Senior Third Party Risk Manager

Our Story Hello there. We’re Zopa. We started our journey back in 2005, building the first ever peer-to-peer lending company. Fast forward to 2020 and we launched Zopa Bank. A bank that listens to what our customers don’t like about finance and does the opposite. We’re redefining what it feels like to work in finance. Our vision for a new era of banking puts people front and centre — we’ve built a business that empowers everyone to aim high, every day, to move finance forward. Find out more about our fantastic offerings at Zopa.com!

We’re incredibly proud of our achievements and none of it would be possible without the amazing team here. It’s not just industry awards we’re winning, we’ve also been named in the top three UK’s Most Loved Workplaces.

If you embrace unconventional challenges, are unafraid to think differently and are driven to make an outsized impact, you’ll thrive here at Zopa, so join us, and make it count. Want to see us in action? Follow us on Instagram @zopalife

The 1st Line of Defence (1LOD) Risk Function are responsible for managing risks across the organisation, working closely with cross-business stakeholders and adopting the bank’s risk framework to embed effective and efficient risk management into everything we do. 

We are looking for a Senior Third-Party Risk Manager to work with our Supplier Relationship Managers across the organisation to identify, assess and manage third party risks. The role is an exciting opportunity for a risk specialist motivated by driving change and contributing to delivering responsible growth through successful relationships with our Third Parties.

A day in the life:

• You'll report into the Head of Operational Resilience and work closely with stakeholders across the three lines of defence to ensure Zopa operates its third-party arrangements within risk appetite.
• Enhance and implement a third-party risk management procedures which complies with relevant regulatory requirements and internal policies.
• Conduct risk assessments for material third parties, at onboarding and throughout the lifecycle of the arrangements, using information from multiple sources to identify risks and propose proportionate, sustainable and well-considered controls.  
• Work closely with the 1LOD risk teams, supplier relationship managers and the Procurement team, across all areas of the business, to design and implement appropriate controls and to report on their effectiveness.
• Enhance and deliver third-party risk MI and reporting in a timely manner, enabling accountable individuals to make informed, risk-based decisions.  
• Work with the Procurement team to fully embed and gain value from our new supplier management tool.
• Own the Bank’s outsourcing register.
• Work with the relevant stakeholders to learn from the root causes of incidents or risk events caused by third-parties.

About you:

• You'll be an experienced risk manager with an understanding of the retail banking environment and the regulatory environment, in particular in relation to third party risk management.
• Proven track record of experience of managing third party risk (ideally in the first line) in a consultancy, fintech or specifically within the financial services sector.  
• Good awareness of the regulatory framework in which Zopa operates and driven to self-educate and learn about the evolving Outsourcing and Critical Third Party regulations.
• You should be outcome orientated and be able to apply the risk framework to propose optimal outcomes for customers and the bank.  
• A strong communicator who can articulate issues clearly, flagging trade-offs and solutions in order to gain buy in to your proposals. 
• Passionate about improving the risk environment and general ways of working across the teams you support. 
• Act as a source of knowledge and point of contact for business colleagues in your area such as second line risk and first line counterparts. 

Bonus Points for:

• Experience of implementing new risk procedures or a significant change to risk procedures.
• Experience of managing complex projects with a wide variety of stakeholders.