Location: London, Threadneedle Street
Opportunity: Supported hiring, with flexible working
Apply by: 3 December 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 Data Scientists and Senior Analysts (SQL or Tableau), 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
Within RALC, the Quantitative Modelling and Analysis team (QMA) and Risk, Data and Analytics team (RDA) provide quantitative modelling and analytics, data management solutions, data modelling and technical expertise to Risk Specialists, Supervisors and other partners across the Bank.
Key roles for QMA include the development, implementation and maintenance of tools and models used for risk assessment, including for the annual stress testing of major UK Deposit Takers. These include SRS’ Data Management Tool, Secured Retail and Wholesale Impairments forecasting models, Net Interest Income and Pensions models.
Key roles for RDA include providing solutions across the data workflow to risk specialists, supervisors and other colleagues. In particular we manage all data for annual and biennial stress testing of major UK deposit takers. The team also plays a central role in PRA data governance.
Both QMA and RDA also interact with colleagues across the Bank on the design and implementation of Bank wide Data and Analytics Strategies, and also work with the main Technology area to collaborate on data solution projects. Team members have a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences. They feel it is critical that we work inclusively with each other to create an open and enjoyable work environment.
About the Role
QMA and RDA are expanding the teams that provide support on data and data management for running of the Bank of England annual stress testing, which is one of the key priorities for the teams and highly important project for the Bank.
The main responsibilities of the Data Scientist\Senior Analyst in QMA and RDA are:
- Being part of the centre of excellence for data management solutions
- Engaging with colleagues to design, implement and support data management or modelling solutions.
- Design and Implementation of Tableau visualisations
The RDA and QMA teams work closely with business teams, an important aspect of this role is close communication with teams across SRS and an ability to understand how and why they do things as well as their business requirements.
There are three roles that they are currently recruiting for:
- SQL Data Scientist in QMA:
- The responsibilities are the support and development of a business critical SQL based data management system as well as work on data pipelines and other database solutions. There will also be opportunities over time to work with Technology Directorate on design and specification of strategic solution for ad hoc data collections.
- Data Scientist in QMA:
- The responsibilities include understanding business needs and creating relevant analytics and Tableau visualisations to enable business teams to assess and analyse data, as well as supporting analysis of datasets and model outputs to identify relevant trends. There will also be opportunities over time to get involved in visualisations related to quantitative and econometrics modelling projects using other tools, e.g. R Markdown.
- Senior analyst in RDA:
- The responsibilities include supporting more automated risk data management solutions, using our Bank-wide and RALC’s own databases, as well as other tools. The role will lead in quality assessment of banks’ risk data submissions as well as support and enhance analytics and visualisations to improve the analytical use of stress test and other risk data (e.g. operational resilience, interest rate risk in the banking book, credit risk).
Role Requirements
Minimum Criteria
- Proven SQL programming ability or Tableau visualisation skills.
- Experience in building and supporting data models, data solutions or data visualisations.
Essential Criteria
- Ability to understand business needs and translate them into effective solutions.
- Excellent communication with demonstrated ability to tailor communication to colleagues with less technical knowledge or background.
- Ability to empathise with colleagues and demonstrate diverse and inclusive values!
- Good interpersonal skills and experience of collaborating in a team
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 approximately £45,900 to £59,400 , 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 3 December 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.
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 inomplete 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.