Operational Risk Manager, Zopa
1st Line
1-2 days a week in office (London Bridge, London)
Financial solutions for borrowers and savers
Open for applications
Financial solutions for borrowers and savers
501-1000 employees
Open for applications
1-2 days a week in office (London Bridge, London)
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To create simple, fair and honest financial products that have the customer's needs at heart.
Role
Who you are
- You'll be an experienced risk professional with a strong understanding of retail banking environment and a passion for supporting teams to deliver better customer outcomes
- Proven track record of experience of managing operational risk (ideally in the first line) in a consultancy, fintech or specifically within the financial services sector
- Good awareness of the regulatory framework in which Zopa operates and driven to self-educate and learn about the evolving open banking regulatory landscape
- You'll be able to lead stakeholders to identify areas of risk, support in the delivery of change across the business and look for ways to improve our existing risk-based practices
- You should be technical, outcome orientated, and be able to apply the risk framework to propose optimal outcomes for customers and the bank
- A strong communicator who can articulate issues clearly, flagging trade-offs and solutions in order to gain buy in to your proposals
- Passionate about improving the risk environment and general ways of working across the teams you support
- Act as a source of knowledge and point of contact for business colleagues in your area such as second line risk and first line counterparts
- Guide first line teams in completing comprehensive risk assessments and promoting a risk-aware culture across the business
Desirable
- Practical working knowledge ofregulations surrounding lending products
- Experience of change projects involving automated and tech solutions
What the job involves
- The 1st Line of Defence (1LOD) Risk Function are responsible for managing risks across the organisation, working closely with cross-business stakeholders and adopting the bank’s risk framework to embed effective and efficient risk management into everything we do
- We are looking for a Risk Manager to partner with our Lending Product areas (these range from POS, Credit Cards, UPL’s to Auto) to identify, assess and manage operational risks
- The role is an exciting opportunity for a risk professional motivated by driving change and contributing to delivering responsible growth and a truly customer centric experience
- You'll report into the Senior Manager - Lending and work closely with stakeholders across the three lines of defence to ensure Zopa operates within risk appetite, through the application of commensurate mitigating controls
- Be able to identify areas of risk and have a strong knowledge of operational risks and controls
- Lead in defining solutions in response to risks which are i) smart and proportionate, iii) sustainable (e.g. Automated controls over manual interventions) and iv) considered (i.e. not just plugging the gap but thinking more holistically about the issue and what we need, to improve the risk environment)
- Be able to manage interdependencies in order to support in the delivery of agreed solutions, change initiatives in a timely and high-quality way
- Ensure that MI and reporting is delivered in a timely manner, enabling accountable individuals to make informed, risk-based decisions
Salary benchmarks
Our take
Zopa has been a pioneering force in the world of finance since 2005, lending out billions in personal loans since its inception, before the launch of its bank in 2020. Its depth of lending experience makes it a digital bank with a difference - offering all the benefits customers have come to expect from a challenger bank, but backed up by 16 years of know how.
As a bank, Zopa has the flexibility to offer much more than loans to their customers, such as their fixed term savings accounts and credit card. Their model is clearly defined, with a focus on lending and saving rather than current accounts - and its investment in its banking license has clearly paid off. The company has recently seen significant investment that will accelerate the growth of its current products as well as support expansion into the business lending space. It has also made its first ever acquisition, of the ‘buy now, pay later’ platform DivideBuy.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Many candidates hear
back within 2 weeks
41% female employees
14% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Employee endorsements
Intelligent people
"My colleagues here at Zopa have a wealth of knowledge which they share constantly and are always willing to assist or give a second opinion on..."
Funding (last 2 of 13 rounds)
Feb 2023
$93m
LATE VC
Oct 2021
$300m
LATE VC
Total funding: $868.1m
Company benefits
- Discounted gym membership
- Cycle-to-work scheme
- Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
- Hybrid & flexible working model
- Health insurance with Vitality
- Generous holiday plus Zopa bank holidays
- 2 volunteer days a year
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Life Assurance
- Private healthcare from Vitality
- Great deals on Zopa products
- Season ticket loans
- Discretionary unpaid leave
- Games room, meditation room, subsidised yoga classes, football league and more
Company values
- Champion our customers - Whatever your role, you’ll be close to our customers. We care passionately about doing the best for them.
- Help us make fearless choices - Our environment is fast-paced, agile and open. You’ll solve interesting and challenging problems, and be trusted and empowered to bring your ideas to life.
- Walk the talk - Like us, you’ll be honest, stick to your promises and face the tough moments head-on.
- Win smarter - You’ll be always on the lookout for a better way of doing things, going beyond ‘good enough’ and welcoming different points of view.
- Be in it together - You’ll join an ambitious, diverse and all-round approachable team with a mix of ideas and talents who inspire each other to be better every day.
Company HQ
London, UK
Articles
Leadership
Giles Andrews OBE
(Board Member)Independent Non Executive Director at C. Hoare & Co., and at the Bank of Ireland. Chairman of carwow. Board Member at the Innovate Finance FinTech Strategy Group. Previously founded Caverdale Group.
Jaidev
(CEO, not founder)Promoted from within Zopa, previously COO. 12 years of experience at Capital One, including Chief Marketing Officer for UK.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Zopa
Jamie Ferguson (Talent Acquisition Advisor)
- We're always looking for passionate and talented people who can help us be the best place for money. We welcome everyone, regardless of age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, parental status, race or religion.
- We run a successful mentoring program, with 28 mentors across the business. We believe this launching pad helps our internal talent stretch beyond their comfort zone, explore new avenues and grow into future leaders.
- We’re focused on ensuring a fair approach to attracting talent, from how we advertise roles to our application and interview process. For all our hiring requirements we mandate 50/50 shortlists and diverse interview panels. We also run all our adverts through a recognised gender de-coder to ensure we attract and hire a diverse range of people. More recently we’ve been experimenting with new job boards and partnerships like Otta Jobs and BYP Network (Black Youth Partnership Network) to increase diversity in our candidate sourcing.
- We’ve secured trail-blazing partnerships with organisations like Code First Girls, YSYS and BYP Network. We’ve already had huge success with our Code First Girls cohort who joined our tech community as Software Engineers and Database Administrators in January.
- We encourage Zopians to create memorable career journeys, and internal mobility plays a huge part in this. All our live job vacancies are posted on our internal jobs board. Over the last 12 months, we’ve trained and supported many Zopians to make internal career moves and become compliance officers, developers, lawyers and HR specialists. In fact, 20% of our open roles in Q3 2021 were filled by internal candidates. This not only makes Zopa a great place to work, but also allows us to break down some of the systemic pipeline issues that we see in STEM professions.
- Our Diversity & Inclusion focus groups and “All in” club celebrate diversity through various company events, such as quiz nights and “Bring your kids to work” day – our favourite is international food night!
- Everyone at Zopa has different working styles, and we want to support them in any way possible. That’s why we’re committed to flexible working whether that’s from home, in the office or a combination of both. What’s more, our model includes the option of working from abroad for up to 90 days a year!
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