Subject Matter Expert - Money Advice

Citizens Advice SORT Group is a growing and ambitious organisation determined to deliver the highest quality services to the communities we serve. We are leading providers of information, advice and casework services and support tens of thousands of clients every year.

Join our Innovation Team!
We're at an exciting stage of our digital transformation. Our innovation team is developing AI-powered tools designed to assist advisers by improving the accuracy of advice and the efficiency of case notes. We now want to do the same for money and debt advice, which is some of the most complex and highest-stakes work we do. We need your expert knowledge of debt and money advice, your critical thinking, and your practical experience to help us get it right.

This role is a unique opportunity to shape the future of Citizens Advice and to combine your frontline expertise with cutting-edge technology.
Who we're looking for
We're seeking a passionate and experienced money adviser who is:

• A Subject Matter Expert: Has a deep and current understanding of debt and money advice, including the full range of debt options, income maximisation, creditor practice, and the challenges clients face when they are in financial difficulty. Crucially, you know the MaPS Customer Facing Standards and the Advice Assessor Toolkit inside out, and can apply them to a case with confidence.
• A Critical Thinker: Able to analyse information, spot inaccuracies, and think critically about the potential unintended consequences of technology.
• A Clear Communicator: Can effectively articulate complex ideas and feedback to a non-adviser audience.
• A Team Player: Enjoys collaborating with others and is enthusiastic about a hands-on, fast-paced work environment.
• Enthusiastic about Technology: Has a genuine interest in how technology can improve our services, even if you are not a technical expert yourself.

What you'll be doing
As a Subject Matter Expert, you'll be the crucial link between our frontline money advice services and our tech team. Your key responsibilities will include:

• Holding the line on quality: Acting as our authority on the MaPS Customer Facing Standards and the Advice Assessor Toolkit, and assessing what our tools produce against them exactly as an assessor would.
• Providing Expertise: Using your in-depth knowledge of debt and money advice to test and evaluate the accuracy and quality of advice generated by our AI tools, making sure the options presented to clients are correct, complete and appropriate to their circumstances.
• Identifying Gaps & Biases: Reviewing case notes and data to identify potential blind spots, biases, or gaps in the information our AI uses. You'll help us ensure the tools are equitable and accurate for all client groups, especially people in vulnerable circumstances and those with complex needs.
• Collaborating & Communicating: Working closely with the innovation team, including data scientists and developers, to translate your practical insights into clear, actionable feedback.
• User-Centred Design: Acting as a representative for frontline advisers and clients, ensuring the tools we build are user-friendly, practical, and genuinely helpful in a real-world advice setting.
• Training & Development: Helping to refine the training data and models used by our AI to ensure its ongoing improvement.

Money advice carries real consequences for the people we help. Getting an option wrong can cost someone their home or their credit standing for years, and the MaPS Standards exist precisely because that risk is real. That is why we want an experienced adviser holding the pen on quality, rather than leaving it to people who have never sat across from a client in difficulty.

We value diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination. We encourage and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities and people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups, as they are currently under-represented in our workforce.

Closing Date 17/10/26 Essential skills and experience:

• Substantial recent experience of delivering debt and money advice to clients, at casework or specialist level.
• Detailed working knowledge of the MaPS Customer Facing Standards and the Advice Assessor Toolkit, and the ability to apply them to a case with confidence and consistency.
• Understanding of the debt customer journey as the standards set it out, including assessment of need, identification of vulnerability and emergencies, choice of delivery channel, exploration, advice, Breathing Space, debt options, creditor contact and record of advice.
• Ability to reach and justify an assessment outcome, including judging whether a shortfall has had an impact on the customer and whether it has caused detriment.
• Deep and current knowledge of the full range of debt options, including informal arrangements, Breathing Space, Debt Relief Orders, bankruptcy and individual voluntary arrangements, and a sound grasp of when each is appropriate.
• Working knowledge of income maximisation, budgeting and the Standard Financial Statement, and of how priority and non-priority debts should be handled.
• Understanding of the regulatory requirements that apply to debt advice.
• Ability to analyse information, spot inaccuracies and think critically about the unintended consequences of a change or a tool.
• Ability to explain complex money advice concepts clearly to people who are not advisers, in writing and in conversation.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a hands-on, fast-moving team environment.
• A genuine interest in how technology can improve advice services, whether or not you have worked on technology before.
• Ability to use a variety of IT and digital systems and packages, and to learn new ones quickly.

