Senior External Affairs Officer (Devolved Nations - Scotland)
Division – Communications
Department – Internal Communications, External Affairs & Public Information
Team – External Affairs
Salary – National (Edinburgh) – ranging from £43,300 – £57,000 (Salary offered will be based on skills and experience)
About the FCA
The FCA regulates the conduct of 45,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. Follow this link to find out more About the FCA
In the Communications division at the FCA we change opinions and behaviours to enable a fair and thriving financial services market for the good of consumers and the economy. It’s an exciting time as we’re expanding our team and changing how we do things to deliver more engaging, insight-led, audience focused communications. If you want to be part of a supportive and fun team, work across a wide range of issues and are ready to be challenged, curious and creative then come and join us.
The External Affairs team is the interface between the FCA and many important stakeholders including Parliament, business and consumer groups, think tanks and Government. The team advises the organisation on how to respond and engage with stakeholders, and act on the feedback received, to help ensure public confidence in the FCA’s work.
Our Devolved Nations team works to build deeper relationships with key stakeholders in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, including government, parliament, industry, consumer groups, think tanks, academia and others.
What will you be doing?
* External engagement: Represent the organisation to relevant Scottish stakeholders, working with policy leads across the organisation. Build information from external networks and in the wider public arena to interpret developments for the organisation whilst explaining FCA policy and action to these audiences and responding to their enquiries.
* Strategic counsel: Understand the work of the FCA in specific areas and strategy across the piece, as well as the nuances of Scotland’s economy and political landscape of relevance to financial services, identify emerging risks and opportunities, and provide guidance to senior FCA staff, including the Chief Executive and the Chair.
* Briefing function: Act as a briefing function, working closely with the team and the organisation to prepare senior management for engagements in Scotland and public events.
* Project management: Leading projects that ensure the FCA is communicating its work effectively to those involved in financial services policy in Scotland, including plugging relevant parts of the organisation into external opportunities.
* Monitoring and analysis: Understand and explain the external decisions (including political dynamics and Government policy) in Scotland that affect the financial services sector and work of the FCA to senior members of staff.
* Coordination: Work with key teams to support delivery of their work, including Strategic Communication Partners.
What will you get from the role?
* Working directly with senior stakeholders in Scotland to help ensure public confidence in our role as a regulator and deliver against our operational objectives.
* Working with senior leadership of the FCA to support high quality engagement.
* Representing the External Affairs team internally and organising internal communications in support of the team’s work.
Which skills are required?
We are a Disability Confident Employer; therefore, disabled people or individuals with long-term conditions who best meet the minimum criteria for a role will go through to the next stage of the recruitment process. (To learn more about the Disability Confident Scheme Click Here)
Minimum
* Experience in a relevant environment – including stakeholder engagement – in Scotland, such as consultancy, in-house external affairs function (including civil service or regulatory), business group, consumer group, or in Parliament.
* Experience in gathering of intelligence from multiple sources to identify risks and trends within the political and broader socio-economic environment.
Essential
* Experience of strategically mapping, managing and influencing political and/or other senior stakeholders.
* Excellent verbal communications skills to brief senior colleagues and external stakeholders.
* Ability to build strong relationships with a range of stakeholders.
* Experience of working on a number of complex policy areas simultaneously.
* Excellent written and verbal language skills.
* Experience of leading project teams to deliver outcomes.
* Experience in gathering of intelligence from multiple sources to identify risks and trends within the external environment and advise on how to respond to it.
* Sound judgment, effective decision making and personal accountability.
Our Values & Diversity
We are proud to be an inclusive employer and our ambition is to cultivate a culture 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.
Within the workplace you will have access to various employee resource groups which aim to promote and achieve a healthy work / life balance and support our diversity ambitions.
Did you know? 50% of our Executive Committee are women.
The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisation. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, minority ethnic, disabled, and neurodivergent candidates for our role.
Benefits of working at the FCA
* 25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays.
* Hybrid working (work from home up to 60% of your time).
* Private healthcare with Bupa.
* A non-contributory Pension of at least 8%.
* Life assurance.
* Income protection.
We also have a competitive flexible benefits scheme which gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifestyle.
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 can explore what might work best for both sides.
Follow this link to see what life is like at the FCA - Life at the FCA
Application Support
We are dedicated to removing barriers and ensuring our application process is accessible to everyone. We offer a range of adjustments to make your application experience as comfortable and straightforward as possible.
If you have an accessibility need, disability, or condition requiring changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter using the details below and they will be happy to discuss this further with you.
Useful Information and Timeline
This role is graded Senior Associate – Corporate.
This role is based in our Edinburgh office.
* Advert Closing Date: 23rd February.
* CV Review/Shortlist: W/C 24th February.
* Competency Based: W/C 3rd March.
Your Recruiter will discuss the process in detail with you during screening for the role, therefore, please make them aware if you are going to be unavailable for any date during this time.
Got a question?
If you are interested in learning more about the role, please contact:
* For internal applicants, please contact Melanie Dubock at Melanie.Dubock@fca.org.uk
* For external applicants, please contact Ifrah Azam at Ifrah.Azam@fca.org.uk
Applications must be submitted through our online portal. Applications sent via email will not be accepted.
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