Manager - Cross Cutting Policy Analysis

Manager - Cross Cutting Policy Analysis

Salary: National – ranging from £67,100 – £100,000 and London from £73,700 – £110,000 per annum

Are you ready to lead a high-performing, diverse team of economists, driving impactful work that shapes real-world outcomes?

The team/department 

Economics is at the heart of what the FCA does. Economic thinking and analysis inform our regulatory decisions and shape how we tackle some of the biggest issues in financial services. 

Following recent promotions, we have created a new team in the Economics Directorate focused on cross-cutting policy issues. Specifically, this team will provide high quality and timely economic analysis and advice across the areas of crypto, AI, payments, pensions, Open Finance and Open Banking, redress and reporting policy. The team’s remit also includes advising on regulatory reform issues and FCA operational effectiveness. The team will be closely involved in the development, deployment and evaluation of the FCA strategy.

We are recruiting a Manager to lead this team. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to lead a group of talented economists undertaking innovative analyses across these issues, working closely with policy leads, data scientists, technology specialists and social researchers from across the FCA. The Manager will regularly present and advise the FCA’s senior leadership.

The Manager will oversee the delivery of a pipeline of cost benefit analyses, policy evaluations, and research projects. As a new team, the Manager will have an opportunity to shape and design new processes and ways of working.

The Manager will be part of the Economics Directorate’s senior leadership team comprising five other Managers, the Deputy and Chief Economists.

We are looking for individuals with a passion for using economics to inform proactive and evidence-based policy, who will work closely with policymakers to shape the future of financial services and its regulation.

What you will be doing (the role)

• Setting the strategic vision responsible for the new Cross-Cutting Policy Analysis team

• Managing a portfolio of CBAs, evaluations and research projects. Making prioritisation decisions, setting and owning risk tolerances, and allocating resources and budget

• Promoting innovation in analyses and efficiencies to ensure value for money. This will include use of interdisciplinary methods such as systems thinking and complexity analyses

• Being responsible for quality assurance and the timely delivery of policy advice

• Keeping abreast of the latest developments in market and economic developments in crypto, AI, payments and Open Finance/Banking

• Engaging and collaborating with internal stakeholders to ensure all relevant information and analysis is available for policymaking

• Engaging and collaborating with external stakeholders (incl. academics, market commentators, other regulators and government departments) to ensure relevant information is used to inform FCA decision-making

• Communicating insights to senior stakeholders of the FCA, including presenting at Executive and Board-level committees

• Line managing senior members of the team, with responsibilities including: goal setting, supporting professional development, and conducting performance reviews as well as supporting with the management of indirect reports

What you will get from the role

You will have the opportunity to learn about, understand and shape the workings of the financial sector at a time of considerable change. You will have the opportunity to influence policy and deliver meaningful work that makes a real difference to consumers and markets.

You will be part of a thriving economics profession, with links to the Government Economic Service and other professional organisations.

You will be joining a multicultural community of economists, econometricians, behavioural scientists and data scientists, with opportunities to attend academic and industry conferences. We provide a stimulating, collaborative environment with a range of opportunities for professional and personal development. This includes the opportunity to develop new skills (for instance coding or causal inference techniques) and build up knowledge of different wholesale or retail financial markets.

We also provide opportunities to work on other economics projects outside your core role, depending on the skills and interest of the job holder. This provides variety to your work and allows you to develop or make use of existing skills through working with colleagues in other teams.

Examples of opportunities outside of your core role include:

• Undertake training to develop and/or enhance coding experience (usually in R), with opportunity to work on smaller data analysis projects

• Undertaking more complex data analysis, including having access to large datasets where you can use econometric methods to answer policy questions

• Using quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate and assess the effectiveness of previous interventions, including the use of cutting edge causal inference methods 

• Using first principles economic thinking to provide thinking for our strategy and regulatory approach 

• Using a blend of tools and techniques to help the FCA to proactively understand how future trends affect the markets it regulates, providing insights and research to inform the FCA’s approach to new and emerging issues

Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifestyle. You can use this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work or you have the option top up your base salary by taking this as cash.

Core benefits that you will receive as standard are:

• 28 days holiday per year plus bank holidays

• Private healthcare with Bupa

• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8% of basic salary each month (there are several contribution levels that increase depending on your age – up to 12% a month once you reach age 35)

• Life assurance of eight times your basic salary

• Income protection

We support hybrid working which means you will be able to work from home up to 60% of the time over a month with the remainder of your time in one of our three office locations.

The skills and experience you will have

Minimum

We are a signatory to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to disabled candidates entering under the scheme, who best meet the minimum criteria for a role. 

• A degree in economics (or related discipline) with relevant professional experience

• Experience leading teams to deliver high quality, innovative economic analysis in a policy, regulatory or business setting that shapes and influences decisions

• Experience communicating insights from economic analysis to senior stakeholders in a way that helps them to make decisions on complex issues

Essential

• Ability to deliver a portfolio of projects, managing resources and risks and uncertainties, delegating roles and driving efficiencies

• Ability to apply economic theories and empirical methods to support strategic decision making and business planning

• Ability to make a strong personal impact, persuading others with well-reasoned arguments questioning where appropriate

• Responsible for prioritising work and delivering to tight deadlines

• Comfort with ambiguity and uncertainty, and an ability to adapt to changing circumstances

• Strong report writing and communication skills, with an ability to articulate complex issues accurately and concisely to an executive audience

• Ability to motivate and direct the work of team members, and to provide useful feedback to support their development

• Innovation mindset: a willingness and desire to find ways to improve how we do things

About the FCA

The FCA regulates the conduct of nearly 45,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work well for individuals, businesses and the economy as a whole. For more information on what we do, our three-year strategy can be found here.

The FCA's Values & Diversity

Our ambition is to cultivate a culture of inclusion for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.

The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisations. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, disabled and minority ethnic candidates for our role.

Flexible working

We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements. Many of our staff work flexibly including working part-time, staggered hours, and job shares. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want but we won’t judge you for asking.

Multi-location

As part of the FCA’s on-going commitment to develop our national presence, most of our vacancies are now open to working in our Edinburgh, Leeds, or London offices. This means that as part of the application process you will be able to select your preference of which office location you would like to work from.

Useful information

This role is graded as Manager – Regulatory.

To support your application, kindly submit a brief cover letter along with your CV (no more than 500 words) highlighting your interest in the role and your motivations for applying. We encourage you to include any relevant information you would like us to consider as part of your application.

Got a question?

If you are interested in learning more about the role please contact: 

• For internal applicants, please contact Melanie Dubock at [email protected]

• For external applicants, please contact Ifrah Azam at [email protected]

What to expect from our interview process

The process will involve three separate stages: 

• A competency-based interview

• Psychometric Assessment

• Final Interview

Your Recruiter will discuss the process in detail with you during screening for the role.

Recruitment Timeline: 

• Closing Date: 23:59 on Sunday 20th October

• First Round interviews & Assessment: WC 28th October & WC 4th November

• Final Interview: WC 11th November

Please make the recruiter aware if you are going to be unavailable for any date during this time.

Application support

We want to remove any possible barriers and are committed to providing a wide range of reasonable adjustments so that you can keep the focus on your conversations and be at your best.

If you have an accessibility requirement, disability, or condition that means you might require changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter to discuss this further. Our aim is to make your application as easy and comfortable as possible, and your recruiter will be happy to work with you to make any necessary arrangements where possible.