Group Functions Business Partner - ex COO (12 Month FTC)

Legal & General (L&G) is a leading UK financial services group and major global investor.

We’ve been safeguarding people’s financial futures since 1836, and strive to build a better society, while improving the lives of our customers and creating value for shareholders.

We are one of the world’s largest asset managers and provide powerful asset origination capabilities. Together, these underpin our retirement and protection solutions: we are an international player in pension risk transfer, in UK and US life insurance, and in UK workplace pensions and retirement income.

Our Group Functions provide the services that all areas of the business need. This requires a talented and diverse team behind the scenes, who enable everyone at L&G to do what they do best. 

Joining us means helping to improve the lives of our customers and contributing to the success of the business every day.

We’re recruiting for a Group Functions (ex- COO) Business Partner to join us. 

The purpose of the role is to work directly within the business, acting as a trusted risk management advisor and steward. In this role, you will have frequent interaction with the business’s senior leadership team to ensure there is appropriate identification, assessment, management, and monitoring of risks.

You will also act as a conduit between 1st line senior leadership and other 2nd line functions, ensuring the business hears one consistent risk voice and deliver high quality services to the 1st line, drive effective and efficient coordination of activities that will require 1st line input, and formulate robust, independent risk opinions.

What you’ll be doing:

• Ensuring the 1st line understands and embeds L&G’s risk policies and frameworks. This includes ensuring that setting of risk appetite metrics, enterprise risk scoring, risk and control self-assessments, product lifecycle management (where relevant) and appropriate use of L&G’s risk management system are delivered in line with groupwide requirements. Additionally ensuring any local policies are established, developed, and maintained in line with group protocols as agreed with the Groupwide Oversight team
• Providing or coordinating independent views and opinions to 1st line senior management on all risk related matters. This includes providing risk advice on strategic activity as well as risk events and issues as they arise, to ensure timely and appropriate action is taken in line with requirements
• Building strong relationships with 2nd line teams (Group Oversight, Risk Operations, COEs, Risk Advisory, Risk BPs) to ensure common understanding of groupwide policies and frameworks, provide feedback from the 1st line, mediate to deliver appropriate outcomes, direct Risk Operations, leverage COE and Risk Advisory for resourcing, and maintain an overarching view of all risk disciplines to share best practices and understand risk events and issues
• Role modelling risk governance by timely escalating material changes in risk profile to senior leadership, attending 1st and 2nd line meetings, constructively challenging, and providing high-quality commentary on risk MI and reports to ensure senior leadership and Boards have full visibility of the business’s risk profile, events, issues, and progress on actions
• Keeping abreast of changes in applicable law and regulation, groupwide policies and frameworks, and business strategy, plans and activities; assess impacts for the business unit(s); and ensuring that changes required to meet regulatory standards are implemented by the business in line with policy
• Taking the lead in all matters with regard to the management of employees, ensuring that management discretion is used in a consistent manner and that the area follows the Group’s policies and procedures including the Partnership Agreement to maximise business performance
• Promoting a positive and open risk culture that prioritises the fair treatment of all customers, including those who are vulnerable or have changing needs, whilst also ensuring that governance, processes, and systems support staff to meet the needs of all customers

Who we’re looking for:

• Experience of implementing risk frameworks and use of effective risk management practices to deliver improvements to 1st line risk management
• Understanding of the financial services marketplace, relevant products and services, how these are managed commercially and the distribution channels that are employed
• Forward thinking and adaptable, with the ability to drive innovation and change and build excellent stakeholder relationships
• Knowledge of the UK regulatory environment and expectations in relation to the products and services offered by the business unit(s)
• An understanding of all non-financial risks
• Providing technical compliance advice, monitoring and overseeing regulatory compliance across a broad range of financial service products
• Excellent skills in dealing with people at all levels, including senior executives and board members
• Experience of overseeing and coaching individuals from pooled resource teams to deliver complex, technical output

Whatever your role, we reward performance and behaviour with a package that looks after all the things that are important to you. Here are some of the benefits we offer:

• The opportunity to participate in our annual, performance -related bonus plan and valuable share schemes
• Generous pension contribution
• Life assurance
• Healthcare Plan (permanent employees only)
• At least 25 days holiday, plus public holidays, 26 days after 2 years’ service. There’s also the option to buy and sell holiday 
• Competitive family leave
• Participate in our electric car scheme, which offers employees the option to hire a brand-new electric car through tax efficient salary sacrifice (permanent employees only)
• There are the many discounts we offer – both for our own products and at a range of high street stores and online
• In 2023, some of our workspaces were redesigned. Our offices are great spaces to connect and collaborate and have your wellbeing at the heart   

We aim to build a better society for the long term by investing our customers’ money in things that make life better for everyone.
If you join us, you’ll be part of a welcoming, inclusive culture, with opportunities to collaborate with people of diverse backgrounds, views, and experiences. Guided by leaders with integrity who care about your future and wellbeing. Empowered through initiatives which support people to develop their careers and excel.

We strive to be open, mindful, and inclusive, so are always willing to discussing flexible working arrangements and reasonable accommodations for candidates with specific needs. It doesn’t matter if you don’t meet every single criterion in this advert. Instead, think about what you excel at and what else you can bring in terms of strengths, potential and connection to our purpose.

At L&G, we believe it's possible to generate positive returns today while helping to build a better future for all. 

If you join us, you’ll be part of a welcoming, inclusive culture, with opportunities to collaborate with people of diverse backgrounds, views, and experiences. Guided by leaders with integrity who care about your future and wellbeing. Empowered through initiatives which support people to develop their careers and excel.

We care passionately about outcomes rather than attendance and are therefore open to discussing all kinds of flexible working options including part-time, term-time and job shares. Although some roles have limited flexibility due to customer demand, we accommodate requests when we can. 

It doesn’t matter if you don’t meet every single criterion in this advert. Instead, think about what you excel at and what else you can bring in terms of strengths, potential and connection to our purpose.