Job Title: Compliance Manager
Reporting to: Head of Risk Management
Hours of work: 5 days /week, office hours
Location: Full time office based at London Office of Assura+Protect, London W1H 6AY.
Purpose
This role is crucial for maintaining the company's integrity and protecting its reputation in a highly regulated industry. The postholder is responsible for creating both long-term and short-term programmes of compliance activity to ensure that all the company’s activities adhere to the correct ethical, legal and regulatory standards.
Role and Responsibilities
Regulatory Compliance & Framework
· Maintain and develop the firm’s compliance framework in line with FCA requirements (including ICOBS, SYSC, DISP and Consumer Duty), ICO regulations, Financial Crime, Bribery Act, customer onboarding protocols.
· Ensure policies, procedures and controls remain up to date, effective and proportionate to the size of the business
· Provide clear, practical regulatory guidance to senior management and operational teams.
· Identify regulatory risks and ensure appropriate controls and mitigation are in place.
· Perform research to stay informed about environmental standards and make appropriate recommendations for continuous improvement.
Consumer Duty & Customer Outcomes
· Embed and oversee Consumer Duty across all business activities.
· Support Risk Management Team to assess whether products and services deliver fair value and good customer outcomes.
· Identify risks to customer outcomes and ensure appropriate remedial actions are implemented.
Third-Party & Delegated Authority Oversight
· Establish, review and maintain compliance for the Third-Party due diligence process, developing and establishing the program infrastructure for the evaluation and ongoing monitoring of third party on-boarding programs.
· Ensure third parties operate in line with regulatory requirements and internal standards.
· Review quality assurance results, sales practices and customer outcomes from outsourced activities.
Complaints Oversight (DISP)
· Oversee complaints handling processes in line with FCA DISP requirements.
· Conduct root cause analysis and identify systemic or recurring issues.
· Ensure fair customer outcomes and appropriate remediation.
· Produce complaints MI and report trends and risks to senior management and stakeholders.
Quality Assurance, Call Monitoring & Conduct Oversight
· Oversee and perform regular call monitoring and quality assurance reviews across all sales channels.
· Identify conduct risks, disclosure failures and deviations from regulatory and internal requirements.
· Assess advisor compliance performance, including:
- customer disclosures
- underwriting and eligibility questioning
- product explanation
- vulnerable customer identification
· Maintain oversight of red/amber/green call frameworks and ensure timely resolution of high-risk cases.
· Produce structured QA reports highlighting key findings, root causes and trends
· Escalate material risks, breaches and systemic issues identified through monitoring
· Ensure QA findings are embedded into training, product governance and Consumer Duty assessments.
Financial Promotions & Customer Communications
· Review and approve financial promotions to ensure they are clear, fair and not misleading.
· Ensure all customer communications meet regulatory requirements and support informed decision-making.
Monitoring, MI & Reporting
· Prepare and submit all SMF regulatory filings.
· Deliver a risk-based compliance monitoring plan
· Produce regular MI covering key risk areas, including complaints, QA results and customer outcomes.
· Identify trends, control weaknesses and emerging risks.
· Provide clear reporting and recommendations to senior management.
Training & Compliance Culture
· Design and deliver compliance training across the business, including:
- Consumer Duty
- Complaints handling (DISP)
- Financial promotions
- Conduct risk and regulatory requirements.
· Provide ongoing support and guidance to employees and third parties.
· Promote a strong compliance culture across all levels of the organisation.
Audit & Continuous Improvement
· Coordinate and support external compliance audits, including preparation of documentation, liaison with auditors and drafting of responses and executive summaries.
· Conduct internal audits and reviews to ensure execution of compliance standards, regularly produce detailed reports with recommendations based on findings during audits.
· Conduct interviews, surveys and other details to ensure employees make every effort to stay compliant across all departments.
· Investigate irregularities and non-compliance issues and occasional complaints when they arise, advising on corrective actions.
· Ensure timely resolution of findings and implementation of corrective actions.
· Continuously improve compliance processes in line with regulatory expectations and business growth.
Internal Support
· Addressing questions and concerns from colleagues at all levels of seniority, including the Risk Management Team.
· Provide guidance to company and stakeholders regarding their regulatory obligations.
· Hosting meetings with employees to address any concerns that they may have about ethical and compliance matters within a department or industry.
Person Specification and Skills
Essential
· Strong knowledge of FCA Rules
· Good written and communication skills
· Prioritisation and time management skills
· Self-motivation and drive while working independently
· Strong familiarity with Word, Excel and other management software
· Attention to detail and accuracy
· Can-do, team player approach suitable for a growing SME environment
Desirable
· Experience in filing FCA reports, compliance monitoring reports and anti-money laundering reports
· Familiarity with call-centre and insurance industry software and records