Overview

We're looking for a Head of IT Systems Risk who'll lead and develop its risk specialist centre of excellence, to support robust risk management in alignment with the Group's Enterprise Risk Management Framework (ERMF). This will include giving our senior leaders and Risk Owners in these businesses advice on their risk appetite decisions, safely, and at pace. You will also be part of management's technology leadership team. To assure our strategic transformation on this scale we need you to have a breadth and depth of knowledge in current tech, and we want you to be passionate about its application and how we manage its risk; prepare to disrupt the norm in the pursuit of the best possible customer and staff experience. You should have people at your heart; we strive for excellent customer experience but to achieve this we focus on our people - building a culture around continued learning and support so everyone can feel bold to share new ideas and solutions. You'll have deep operational risk knowledge and provide thought leadership, insight and oversight that supports the implementation of the second line of defence and executes its roles and responsibilities. You'll lead our approach to implementing risk policy, appetite, and control objectives to enable the delivery of customer, regulatory and business strategic outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead and inspire a team of risk specialists, ensuring collaboration toward the best outcomes for customers and the business.
• Own and maintain effective risk policies and control objectives, ensuring alignment with legal and regulatory requirements.
• Build strong partnerships with risk and control owners; act as the go-to operational risk expert, offering guidance and support.
• Regularly review and update risk strategies, monitor emerging risks, and adapt policies as needed.
• Focus on data-driven monitoring and automation to track risks in real time and report clearly to stakeholders.
• Innovate and provide practical advice to senior leaders, helping them make informed decisions and navigate trade-offs confidently.

Expertise & Qualifications

• Expertise in Operational and Technology Risk: Deep practical knowledge of operational and IT systems risk in financial services, with applied knowledge across technology asset lifecycle management, configuration and build management, technology service management (capacity, change, problem and incident), architecture and design, development (incl. devops), resilience, networking, cloud services and shared responsibility models (incl. native and microservices), storage and databases, operating systems, virtualization and containerisation, and mobile; plus understanding of emerging technologies shaping the risk landscape (AI, Digital Ledger Technology, Quantum).
• Regulatory & Industry Knowledge: Experience developing and managing policies, risk appetite, and compliance with laws, regulations, and industry standards.
• Decision-Making & Problem-Solving: Ability to assimilate complex data, make informed decisions, and balance risk and opportunity effectively.
• Strategic Foresight: Anticipates regulatory, technological, and industry changes, shaping future risk and control strategies.
• Collaboration & Influence: Builds partnerships across business lines and inspires teams through strong communication and inclusive leadership.
• Continuous Improvement & Coaching: Drives data-led control objectives, supports skill development, and enables rapid organisational change aligned to strategy.

Diversity & Inclusion

Like the modern Britain we serve, we're evolving. We're investing billions in our people, data and tech to transform the way we meet the ever-changing needs of our 26 million customers. We're growing with purpose. Our focus is to ensure we're inclusive every day, building an organisation that reflects modern society and celebrates diversity in all its forms. We want our people to feel that they belong and can be their best, regardless of background, identity or culture. We were one of the first major organisations to set goals on diversity in senior roles, create a menopause health package, and a dedicated Working with Cancer initiative, and we especially welcome applications from under-represented groups. We're disability confident. So, if you'd like reasonable adjustments to be made to our recruitment processes, just let us know.

Benefits

• A generous pension contribution of up to 15%
• An annual bonus award, subject to Group performance
• Share schemes including free shares
• Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping
• 30 days' holiday, with bank holidays on top
• A range of wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies

Want to do amazing work, that's interesting and makes a difference to millions of people? Join our journey.