Job ref: 181567
TPR grade: Advisory Grade 6 – Principal
About us
More than half the UK working population rely on The Pensions Regulator (TPR) to regulate their retirement savings. With a career at TPR, you’ll be joining an organisation that will impact on millions of lives for decades to come.
Everyone at TPR plays an important role in helping to keep more than £2trn of savings safe. We’re committed to bringing people into TPR who are ready to make a difference and put UK savers at the heart of what we do.
It is important to us that TPR remains a great place to work. We do all we can to help our people reach their full potential with learning, secondment, and development opportunities. We put our 900+ employees first, supporting flexible working and offer a diverse, lively, and inclusive environment. This includes our Disability Network, Family Network, LGBT+ Network (Proud), Minority Ethnic (ME) Network and Women’s Network, which offer spaces to connect.
Our new corporate strategy outlines a bold and challenging vision of how pensions regulation should evolve to keep pace with a change in the scale and nature of the industry. We are at the start of that journey. Join us to find out what part you can play.
We operate a hybrid working model, subject to government guidelines, where regular attendance in our Brighton office is required. Attendance in the office is team and role dependent.
Role
Would you like to use your investment skills to improve the retirements of millions of savers? If you’re an investment specialist with workplace pensions experience, then this role could be for you.
We are looking for the right candidate to join our small, collegiate, and growing team within TPR to do a variety of work across DB and DC pension schemes. Our investment skills and broader pensions knowledge help TPR regulate workplace pension scheme investment. We do this by helping shape TPR’s regulatory strategy, our codes of practice and guidance, individual scheme authorisation, supervision, and enforcement. Working closely with colleagues at all levels and other regulators, our work includes interacting with the advisers, trustees, and sponsoring employers of the UK’s most significant pension schemes. Our public profile is important, and with your help we will continue to raise TPR’s status within the pensions and investment industry through a range of public speaking engagements.
The investment consultant teamwork with a wide range of TPR, industry and regulatory colleagues. The successful candidate should be able to engage credibly with individuals from different backgrounds and levels of seniority.
A lot of our work involves problem solving and analysis, so the successful candidate is likely to be good at this, to approach work with appropriate care for detail and accuracy, and to communicate the results effectively.
Responsibilities
You will be expected to do a range of investment work to support TPR’s objectives, to be agreed depending on your particular skills, interests and experience. This may include:
- exploring investment market-wide risks across system, through market engagements and internal data and intel analysing, and considering how these influence TPR's policy development and supervision of pension schemes
- providing investment advice to TPR’s financial stability initiatives, especially on risks and transmission of risks within the financial system
- interacting with internal and external stakeholders on emerging pensions/investment issues
- leading discussions with other regulators on financial stability related issues, for example the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority
- developing investment policy and guidance on areas of emerging legislation, such as value for money, private markets and climate change
- advising TPR colleagues on schemes’ investment strategies (DB and DC)
- working on policy and supervisory frameworks for CDC schemes and Superfunds
- providing training to wider TPR colleagues on investment issues and developments
- sharing investment knowledge with the rest of investment team and more widely within in TPR as appropriate
Essential and desirable criteria
Essential Criteria
- Broad knowledge of investment across all asset classes.
- Independent thinking and able to think through issues from first principles.
- Thoughtful approach and can connect the dots to find the big picture.
- A network of contacts across the pensions and/or regulatory landscape.
- Writing skills and able to illustrate technical details for a broad audience.
- Up-to-date knowledge of workplace pension fund investment.
- Experience of working with workplace pension funds on investment issues, communication and influencing skills at all levels of seniority.
Desirable Criteria
- In-depth knowledge of UK Pensions landscape covering DB and DC.
- Experience in emerging policy areas, such as productive finance.
- Experience in the insurance market.
- Presentation skills.
- Relevant professional qualification such as CFA, FIA, FFA, CISI or qualified by experience.
Person specification
- A positive, can-do approach to work.
- Communication skills at all levels.
- Leadership skills.
- Ability to prioritise and use initiative.
- Problem solving and analytical skills.
- Attention to detail and accuracy.
Salary and benefits
As well as a salary between £80,513 - £102,876, we offer:
- Civil Service Pension arrangements, which are recognised as some of the best in the pensions world
- discretionary bonus arrangements
- access to performance related pay progression
- 25 days annual leave provision
- flexible working arrangements
- development opportunities
- enhanced parental leave arrangements
- a free employee assistance programme
- an excellent office location in Brighton
How to apply
To apply please email recruitmentteam@tpr.gov.uk quoting role reference number 181567 along with:
- a covering letter with details of how your skills and experience meet the role requirements
- a copy of your CV
- details of your notice period
Current employees in their first 12 months of employment who want to apply for this vacancy should first contact their line manager to discuss their application.
We are an inclusive employer and offer equal opportunities regardless of an individual’s age, disability, gender identity, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
As a Disability Confident employer, we’re committed to the recruitment, employment, retention and development of people with disabilities and to improving their employment opportunities. Candidates who declare that they have a disability and who meet the essential criteria for the job will be offered an interview.
Applications will be considered on a part time and job share basis. If you want your application to be considered as part of a job share, please apply with the hours you are available to work.
In accordance with Home Office guidance, the successful candidate will be required to provide their right to work in the UK before they start employment. Unfortunately, TPR is not able to offer sponsorship at the time. TPR is a UK-based organisation with a working location in Brighton, candidates must live in the UK to be employed by us.
The Pensions Regulator is an arm’s length government body and part of the public service.
Any offer of employment will be subject to the receipt of satisfactory background screening checks and criminal record checks (BPSS).
If you have any queries about this role, or if you have a disability and wish to request a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process, please email recruitmentteam@tpr.gov.uk.