Head of Enterprise Risk Management
As the Head of Enterprise Risk Management, you will act as a trusted advisor to the Executive and senior leaders across the Group, embedding a strong risk culture and enabling informed decision-making.
You will be responsible for leading the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of the Connells Group Risk Management Framework. This role ensures proactive identification, assessment, and mitigation of significant risks and monitors the effectiveness of material and key controls.
Key Responsibilities will include:
1. Strategic Leadership Framework
2. Design and evolve the Group’s Risk Management Framework in alignment with FCA requirements and industry best-practice
3. Champion a forward-looking risk culture that balances commercial agility with robust risk management
4. Provide horizon scanning and scenario analysis to inform strategic planning and resilience
5. Risk Governance & Reporting
6. Oversee risk committee governance, including agenda setting, reporting, and papers for the Connells Limited Board, Audit & Risk Committee and Executive Risk Committee
7. Deliver concise, and insightful risk reporting and thematic deep dives for Board and Executive members
8. Maintain a repository of risk policies, and approvals, and ensure policy reviews are conducted as required
9. Risk Identification & Assessment
10. Facilitate enterprise-wide risk assessments, including top-down assessments supported by empirical data and metrics
11. Maintain the level 1 and level 2 risk register, engaging with Risk Owners and Stewards to review and update the risk profile
12. Engage in scenario testing and analysis, working with colleagues across the Skipton Group and Connells Group
13. Stakeholder Engagement & Influence
14. Build trusted relationships with senior leaders across the Group, and with the Skipton Building Society, translating complex risk concepts into actionable insights
15. Influence cross-functional teams to embed risk ownership and accountability
16. Act as a key liaison with internal audit, compliance, financial crime management, and data protection
17. Operational Integration
18. Partner business units to embed risk controls into operational processes and change programmes
19. Support incident management and root cause analysis for material risk events
20. Lead risk input into supplier due diligence, outsourcing arrangements, and operational resilience / business continuity planning
The ideal candidate will have:
21. Professional qualification (e.g. IRM, ICA)
22. Strong understanding of regulatory requirements relating to enterprise risk, operational risk, operational resilience and other risk disciplines (FCA) including SYSC, Conduct Risk, TCF, UK GDPR, industry scheme rules
23. Ability to set out a clear plan for the Group Risk Management Framework, and to bring stakeholders and colleagues on the journey
24. Ability to connect risk insights to strategic priorities and commercial outcomes
25. Strong communication skills, (verbal and in writing), with the ability to create compelling dashboards, heatmaps and board-level narratives
26. Experienced in leading ross-function risk initiatives, mentoring risk professionals and colleagues across the group, and in working through a matrix management approach
27. Familiarity with risk systems, data analytics, and governance tooling (e.g. GRC platforms Excel functionality
CF00688