Head of Risk & Compliance, Francis Crick
12 Month FTC
£96.5-110.9k
Biomedical research institute
Job no longer available
Biomedical research institute
1001+ employees
Job no longer available
£96.5-110.9k
1001+ employees
Company mission
To discover without boundaries.
Role
Who you are
- Significant senior experience in risk, compliance, audit or governance within similar organisations to the Crick.*
- Deep knowledge across corporate risk management, compliance frameworks, internal audit, insurance and data privacy.*
- Experience advising and influencing Executive and Board-level stakeholders. *
- Strong track record of leading organisational change and embedding new frameworks.*
- Ability to translate complex regulatory or risk issues into clear, persuasive recommendations.*
- Political awareness and sound judgement, balancing risk and reward while maintaining credibility and trust
- A forward-looking approach, actively horizon scanning for emerging risks
- Relevant professional qualification in Finance, Risk Management or Audit
- Degree-level education (or equivalent)
What the job involves
- Reports to: Gavin Mapstone
- Reporting to: Group Finance Director
- This is full-time or part time (0.8 FTE), initially for a fixed term of 12 months on Crick terms and conditions of employment
- We are seeking an outstanding Head of Risk & Compliance to shape the risk and compliance framework within the Francis Crick Institute. Reporting to the Group Finance Director, you will safeguard the Crick’s integrity, reputation and long-term sustainability – while enabling innovation to flourish
- This is an opportunity to influence risk, ethics and assurance strategy within a complex, high-profile non-profit organisation with significant public trust responsibilities and a diverse range of stakeholders, funders and partners
- Providing leadership and direction to a range of critical capabilities, including Corporate Risk Management, Compliance, Information Governance, Data Privacy, Internal Audit and Insurance
- Working closely with the Group Finance Director, Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel to inform the Institute’s related strategy, framework, and approach, for the critical capabilities listed
- Providing advice and guidance directly to the Executive Management Team and Audit & Risk Committee through regular reports which provide a robust assessment of assurance and recommendations for improvement
- Maintaining and enhancing a coordinated risk, ethics and compliance management framework that promotes and ensures the integration of the Institute’s code of conduct into its culture and daily operations
- Delivering the annual internal audit programme and strengthening in-house assurance capability
- Overseeing insurance strategy and renewals, ensuring proportionate risk transfer
- Leading GDPR compliance and strengthening data governance practices
- Leading and developing a small, high-performing Risk and Compliance team
Application process
- Closing Date: 15/Mar/2026 23.59 GMT
- Given current priorities, we would particularly welcome applications from candidates who are available at short notice or able to join us promptly
- Application deadline: Sunday 15th March 2026
- Please note you must meet the essential criteria listed within the Role Profile, to have your application reviewed
Salary benchmarks
Our take
The Francis Crick Institute was founded in 2015 through the merger of the MRC's National Institute for Medical Research and CRUK's London Research Institute. Its mission is to push the boundaries of our understanding of how life works, and it is the largest single-site biomedical research institute in Europe.
One of the Institute's strengths is its ability to collaborate extensively with external research groups, boasting partnerships in more than 90 countries. These collaborations, however, pose data protection challenges due to the need to transfer vast amounts of sensitive information across borders. The Institute has addressed this by developing its own Trusted Research Environment toolkit, which allows remote teams to share data securely and compliantly in the cloud.
The institute secured £1 billion in funding back in 2022, and is maximising its effectiveness through the BRIDGE network and investments in AI and machine learning. A notable example is Google’s subsidiary DeepMind establishing a research lab within the institute to enhance biology and genomics research.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
10% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (1 round)
Jul 2022
$1.3bn
GRANT
Total funding: $1.3bn
Company benefits
- 28 days of holiday each year, plus three additional days (usually taken over Christmas) and bank holidays
- Defined contribution pension scheme, with the Crick contributing between 3% - 16% of salary
- Life assurance
- Season ticket/car parking loan
- Annual leave purchase
- Childcare support allowance
- Back-up dependent care
- Discounted annual gym membership
- Bike to Work scheme
- Payroll giving
- Shopping discounts
Company HQ
Somers Town, London, UK
Leadership
Paul Nurse
(CEO)The first Director and Chief Executive of the Francis Crick Institute. Was previously President of Rockefeller University in New York. In 2001 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine as part of a team that discovered the role of protein molecules that control the duplication of cells.
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