Early Careers Programme Development Specialist

Salary: National ranging from £42,500 to £55,000 and London from £45,500 to £60,000

Are you interested in helping to shape and lead on the Early Careers programmes?

The team/department

The FCA Resourcing & Talent department is a fun and dynamic team, passionate about recruiting the best talent for the future of the FCA.

This role will sit within the Early Careers team, leading on programme development and transformation, and will be working with a group of highly motivated and enthusiastic individuals, driving the future of early careers in the organisation. The team is split into two key deliverables, recruitment, and programme development. This role will lead on the programme development arm of our work and will collaborate closely with colleagues in recruitment.

What you will be doing (the role)

• Oversee on the delivery of our Early Careers programmes in the FCA, designing our on-scheme development offer, building the reputation of our talent schemes, and collaborating with colleagues to deliver a high-quality colleague experience for our scheme participants

• Lead on transformation of the Early Careers schemes within the FCA, ensuring our schemes are fit for purpose and provide a robust talent pipeline for the future of financial services

• Be responsible for the line management of our two programme management associates, ensuring effective delivery of our Early Careers programmes and providing support, coaching, and mentoring to the Early Careers team

• Provide expertise, knowledge and insights on the Talent and Early Careers landscape, remaining up to date with key trends and external competitors, making sure we remain competitive within the Early Careers market

• Build strong working relationships with our Executive Sponsor and network of Early Careers pioneers to ensure effective delivery of the programme offer for all cohorts

• Lead development of the Early Careers community, harnessing the knowledge and experience of the alumni community and building a strong network across all cohorts of the Early Careers community

• Play a key role in collaborating across the wider Resourcing and Talent team, and HR department, building effective relationships and harnessing opportunities for collaboration

• Actively seek out opportunities to improve ways of working with digital solutions and an improved technology offer

What you will get from the role

• Fantastic opportunity for someone who is looking to build upon their knowledge and experience and help shape the future approach within Early Careers

• Be empowered to contribute towards scheme redesign across the Early Careers landscape, using your creativity and expertise to make impactful changes to the way we develop our future talent in the FCA

• Gain a unique insight into the operation of financial services and regulation, working across the breadth of the organisation to understand the future skills gaps across the sector

• Be critical to bringing fresh perspectives and dynamic ideas to the FCA, you will be connecting with a network of high potential and talented human beings, shaping the future of their professional careers

• Opportunity to strategically shape an Early Careers suite of programmes to meet the future business need of the FCA

Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifecycle. You can use this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work or you have the option top up your base salary by taking this as cash.

Core benefits that you will receive as standard are:

• 25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays

• Private healthcare with Bupa

• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8% of basic salary each month (there are several contribution levels that increase depending on your age – up to 12% a month once you reach age 35)

• Life assurance of eight times your basic salary

• Income protection

We support hybrid working which means you will be able to work from home up to 60% of the time over a month with the remainder of your time in one of our three office locations.

The skills and experience you will have

Minimum

We are a signatory to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to disabled candidates entering under the scheme, who best meet the minimum criteria for a role.

• Evidence of working within an Early Careers, Talent or Learning and Development setting

• Demonstrable evidence of running projects/programmes of work, collaborating with multiple contributors and stakeholders

• Proven experience of graduate or apprenticeship scheme design and delivery of Early Careers programmes

Essential

• Effective project management skills with the ability to break down complex projects identifying risks and appropriate mitigation

• Comfortable running workstreams within a fast-paced environment

• Able to develop effective relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders

• Strong people leadership and collaboration skills, able to lead/deliver through and coaching and guiding others to achieve results

• Management of external suppliers ensuring effective service delivery

• Effective skills in presenting to diverse audiences

• Ability to analyse and effectively use data and insights to inform an evidence-based approach, measuring scheme efficacy and demonstrating success

About the FCA

The FCA regulates the conduct of 50,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work well for individuals, businesses and the economy as a whole. For more information on what we do, our three-year strategy can be found here.

The FCA's Values & Diversity

Our ambition is to cultivate a culture of inclusion for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.

The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisations. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, disabled and minority ethnic candidates for our senior associate role.

Flexible working

We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements. Many of our staff work flexibly including working part-time, staggered hours, and job shares. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want but we won’t judge you for asking.

Multi-location

As part of the FCA’s on-going commitment to develop our national presence, most of our vacancies are now open to working in our Edinburgh, Leeds, or London offices. This means that as part of the application process you will be able to select your preference of which office location you would like to work from.

Useful information

Applications for this role close at 23:59 on 17th April 2024.

This role is graded as Senior Associate – Corporate

Got a question?

If you are interested in learning more about the role please contact:

For internal applicants, please contact Sara Holland at Sara.Holland2@fca.org.uk

For external applicants, please contact Ifrah Azam at Ifrah.Azam@fca.org.uk

What to expect from our interview proces s

The assessment process consists of an initial screening call with one our Recruitment Partners. If successful, you will be invited to attend a first stage competency-based interview. The final stage will be a follow up competency-based interview with the Head of Department.

Application support

We want to remove any possible barriers and are committed to providing a wide range of reasonable adjustments so that you can keep the focus on your conversations and be at your best.

If you have an accessibility requirement, disability, or condition that means you might require changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter to discuss this further. Our aim is to make your application as easy and comfortable as possible, and your recruiter will be happy to work with you to make any necessary arrangements where possible.

Please note that all applications must be submitted through our online portal, applications sent via email will not be accepted.