Private Secretary to Chief Operating Officer

Division - Operations

Department - COO's Office

Salary - London £73,700 to £110,000 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

The Operations division within the FCA empowers the organisation and includes Finance, Facilities, Procurement, Human Resources, Communications, Strategy, Economics, Change Management, Cyber, Information and Operational Resilience. The Chief Operating Officer (COO) is responsible for overseeing these functions and taking a holistic view of the organisation, ensuring its operational integrity and efficiency.

The COO's Office plays a vital role in supporting both the COO and the Operations division, ensuring their operations are effective and efficient. The Private Secretary holds a distinctive and trusted position within the organisation, acting as a key advisor to the COO and exercising discretion and sound judgment. This individual will be responsible for managing the COO's office.

We are looking for someone proactive and efficient to join the team; you'll have excellent communication and stakeholder management skills along with experience of working with regulatory and operational issues and a good understanding of the FCA.

What will you be doing?

• Management oversight of the COO's office, working closely with and providing support and advice to the COO and their senior team on a range of management, business, regulatory and operational issues
• Assisting the COO on a day-to-day basis by managing their collective agenda, priorities, supporting their decision making, and monitoring those decisions to ensure that actions are carried out
• Developing an effective and high performing working relationship with the Directors' offices in Operations ensuring that communication between offices is seamless
• Represent the division in a number of FCA working level fora, ensuring objectives are aligned and acting as Professional Support Lead for Operations
• Leading on the business planning input from the COO's perspective
• Assisting with the creation of the quarterly Executive Director challenge sessions and follow up on actions
• Liaising with the various Business Partners to ensure the COO has a complete, updated and accurate view of the head count, budget, finance, target operating model, MI and vacancy/recruitment activity
• Ensure audit and risk actions are being managed or undergo change control, across the organisation

What will you get from the role?

• Unique opportunity to provide support within a division that is at the forefront of one of the FCA's priorities in its forthcoming strategy
• An opportunity to be an important and integral part of a team whose work is high profile
• An insight into senior management and leadership
• The opportunity to work in a busy, challenging and engaging environment with a wide and varied workload
• Interaction with a range of internal and external stakeholders/contacts
• The opportunity to establish and build a good network of working relationships with colleagues at all levels across the FCA

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

• Experience working within or closely with Operations, and/or in a private office or similar high-level environment
• Demonstrated expertise in project management, with the ability to lead and guide teams outside of direct line management structures
• Proven track record in people management, with experience in developing and nurturing high-performing teams

Essential

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to convey information concisely, confidently, and credibly, both verbally and in writing
• Ability to build and maintain effective relationships with stakeholders at all levels
• Exceptional organisational skills, with the ability to plan ahead, multitask, meet tight deadlines, and manage conflicting priorities
• Experience working calmly and efficiently in a high-profile role, often under pressure, with flexibility and the willingness to get things done, supporting others as necessary
• Strategic and critical thinking skills, with a proven ability to synthesise large volumes of information, identify trends and prioritise key insights, and as a result anticipating potential issues and understanding when to escalate
• High degree of autonomy, sound judgment, and discretion in handling sensitive information
• Strong understanding of the FCA's work and its significance, with a knowledge of and interest in the external political landscape and impact on the FCA and Operations

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 Executive Committee are women.

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 role.

Benefits of working at the FCA

• 28 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.

The FCA runs a 40% minimum office attendance subject to business need. It is likely to be higher in this role, although with some ability to work from home. Given the need for close working, the role is London based and the candidate may need to be flexible to meet the COO's schedule.

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 as Manager - Regulatory.

SC Clearance is required for this role - SC Guidance The successful candidate will hold or will be required to obtain Security Clearance (SC) level vetting.

• Advert Closing Date: 16th January
• First Round Interview: 22nd to 24th January
• Psychometric Online Testing: W/C 27th January
• Psychometric Assessment: W/C 3rd February
• Final Round Interview: W/C 10th February

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 Melanie Dubock at
• For external applicants, please contact Ifrah Azam at

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