Senior Market Monitoring Data Scientist

Job Title - Senior Market Monitoring Data Scientist 

Division - Enforcement Market Oversight

Department - Market Oversight, Data and Intelligence

Salary - National (Edinburgh and Leeds) ranging from £51,200 to £64,000 and London £56,400 to £70,400 per annum (Salary offered will be based on skills and experience)

About the FCA   

The FCA regulates the conduct of 45,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. Follow this link to find out more About the FCA.

Market Oversight’s mission is to promote conduct that supports trusted, orderly, and efficient primary and secondary markets in the UK, which work in the interests of all participants and stakeholders.

A vacancy has arisen for a Senior Associate reporting to the manager of the Fixed Income Currency & Commodity (FICC) Market Monitoring team within Market Oversight, Data and Intelligence (MODI) department. This role will form part of the newly formed MODI department and newly formed FICC MM team that seeks to use data and intelligence to oversee markets and develop interventions to support Market Oversight’s mission.

The FICC MM team seeks to move the FCA forward in the use of market data and intelligence to monitor and produce research on financial markets, particularly Fixed Income Currency & Commodity markets.

What will you be doing?

As a Senior Associate in the FICC MM team, you will be responsible for:

• Designing and delivering financial market insights and research alongside the growing FICC market monitoring, research, and alerting capabilities

• Using own and others market knowledge to assess and triage market harms, prioritise, and develop intervention strategies for those harms

• Working with other data scientists, data engineers and technologists (both within Market Oversight and beyond) to build the foundations required to detect and triage market harms

• Working closely with the FICC MM team members, other teams within MODI, other departments within Market Oversight and elsewhere within the FCA

• Communicating/influencing internal and external stakeholders

What will you get from the role?

• This is an exciting opportunity to help shape a new team and department, intended to move the FCA forward in the use of market data and intelligence particularly in FICC markets. You will help steer and design the delivery of key elements of our strategy for the next few years and work on an area of the business that has the attention of seniors

• You will be working with some of the richest market data sources in the world and have access to some of the most advanced analytics tools and a dedicated data science data analysis team focused on markets data. You will be building these data out, expanding our coverage into FICC markets. You will be defining what is important and ensuring that the foundational data and IT capability is pointing to what is important

• You will be working experimentally, pushing out the boundaries of our capability. It is understood that we will be developing new techniques, some of which will work and others which won’t

• As part of the FICC MM team, you will also have an opportunity to pass on your knowledge and build capability in the wider team

• You will have exposure to senior management, throughout the FCA and within firms

Which skills are required?

We are a Disability Confident Employer; therefore, disabled people or individuals with long-term conditions who best meet the minimum criteria for a role will go through to the next stage of the recruitment process. (To learn more about the Disability Confident Scheme Click Here)

Minimum

• Regulatory experience, either as a market practitioner focused on regulatory risk or at the FCA or other advanced competent authority/prosecuting authority

• Data science and analytical skills using programming languages such as Python, R and SQL

• Experience of market monitoring/research in a commercial or regulatory context

Essential

• Market knowledge of relevant FICC (Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities) markets including an understanding of trading strategies and market microstructures

• Good working knowledge of market data (commercial and regulatory)

• Working with data and IT specialists within an organisation

• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to build strong and effective working relationships with colleagues and other stakeholders

• Strong verbal and written communication including the ability to explain complex markets concepts to non-specialists

• The ability to manage, prioritise and deliver across a diverse range of different cases, projects and workstreams

• A proven track record of acting as a decision maker and the ability to make timely judgements

Our Values & Diversity
We are proud to be an inclusive employer and our ambition is to cultivate a culture 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.

Within the workplace you will have access to various employee resource groups which aim to promote and achieve a healthy work / life balance and support our diversity ambitions.

Did you know? 50% of our ExCo are women (4 in 8)

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

Benefits of working at the FCA

• 25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays

• Hybrid working (work from home up to 60% of your time)

• Private healthcare with Bupa 

• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8%

• Life assurance

• Income protection

We also have a competitive flexible benefits scheme which gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifestyle.

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 can explore what might work best for both sides.

Follow this link to see what life is like at the FCA - Life at the FCA

Application Support

We are dedicated to removing barriers and ensuring our application process is accessible to everyone. We offer a range of adjustments to make your application experience as comfortable and straightforward as possible.

If you have an accessibility need, disability, or condition requiring changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter using the details below and they will be happy to discuss this further with you.

Useful Information and Timeline

This role is graded Senior Associate - Regulatory

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to complete a case study, followed by a 60-minute competency-based interview.

• Advert Closing Date: 3rd December 2024

• CV Review/Shortlist: 9th December 2024

• First Round Case Study Assessment: 16th December 2024

• Competency Based Interview: 2nd January 2025

Your Recruiter will discuss the process in detail with you during screening for the role, therefore, please make them aware if you are going to be unavailable for any date during this time. 

Got a question?

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

• For internal applicants, please contact Louise Nash at Louise.Nash@fca.org.uk

• For external applicants, please contact Aaron Ward at aaron.ward@fca.org.uk

Applications must be submitted through our online portal. Applications sent via email will not be accepted.