Desirable skills and experience:

• Experience or familiarity with Recognising Excellence and the MaPS Debt Advice Quality Framework.
• Experience as a trained advice assessor, or of Customer Facing Assessment, calibration or the appeals process.
• Experience of quality assurance, peer review, technical supervision or training within a money advice setting.
• Experience of contributing to service design, user research or testing.
• A relevant qualification such as the Money Advice Practitioner qualifications, DRO Intermediary status, IMA or equivalent.
• Experience of working with data, case recording systems or reporting.
• Awareness of how AI is being applied in advice and the risks that come with it.

You do not need any background in technology to apply. We are looking for money advice expertise first, and we will support you with everything else.

Requirements for role

• An understanding and commitment to equity and the positive value of diversity and inclusion and its application to service delivery in the charity sector.
• Ability to commit to and work within the values, aims, principles and policies of the Citizens Advice service in which equity and diversity is embedded throughout.
• A proven commitment to the continuous professional development of self and wider teams.
• Willingness and ability to work unsocial hours on occasion (including weekends), with travel across the North West and other parts of the country.
• Proven ability to keep up to date with technology and take individual responsibility for learning new technologies.

Quality and the MaPS Standards

• Act as our authority on the MaPS Customer Facing Standards and the Advice Assessor Toolkit, applying them to everything our tools produce.
• Assess AI-generated advice and case records against the standards as an assessor would, using the full range of outcomes from Met through to Not Met with detriment, and be clear about where output falls short and why.
• Map our tools against the debt customer journey, from assessment of need and identification of vulnerability and emergencies, through exploration, advice, Breathing Space, debt options, creditor contact and record of advice.
• Keep pace with changes to the standards, the toolkit and MaPS guidance, and make sure that what we build moves with them.
• Work with colleagues responsible for quality assurance so that our approach to AI-generated advice lines up with how our debt advice is assessed.

Providing money advice expertise

• Use your in-depth knowledge of debt and money advice to test and evaluate the accuracy and quality of advice generated by our AI tools.
• Check that the options our tools present are correct, complete and appropriate, covering the full range from informal arrangements through to Breathing Space, Debt Relief Orders, bankruptcy and individual voluntary arrangements.
• Make sure income maximisation, budgeting and the Standard Financial Statement are handled properly, and that priority debts are never treated as though they were not.
• Apply the relevant FCA requirements alongside the MaPS Standards when assessing what our tools produce.

Identifying gaps, risks and biases

• Review case notes and data to identify blind spots, biases or gaps in the information our AI draws on.
• Help us make sure our tools work accurately and equitably for all client groups, including people with mental health problems, people in vulnerable circumstances and people whose situations do not fit a standard template.
• Flag where a tool risks giving advice that is technically right but practically unhelpful, or that could cause detriment to a client.
• Contribute to how we test, monitor and govern the advice our tools produce, so that quality and safety are built in rather than checked afterwards.

Collaborating and communicating

• Work closely with the innovation team, including developers and data colleagues, to turn your practical insight into clear and actionable feedback.
• Explain complex money advice concepts to people who are not advisers, without losing the detail that matters.
• Take part in the everyday working rhythm of the team, including testing sessions, reviews and planning.
• Build good working relationships with our money advice teams so that their experience feeds into what we build.
• User-centred design
• Act as the voice of frontline money advisers and of clients in difficulty, making sure what we build is practical in a real advice setting.
• Take part in user research and testing with advisers and, where appropriate, with clients.
• Judge our tools by whether they help an adviser do a better job on a busy day, not by whether they work in a demonstration.

Training, improvement and development

• Help refine the training data, prompts, guidance and models behind our tools so they keep improving.
• Contribute to guidance and training that helps advisers use these tools well and understand their limits.
• Keep your own money advice knowledge current, including changes to legislation, creditor practice and regulatory requirements.
• Work with your line manager to develop an annual learning and development plan which meets your development needs and the needs of the organisation.
• Take an active role in the preparation of regular meetings, taking a lead on your own development.

This job description does not constitute a term and condition of employment. It is provided only as a guide to assist an individual in the performance of the job and is not included to be an inflexible list of tasks.The business is a fast-moving organisation and therefore any colleagues duties may be varied from time to time. The post holder accepts that they may be required to work flexibly and undertake any other work or duties as may reasonably be required, within the scope of and commensurate to the nature of the post. What we give our staff
We truly value our colleagues - and we show that in what we offer. These range from flexible working arrangements and generous leave entitlement, to a perks package offering some great discounts at high street brands and pension scheme.

This full-time role, working 35 hours per week with first-class benefits:

• £36,397 - £38,181 per annum
• 30 days' annual leave plus bank holiday (progressing to 35 days after 5 years)
• 3% employer pension contribution
• Employee assistance scheme
• Salary sacrifice scheme
• Perks and savings scheme
• Mental health and wider wellbeing support
• Learning, development and growth opportunities