of the first line. You will be a source of subject matter expertise for more junior colleagues in your team and support them to grow their capability and effectiveness as operational risk professionals.

Key responsibilities

• Promote and embed the requirements of the Risk Management Framework across the business including:

1. Risk and control assessments
2. Risk events
3. Risk appetites
4. KRIs/emerging risk
5. Risk acceptance
6. Policy framework

• Collaborate with others in Risk & Compliance to strengthen the Risk Management Framework based insights from business oversight and framework adherence.
• Provide effective and efficient oversight of the Group’s management of risks and ensure a delineation of first line vs second line of defence activity which promotes first line risk ownership.
• Ensure the business is managing material risk events through to resolution with lessons learned feeding back into the management of risks going forward.
• Identify and conduct thematic reviews of key operational risks and/or issues identified through business oversight or in response to Executive/Board direction.
• Provide clear, independent and insightful forward looking risk information and guidance to divisional management teams and wider Executive/Board governance forums.
• Organise and conduct risk workshops with subject matter experts across the business to support Finance colleagues to deliver the Internal Capital Adequacy and Risk Assessment (ICARA) focusing on the risks which have the potential to cause material harm to our customers.
• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with the business.
• Motivate the Operational Risk Team to be the best that they can be, with a focus on what matters most, quality and timely delivery, curiosity and a willingness to challenge.

Key competencies

• Collaboration:

1. Communication and facilitation skills
2. Relationship building
3. Impact and influence
4. Flexibility
5. Resilience

• Responsibility:

1. Take ownership of outcomes
2. Hold self and others to account

• Deliver with excellence:

1. Planning and prioritisation
2. Sound judgement
3. Take the initiative

• Develop and retain talent:

1. Managing performance
2. Develop others

 Experience

• Essential experience:
• Operated at a senior level in operational risk management within UK financial services organisations
• Leadership of a team or department
• Strong technical knowledge of risk management practices
• Conducting risk and control workshops with subject matter experts from a diverse spectrum of disciplines
• Technical knowledge and experience in the management of risk in one or more of:
• Change
• Information security and data
• Technology
• Operations / service delivery
• Third party management & oversight
• Operational resilience
• Financial management

1. Engagement and presentation at Executive level or above
2. Desirable experience:
3. Qualification in risk management or other discipline with a material element of focus on risk management (e.g. accountancy, audit)
4. Internal Capital Adequacy and Risk Assessment (ICARA), Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (ICAAP), Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) – from an operational risk perspective

Values and behaviours

• Positively demonstrates Nucleus values and behaviours
• Smart – see the bigger picture, be insightful and share ideas across teams
• Heart – celebrate success, make the right choices and be kind to others
• Courage – be resilient, empower and inspire others, speak up and do things differently
• Act with integrity
• Be professional and courteous to colleagues

A little about us  
We’re the Nucleus Financial Platforms group and we help make retirement more rewarding.  
People come first - whether it’s our colleagues, or the advisers and customers we support, we know that working in partnership and collaboration leads to the best outcomes. Together, we’ve shaped the platform to how it is today. We work hard, and we celebrate hard too.  
Our ambition is to create a platform with a difference, putting the customer centre stage meant tearing up the rule book and starting from scratch. We’ve come a long way since then, but our mission remains just as focused. That’s why our culture, values, and social responsibility are things we keep at the top of our agenda – because we know they matter and have a big impact.  
Our culture is one of the many things that sets us apart from the pack. We want to have an environment where our people feel that they can make a real difference, know they’ll be rewarded for their efforts and more importantly, enjoy themselves at work.  
Are we a perfect match? Check out this video and find out!  
Inclusion and diversity at Nucleus  
As with most things in life, who cares, wins. We really care about inclusion.  
For us it’s not a tick box exercise; inclusion and diversity are embedded in our culture and everything we do. It’s a commercial imperative. It isn’t about being PC. It’s about being future-relevant and durable. We owe it to ourselves and the industry to ensure we are playing our part in creating a fair, balanced and transparent financial services sector.  
More diversity means broader experience, a wider set of perspectives and a better collective ability to problem-solve. And it means being more representative of customer groups, which supports areas such as product development.  
At Nucleus, we offer a generous blend of benefits for the things that really matter to our people, including a non-contributory pension, bonus, enhanced parental leave, paid time off for emergencies, health and wellbeing initiatives and flexible working options.  
If you’d like to find out more about us or the role, get in touch with Hannah in our People team.