Risk & Control Specialist

Risk & Control Specialist

On behalf of a Leading financial services client, I am seeking an experienced Risk & Control specialist to strengthen first-line operational risk oversight and help embed a robust, proactive risk culture across the organisation. This role sits within the Business Risk & Control function and partners closely with 1LOD teams to enhance risk management, improve control environments, and drive high standards of assurance.

The organisation is pleased to offer the role on a hybrid basis with 2 days per week in their Canary Wharf office, therefore you must be within a reasonable commute of London.

Responsibilities:

• Provide subject-matter expertise to help business owners identify, assess, and mitigate operational risks.
• Deliver cross-functional oversight to ensure consistent, high-quality control standards across first-line teams.
• Perform controls assurance testing, support remediation activity, and help establish a well-documented and effective control environment.
• Promote risk-aware behaviours and contribute to building a risk-intelligent culture.
• Support incident and issue management, ensuring timely reporting, root-cause analysis, and sustainable remediation.
• Contribute to the development and execution of risk assessment and testing methodologies (including RCSA).
• Partner with stakeholders across risk, compliance, audit, legal, and business units to strengthen governance and enhance risk practices.

Skills/Experience required:

• Proven experience in risk assessment, controls assurance testing, control remediation or validation, gained in 1LOD, external audit, or 2LOD/3LOD environments.
• Ability to assess, design, and enhance control environments while influencing risk-aware behaviours across business units.
• Experience of RCSA framework.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a proactive approach to risk mitigation.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across diverse stakeholder groups.
• High attention to detail and a commitment to delivering best-in-class risk and control outcomes.
• Experience within financial services or other highly regulated industries is preferred, including exposure to third-party risk.
• Confidence to challenge constructively, break down barriers, and drive continuous improvement.
• Professional certifications in Risk Management, Internal Audit, Compliance, or Project Management (beneficial but not essential).