Senior Credit Rating Agency Associate

Leeds, England, United Kingdom

1/7/2025

Division - Infrastructure and Exchanges

Department – Capital Markets

Salary - National (Edinburgh and Leeds) ranging from £51,200 to £64,000 and London £56,400 to £70,400 per annum (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.

We are currently looking for a talented individual to join the Credit Rating Agencies (CRA) Supervision team within the Capital Markets Department. The Capital Markets Department within the Supervision, Policy and Competition Division at the FCA is responsible for both credit rating agencies supervision and policy.

The CRA Supervision team is responsible for the supervision of UK regulated credit rating agencies. CRAs play a key role in providing an assessment of the creditworthiness of governments, corporates and other issuers of securities. Where they perform this role effectively, investors are well-informed on the risks of investing in these assets and hence, capital is more efficiently allocated. These outcomes contribute particularly to the FCA’s statutory objective for market integrity, and also its consumer protection objective. We supervise CRAs according to the UK regulation and in line with the FCA Approach to Supervision.

What will you be doing?

• As a dedicated credit rating agencies supervisor, you will be responsible for the FCA’s supervisory relationship with individual credit rating agencies, driving engagement with the view of influencing conduct behaviour
• You will drive, deliver and/or oversee the delivery of projects within the supervision strategy to mitigate or reduce harm to consumers and enhance market integrity
• You will be required to exercise expert judgement to reduce and mitigate risks of harm emanating from the credit ratings business model and strategy
• The role involves communicating effectively with internal stakeholders, including at a senior level
• You will be asked to present and share knowledge with colleagues, including the wider Capital Markets Department and colleagues within the team
• You will work with others across the FCA to harness expertise and knowledge from other departments, including the General’s Counsel Division, Market Oversight, Policy and Competition & Economics
  
  

What will you get from the role?

Joining the CRA Supervision team, you will have the opportunity to implement and influence the FCA’s supervision strategy for credit rating agencies. This role provides exposure to both a breadth and a depth of issues, including with senior management at CRAs.

You will play an important part in supporting the FCA to achieve its strategic objectives through delivering on our supervisory priority to consider and support firms in mitigating risks of harm.

You will also have the opportunity to work with and learn from FCA colleagues covering wide ranging issues including technology and resilience, competition, CRA policy, authorisations and enforcement. You will have the opportunity to engage with a wide variety of stakeholders, including other regulatory authorities. You will enjoy a unique perspective on the financial services industry, with the opportunity to do meaningful work that makes a real difference. 

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 working in a regulatory and/or financial services sector, with professional experience in relation to credit ratings or credit rating agencies
• Experience reviewing financial information, both qualitative and quantitative, and using that to form judgements that balance a range of factors
  
  

Essential

• Understanding of the CRA business model, ratings process and potential risks posed by CRAs
• Experience of driving forward and/or delivering complex projects
• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written
• Strong credit and risk experience, gained within a financial services setting such as a credit rating agency, commercial or investment bank or asset manager
• Ability to manage a broad range of stakeholders to ensure the activities of the department are shared with internal stakeholders, and to flex your style to build consensus and influence a range of diverse stakeholders
• An analytical mind-set and a risk-based approach to decision making and judgements
  
  

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 were the first in their family to attend university.

The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisation. Given this, we particularly welcome applications women, minority ethnic, disabled, and neurodivergent candidates for our senior associate 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 as: Senior Associate - Regulatory
• Advert Closing Date: 21st January
• First Round Case Study Assessment: 30th & 31st January
• Competency Based Interview: 7th & 10th February
  
  

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 external applicants, please contact Aaron Ward at Aaron.ward@fca.org.uk
• For internal applicants, please contact Lucy Matthews at Lucy.matthews@fca.org.uk
  
  

Applications must be submitted through our online portal. Applications sent via email will not be accepted.