Risk Partner - Director (Product, Operations, Finance)

Salary - up to £110,000 depending upon experience

Hybrid Working Pattern - 3 days in Office & 2 WFH

About us

Cynergy Bank is the UK's human digital bank serving the needs of 'scale up' or medium sized and fast-growing SMEs; professionals; high net worth and mass affluent individuals, in essence those market segments that still value human service enabled by great technology.

We recognise that professional and personal lives often overlap and our mission is to help empower our customers to achieve their ambitions by serving all their interdependent banking needs. We provide a comprehensive range of digitally enabled products and services to meet the property finance, business and commercial banking, private banking and personal savings needs of our customers.

Our human and digital model transforms banking for customers who still value a face-to-face relationship that is enabled by the latest digital technology.

We partner with firms such as Google Cloud, Cigniti and Slalom as we continue to innovate in the human digital space.

Cynergy Bank plc is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Eligible deposits with Cynergy Bank plc are protected by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme .

For more information on Cynergy Bank visit

Company Benefits

• Competitive Salary and Company Bonus
• Competitive holiday allowance plus bank holidays
• Option to purchase an additional 10 days holiday
• Pension contribution and Life Assurance
• Income Protection Scheme and Season Ticket Loan
• Medical Cover (After Probation)
• Electric Car Scheme and Money Coach (After Probation)

The role

This is a Key Risk Management role that supports two ExCo Members in the Bank acting as their risk partner and working with their Leadership Teams, to support delivery of a maturing risk management capability.

Responsibilities:

Risk and Control Partnership

• Actively provide advice, education and support to SMF & SLT (i.e. Facilitate RCSA, chair / attend appropriate forums incl. Monthly Risk Forums).
• Engage other risk partners to ensure risks are considered and documented in Resolver, lessons are learnt from incident management are widely understood.
• Drive the embedding of Control and Monitoring methodology and identify priorities for the areas they partner (Link to Control Assurance Plan).
• Challenge the business area and SLT to articulate the key risks and issues identified and recorded in Resolver. Escalating to the SMF via regular meetings and 1 to 1.
• Own and provide insight required for adequate Risk Focus via Reporting activity.
• Support the SMF on Quarterly Attestation i.e. driving the collation of information via SLT, Controls and Risk Reporting Functions.

Understand and Manage Risk profile (proactive risk management)

• Own insight from Risk & Control activity to inform risk profile and agree with SMF & SLT (link to Non-Financial Reg Reporting - production of reports).
• Drive the Risk & Control Self-Assessment process.
• Own and Drive Application and Use of Resolver by SLT.
• Drive embedding Risk Frameworks and Policies.
• Understand High Risk Process: Engaging on High-Risk Process i.e. Report & Accounts, Product, Sales and Service Process to ensure they operate effectively.

Innovation and Change

• Providing stakeholders with an understanding of and consultation on risk impacts of change / automation, etc (ensure innovation and change lands properly).
• Owning and Horizon Scanning Process.

Incident Management / Issue Management

• Drive recording of Incidents, Issues and action plans via Resolver and subsequent change to Risk Profile.
• Support during an incident.
• Review and aggregation of local business unit incidents to identify systemic themes Involvement in BCP Testing and Playbooks.
• Manage validation and certification of COREP / Reg Reporting loss reporting.
• Track all known issues, action plans (Path to Green) to completion and facilitate reporting via Resolver.

2 nd / 3 rd Line Review Management:

• Pre-review engagement with oversight function and business area ToR review for these activities.
• Support of the engagement.
• Review draft findings.
• Work with business area to agree findings Review effectiveness of proposed actions resulting from reviews.

Essential Knowledge & Experience

• Minimum 5 years' experience within a Risk Management Environment and related experience in a UK banking environment ideally in a Bank Operations and / or Finance 1LoD Role.
• Expertise in the procedures, processes, and systems utilised within Financial Services and/or FinTech.
• Strong knowledge of Risk methodology framework procedures and principles. Experience with regulatory guidelines of FCA & PRA.
• Relevant and/or preferred qualifications (please specify required or preferred).
• Ideally will have professional qualifications in Risk Management and / or Banking.

Behavioural Attributes:

• The role will be responsible for providing strong technical 1 st Line Risk and Control support to their designated areas and provide guidance on risk issues within the 1 st Line of Defence. Ensuring there is sufficient (risk based) Senior Management Function support across all Bank risk matters.
• Strong Self Starter & Proactive Leader.
• Good Negotiation and conflict management skills.
• Must be able to work in a timely manner to strict deadlines.
• Matrix Management of cross functional areas.
• Pragmatic approach to problem solving.
• The role requires significant self-starting ability, analytical thinking and logic, combined with the ability to link seemingly unrelated issues and techniques together. The incumbent needs to remain abreast of all changes occurring within the Regulatory landscape and the business as it evolves. The incumbent also needs to be able to relate effectively to people at all levels within the organisation.

Risk and/or governance responsibilities

• Working within the Bank's first line Risk and Control team, the role has a key focus on providing support and challenge of the execution of the Enterprise and Operational Risk Management frameworks ensuring that framework and tools are used as intended to ensure that there is transparency and consistency over informed risk decision making for SMF.

Outline of Leadership responsibilities

• No Direct Reports but needs to be a proactive leader that works closely with other elements of the 1 st Line Risk and Control function to utilise their expertise to facilitate the role successfully.