*Applications are now closed*
Location: London, Threadneedle Street
Opportunity: Supported hiring, with flexible working
Apply by: 19 November 2021
The Bank of England is the UK’s central bank. Their mission is to deliver monetary and financial stability for the British people.
The Bank of England is a diverse organisation. Each of its 4,000 plus people are committed to public service and dedicated to promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.
The Bank is recruiting a Senior Research Assistant within the Supervisory Risk Specialists (SRS) Directorate and welcomes professionals who have taken an extended career break to apply for this permanent role. A successful hire who has taken a career break of 2+ years will receive coaching support through the transition period from Women Returners.
The Bank has hired a large number of returners over the last few years. Read Melissa’s story here. Learn more about working at the Bank here.
The Bank is fully committed to having a diverse and inclusive working environment, and are open to considering how the role might be carried out with flexible working. This role is therefore open to flexible working patterns.
About the Supervisory Risk Specialists Directorate
On 1 April 2013 the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) became responsible for the prudential regulation and supervision of banks, building societies, credit unions, insurers and major investment firms. The PRA was created by the Financial Services Act (2012) and is part of the Bank of England.
As a directorate of the PRA, the Supervisory Risk Specialists (SRS) provides deep technical expertise and applies judgement in specific risk disciplines as part of the PRA’s integrated supervisory approach, in order to identify, analyse and mitigate material risks to the safety and soundness of PRA regulated firms. These material risks can arise within and across firms and from the market environment.
SRS is split into four main divisions:
- Credit Risk (CRD)
- Operational Risk & Resilience Division (ORRD)
- Risk Analytics, Liquidity and Capital (RALC)
- Traded Risk (TRD)
Department Overview
The Risk Analytics, Liquidity and Capital division provides deep technical expertise across Capital management and Liquidity as well as Data management, modelling and analytics expertise.
The Risk Data Analytics (RDA) team within RALC provides solutions across the data workflow to risk specialists, supervisors and other stakeholders. Key responsibilities include: the data management for annual and biennial stress testing of major UK deposit takers, working in close collaboration with other teams in SRS, Financial Stability and Supervision; and co-ordination of communication with participating banks.
RDA are responsible along with RALC’s Quantitative Modelling and Analysis team for SRS’s strategic approach to data and analytics and influences the Bank-wide strategy, through close relationships with Data Analytics Transformation, Technology, and the other PRA directorates. The team also plays a central role in PRA data governance.
Team members have a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences. The team feels it is critical that they work inclusively with each other to create an open and enjoyable work environment.
About the Role
As a Senior Research Assistant in RDA, you will play a leading role in supporting the full data life cycle of some of the Bank’s core regulatory datasets including the annual and biennial exploratory stress tests. Enabling stakeholders to have reliable timely data that allows critical decisions to be made around the Bank. The key responsibilities for the role include:
- The management of the data collection process using RALCs in house developed Data Management Tool (DMT) and Bank wide strategic tools; ensuring data received from reporters is ingested, cleaned, validated and reconciled correctly; working closely with the DMT development team to resolve and issues.
- Coordination of communication with participants in the stress tests and requires collaboration with specialists from many directorates, including SRS, Financial Stability and supervision.
- Supporting the quality assessment of banks’ risk data submissions.
- Improving the availability and accessibility of stress testing and other risk data (e.g. operational resilience, interest rate risk in the banking book, credit risk) using analytical and visualisation tools R, Python and Tableau.
The job holder will enjoy the benefits of strong ongoing support from a diverse and inclusive team, a good work-life balance and opportunities to take the initiative and contribute to your own personal development. The role will provide scope to develop knowledge and skills in technologies such as R, Python, Tableau and SQL. The role plays a central part in an intellectually stimulating environment, providing variety and frequent interaction and opportunities to learn from experienced colleagues. Working in a time of significant change and development in the way they collect and manage data in the Bank, exciting new opportunities will be unlocked as the use of new technologies evolves and enables better decisions to be made using data.
The role would suit a candidate with an understanding of data or systems management and would be an excellent stepping stone for potential future promotion opportunities. The successful applicant will work with a diverse range of colleagues to help them increase their understanding of risk analysis.
