Data Protection & Compliance Manager, Thought Machine
Compliance
3+ days a week in office (Russell Square, London)
Cloud native banking platform
Posted today
Cloud native banking platform
501-1000 employees
Posted today
3+ days a week in office (Russell Square, London)
501-1000 employees
Company mission
Thought Machine's mission is to build the new foundations for banking. They want to cure one of the banking industry's primary problems: its reliance on outdated IT infrastructure. Nearly every bank is still stuck on a legacy IT platform.
Role
Who you are
- Experience in fintech or financial services (retail banking or regulatory consultancy for retail banks)
- Practical data protection expertise
- Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams, especially engineering and delivery
- High energy and a desire to thrive in a fast-moving environment
Desirable
- Data Protection Certifications (e.g. CIPP, CIPM)
- Legal or Paralegal experience
- Experience with compliance functions at a SaaS platform company
What the job involves
- You'll act as our primary Data Protection Specialist, leading efforts to:
- Align with global data protection laws (e.g., GDPR, local regulations) and support international expansion
- Implement data protection controls with engineering and client services teams
- Serve as the main contact for data protection authorities and handle data subject requests
- Promote data protection awareness through training and conduct regular audits of data practices
- Ensure products like Vault Core and Vault Payments comply with regulatory requirements
- As a Horizon Scanning Lead, you'll:
- Track new global regulations (outsourcing, cloud, third-party risk)
- Develop new controls and update policies to proactively address upcoming compliance challenges
- Coordinate action plans for implementing regulatory changes across teams
- Support regulatory assessments for new target markets
- You'll also provide General Compliance & ESG support by:
- Administering internal and external policies
- Assisting with RFPs, due diligence, and compliance training
- Ensuring compliance with certifications (ISO, SOC 2)
- Monitoring regulatory changes affecting our products and company
- Offering compliance advice and implementing ESG initiatives
- Identifying ESG reporting needs and preparing reports
Application process
- 1. Recruiter Call
- 2. Hiring Manager Call
- 3. Two Onsite Interviews (Presentation + Competency)
- 4. Final Interview with the Team Director
- 5. Decision
Salary benchmarks
Our take
Most traditional banks are stuck on legacy technology. The world's biggest banks today have been around for hundreds of years and their systems reflect this. Their tech systems were built in the mid-20th century and changes/improvements have been layered on top since then.
This infrastructure is creaking in a lot of these institutions, so they need a radical overhaul if they're going to compete with challenger banks like Monzo, N26 and Starling, that have built their banks on modern technology from the ground up.
Thought Machine's customers are primarily in Europe and Asia, and include legacy outfits like Standard Chartered, Lloyds Banking Group, and Sweden’s SEB, but they are also working with challenger banks like Atom Bank. Traditional banks will need to innovate to hold on to their market share, and will need the latest technology to do it, providing a big opportunity for Thought Machine.
The company has raised more than $500m in funding and are now valued at $2.7bn, which is being used to support the transformation of the retail banking market with cloud native technology, solving bank reliance on legacy IT. Thought Machine were named AltFi's B2B Fintech of the Year, placed in the FinTech50, and in the IDC list of top 100 Fintechs.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 7 rounds)
May 2022
$160m
SERIES D
Mar 2022
$54.2m
LATE VC
Total funding: $560.2m
Company benefits
- Life Insurance- 3 times annual salary
- Competitive Maternity and Paternity leave
- Shared parental leave
- Cycle to work scheme
- Pension (match up to 5%)
- 25 days holiday (excl. bank holidays) + 2 days Charity Leave
Company HQ
Bloomsbury, London, UK
Articles
Leadership
Paul Taylor
(CEO)Founder of Phonetic Arts (speech technology in gaming) until it was acquired by Google 4 years later. Then worked for Google as a Technical Lead for 3 years
People progressing
Joined as Back End Software Engineer and became a Tech Lead Manager after 1 year 4 months and is now an Engineering Director.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Thought Machine
Natalie Brock (Chief of Staff - People)
- Diversity is an integral part of life at Thought Machine. We want to create a work environment where employees enjoy showing up to work authentically as their best self.
- We celebrate our differences with culture events and internal community networks such as the women’s group, OUT our LGBTQ+ group and Belong, which celebrates different ethnicities
- In terms of nationality, Thought Machine has 450 staff and over 45 different nationalities across three offices.
- Although we are above the UK’s average of women in fintech, we have got work to do.
- To help us achieve greater parity we have introduced a number of measures and initiatives, including coaching and training.
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