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Risk Assurance DirectorThis is an exciting opportunity to part of the 2nd line Risk function overseeing Risk Assurance (Governance, Risk and Compliance) for Vocalink Limited, a company that enables the payments of 90% of salaries, 70% of utility bills, most ATM transactions and every cheque cleared in the UK.

The successful candidate will become part of a high functioning team, dedicated to delivering a robust, secure and resilient service to 60+million citizens every day with transactional volume of 11 billion/year and total annual transactional value in excess of GBP6 Trillion.

The appointee will be responsible for enhancing internal controls and assurance framework by evaluating, improving and monitoring the GRC capabilities to meet the needs of Vocalink and the operational and technical requirements of our core payments covered by the Vocalink business model including Bacs, Faster Payments, Imaging Cheque System, LINK, Payport, BGC.

The role:

• Assure the Strategic Risk Management Framework through for example: assessment of business process, evaluate risks & controls and recommendations for business process and control improvement
• Undertake end to end compliance and risk assurance reviews including deep dives, thematic reviews and control testing
• Develop and assure methods and standards for control design, effectiveness, sampling and testing
• Provide assurance around control effectiveness adherence to regulations, procedures and policies
• Provide oversight and assurance of the 1st line through sampling, testing, deep dives, thematic reviews and data gathering and analysis to ensure that policies and procedures are being applied appropriately and the regulators’ expectations are being met
• Identify opportunities through assurance work to support the improvement of processes
• Work with colleagues in the 1st line, assessing their identification of risks and mitigating controls and providing guidance where improvements are needed
• Identify areas where systemic failures could occur and undertake thematic reviews where appropriate
• Enhance policies and procedures as required
• Perform an assessment of regulatory reporting and disclosures standards
• Manage and support the thoughtful development and operation of the Risk Framework Assurance
• Drive, deliver and maintain a Board approved Annual Assurance Plan
• Assure MI
• Assure Root Cause analyses
• Liaise with business partners and challenge Treatment Plans
• Manage and oversee preparations for Risk Culture Assessments
• Facilitate subject matter expert feedback to First line & facilitate Training of these parties
• ISO/ISAE assurance
• Manage or oversee ad hoc investigations
• Provides challenge to the first line Committees and provides a second line opinion to ERC and BRC on Vocalink’s risk profile
• Ensure risk is managed in a consistent, joined up manner and approach across Vocalink, with the 1st Line of Defence owning risks, the 2nd Line of Defence setting the standards of risk management and providing the review and challenge over those standards, and the 3rd Line of Defence providing the independent assurance of management of risk;
• Embed a strong, continually developing risk culture, where managing risk is simply part of how we work;
• Be aware of Vocalink’s risks, self-identify the most material risks, review and assess the inherent and residual risks, biggest risk exposures, the third party risks and any concentration of risk, to enable Vocalink to make better decisions as a result and not repeat mistakes of the past;
• Assure where appropriate change activity that could impact Vocalink’s Resilience
• Ensure Board Risk Appetite and Tolerances are assured
• Manage a team, conducting goal setting and performance appraisal processes, identifying and coaching top talent within own team

All About You

• Relevant experience of working in a Financial Institution that includes complex customers and regulators.
• Experience in Audit, Assurance or from a professional services firm.
• Ability to articulate themselves clearly and concisely to a broad range of senior and junior stakeholders, acting as a bridge as well as guide for the implementation of new capabilities.
• Strong influencing skills; organizationally savvy
• Experience working with regulators
• Experience of presenting and communicating at board level
• Communication - requires effective communication skills – both written and oral - to deal with large diverse customer base (internal and external)
• Problem solving – excellent analysis and deductive skills
• Customer focus – passion for excellence
• Ethics – strong personal and professional ethics
• Highly motivated and conscientious individual
• Embodies and demonstrates all of the brand values required by Vocalink and Mastercard
• Ability to motivate, inspire and lead people effectively
• Line manager and a team player – leads by example
• Strategic thinker – able to develop and communicate direction
• Commercially aware

• Abide by Mastercard’s security policies and practices;
• Ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the information being accessed;
• Report any suspected information security violation or breach, and
• Complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard’s guidelines.