Role Requirements
Minimum (Essential) Criteria:
- Strong numeracy skills
- An ability to empathise with colleagues and demonstrate diverse and inclusive values.
- Good inter-personal skills and team spirit, including evidence of building effective relationships with other teams; and
- Ability to organise own workload independently, or as part of a team, to deliver high-quality outputs on time.
- Interest in data management and data culture;
- Good analytical skills and an ability to synthesise key messages from data, both in writing/graphically and verbally; and
- Analytical ability and pragmatic approach to problem solving.
Desirable Criteria:
- Data management experience;
- Experience in supporting delivery of data analytics and visualisation solutions using tools such as R, Python, Tableau or similar;
- Experience in using financial or economic data to draw policy or supervisory insights.
Reward Package
The Bank of England is a distinctive institution and their rewards are one of the things that set them apart. As well as enjoying a competitive salary you will work in a collaborative, inclusive environment, with a subsidised restaurant, flexible working opportunities and plenty of wellbeing initiatives.
The salary range for this vacancy is £28,500-£32,490 per annum, dependent on relevant skills and experience. In addition, the total reward package also includes:
- A non-contributory, career average pension giving you a guaranteed retirement benefit of 1/95th of your annual salary for every year worked There is the option to increase your pension (to 1/50th) or decrease (to 1/120th) in exchange for salary through our flexible benefits programme each year
- A discretionary performance award based on a current award pool
- A 7% benefits allowance with the option to take as salary or purchase a wide range of flexible benefits
- 25 days annual leave with option to buy up to 13 additional days through flexible benefits
- Private medical insurance and income protection
About the Bank of England
As a place of work, the Bank feels different from most other organisations. The atmosphere is relaxed but professional, research-driven and also very much connected to real events in the economy. While organisations in the private sector are focused primarily on profits, the ultimate objectives for the Bank are always the quality of thinking and the rigour of analysis. This makes for an unusually satisfying place to develop your career. Whichever area of the Bank you join, you will almost certainly be working on high-profile and high-impact projects. The issues they deal with on a daily basis are often in the news headlines, and have implications for everyone in the country. For many of their people, this sense of contributing to the public good is one of the most rewarding aspects of working there.
The environment is extraordinary too: a historic building located in the heart of the City, which combines rich tradition with up-to-date technology and facilities. Just as importantly, they have a strong culture of support that exists within each of their teams and across the organisation as a whole.
To Apply
Please apply using the link below ensuring that you answer all the application questions, complete the work history and submit your CV, per the guidance below.
Apply asap. The closing date for applications is 19 November 2021.
IMPORTANT: When completing your application:
- For the ‘Source name‘ question it is essential you select ‘Women Returners’ so the Bank can identify you as a returner and know you are applying on a supported hiring basis.
- Due to the anonymised application process followed by the Bank (detailed below) it is essential to include your career break with dates in your work history, in the area of online free form text.
Overview of the assessment process
The objectives of each stage of the process are summarised below. The Bank will provide feedback to applicants throughout:
Stage 1 – Application form and Q&A. The objective is to determine whether applicants have the core experience and skills needed to complete the role.
Stage 2 – A series of short engaging adaptive online ability test (verbal reasoning, numeracy, logical)
Stage 3 – First Interview with a panel of staff from the current Team/Division. As you will be working collaboratively with multiple teams as part of this role it’s important that you are able to establish a rapport with current team members.
The Bank anonymises applications so hiring managers will not be able to see your personal information including your CV or any covering letters when reviewing your submission. Please complete fully the work history and application form questions as requested, as any incomplete submissions may not be reviewed.
The Bank values diversity and inclusion – they want to reflect the society they serve better, they want the best people to work for them and they want their workplace to be inclusive. They value all forms of diversity, including but not limited to age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religion and sexual orientation. One way they support diversity and inclusion is through their staff-run networks, which are summarised here.
They are also committed to making workplace adjustments for all of their employees as needed, and also for candidates throughout all stages of the selection process. They are a member of the Disability Confident scheme, summarised here, and people who wish to apply under this scheme should check the box in the ‘Candidate Personal Information’ under the ‘Disability Confident Scheme’ section of the application.