The Bank of England is the UK's central bank. Our mission is to deliver monetary and financial stability for the British people.

The Bank of England is a diverse organisation. Each of its 5,000-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.

Department Overview

The Resolution Directorate is responsible for exercising the Bank of England’s functions as the UK’s resolution authority to ensure that banks, building societies, central counterparties and certain types of investment firm could be resolved in a safe manner, minimising disruption. The UK’s resolution regime is a core part of the response to the global financial crisis of 2007–08 and the approach to overcome the problem of firms being ‘too big to fail’.

The Directorate, comprises of four Heads of Division and a total of over 100 staff. A collaborative cross-Bank approach is critical to delivering the Directorate’s objectives through working with PRA supervision, Financial Market Infrastructure Directorate and Prudential Policy Directorate in particular.

Job Description

The Executive Director (ED) is a varied, high profile role which reports to the Deputy Governor for Markets, Banking, Payments and Resolution (MBP&R). It involves a significant amount of domestic and international influencing across a complex, challenging set of strategic priorities. Ensuring that resolution policy and practice remains relevant for the changing world, assessing banks’ preparation for resolution under the Resolution Assessment Framework (RAF), and preparing for, and overseeing, the use of the Resolution Authority’s powers should the need arise.

• Responsible, with HMT, for maintaining a resolution regime that is fit for purpose and is ready to use. Influencing domestic and international standard setting bodies and developing and maintaining the underlying policy framework. This includes the expanded resolution regime for CCPs introduced under FSMA 2023.
• In March 2023, in response to the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, the Bank of England used its statutory powers to conduct a resolution of the firm’s UK subsidiary, avoiding disruption to depositors.
• In June 2022, the Bank of England published its first assessment of the eight major UK banks’ preparations for resolution under the RAF. Major UK banks will need to address the outstanding actions identified as part of the Bank’s assessment and keep their preparations, ready, tested over time, and be confident in their use should the need arise. For this reason the Bank and the Prudential Regulation Authority have made resolvability a continuing obligation for banks and required them to publish their own summaries of their preparations for resolution. The Bank will repeat its assessment of the major UK banks in 2024, and every two years thereafter.
• The UK, as a large financial centre, is home and host to many banks and central counterparties with cross-border operations. It is therefore important that the Bank is influential in the development of international resolution standards. One way in which we do this is through engagement in Crisis Management Groups which have been put in place to facilitate cross border cooperation for internationally active firms.
• The ED represents the Bank in a number of international forums, notably the FSB Resolution Steering Group, and the Cross-border Crisis Management Group in the FSB, and engages closely with other UK authorities and financial firms.

The ED will have responsibility for:

• The operation of the UK resolution regime, both meeting statutory obligations for resolution planning and resolvability assessment, and statutory objectives in carrying out any resolutions
• Operational readiness, testing and exercising for immediate resolution actions
• Smooth operation of the RAF
• Ensuring that resolution policy and practice adapts to remain effective for developments in the UK financial sector.
• Effectively managing relationships with international and relevant UK authorities.

• Leadership of the Resolution Directorate. This includes responsibilities for:

• RD’s environment and staffing, including building an inclusive and empowering culture and developing a diverse and progressive team, to ensure that staff are productive, engaged and motivated to deliver the area’s aims.
• Intellectual leadership of the directorate.
• Setting the directorate’s strategy and ensuring a clear vision and objectives for staff.
• Budgeting and prioritisation
• Leadership of cross-Bank projects and central initiatives as required

The role-holder will be a member of the MBP&R Senior Leadership team and the Bank’s Senior Management Team.

The role-holder will embody the Bank’s leadership values – human, humble, and in step with the changing world.

As a member of the Bank’s Executive team, the role-holder is expected to contribute to the development of the culture and practices of the Bank as a whole. The Bank is committed to diversity, and inclusion is at the heart of its values.

Role Requirements

Essential Criteria

• Strong strategic leadership, balancing of risks across a wide and varied portfolio, identifying and resolving competing priorities
• Experience of leading in a fast paced, changing environment, including responding to urgent live events
• Strong analytical and policy skills and the ability to learn and deal with economic, accounting and legal concepts
• Deep technical understanding of the mission and responsibilities of the Bank
• Personal attributes of high intellect, independence, sound judgement, confidence in making decisions that could affect the Bank’s reputation
• Ability to lead a senior management team of a dynamic area
• A strong and proven ability to influence stakeholders and significant personal impact with credibility and presence
• Demonstrable experience of driving the diversity and inclusion agenda in your current or previous position(s)

Desirable Criteria

• Knowledge of the UK supervisory and resolution frameworks.
• Experience of providing leadership in international fora.
• Experience of interaction at a senior level with financial firms and delivering difficult messages / expectations
• Experience and understanding of public presentations (speeches etc.) and/or with the media.

Our Approach to Inclusion

The Bank values diversity, equity and inclusion. We play a key role in maintaining monetary and financial stability, and to do that effectively, we believe we need a workforce that reflects the society we serve.

At the Bank of England we want all colleagues to feel valued and respected, so we're working hard to build an inclusive culture which supports people from all backgrounds and communities to be at their best at work. We celebrate all forms of diversity, including (but not limited to) age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status. We believe that it’s by drawing on different perspectives and experiences that we’ll continue to make the best decisions for the public.

We welcome applications from individuals who work flexibly, including job shares and part time working patterns. We've also partnered with external organisations to support us in making adjustments for candidates and employees in the recruitment process where they're needed.

For most roles where work can be carried out at home, we aim for colleagues to spend half of their time in the office, with a minimum of 40% per month. Subject to that minimum requirement, individuals and managers should work together to find what works best for them, their team and stakeholders.

Finally, we're proud to be a member of the Disability Confident Scheme. If you wish to apply under this scheme, you should check the box in the ‘Candidate Personal Information’ under the ‘Disability Confident Scheme’ section of the application.

Salary and Benefits Information

This specific role offers a competitive (depending on skills and experience) on a full-time basis. We encourage flexible working, part time working and job share arrangements. Part time salary and benefits will be on a pro-rated basis as appropriate.

In addition, we also offer a comprehensive benefits package as detailed below:

• 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. (Note that from April 2023 and for the Benefits year 2023/24, this will increase to 8%)
• 26 days’ annual leave with option to buy up to 12 additional days through flexible benefits.
• Private medical insurance and income protection.

National Security Vetting Process

Employment in this role will be subject to the National Security Vetting clearance process (and typically can take between 6 to 12 weeks post offer) and the passing of additional Bank security checks in accordance with the Bank policy. Further information regarding the vetting and security clearance requirements for the role will be provided to the successful applicant, and information about how the Bank processes personal data for these purposes, is set out in the Bank's Privacy Notice

The Application Process

Important: Please ensure that you complete the ‘work history’ section and answer ALL the application questions fully. All candidate applications are anonymised to ensure that our hiring managers will not be able to see your personal information, including your CV, when reviewing your application details at the screening stage. It’s therefore really important that you fill out the work history and application form questions, as your answers will form a critical part of the initial selection process.

The closing date for applications is 26 November 2023.

Please apply online, ensuring that you complete your work history and answer ALL the application questions fully and in detail as your application will not be considered if all mandatory questions are not fully completed.