We have an exciting opportunity for an Associate Data Scientist/Quantitative Analyst to work in our Market Analysis & Risk Team. The team’s role is to provide sophisticated analytics to deliver data-led policymaking and supervision, utilising a wide range of state-of-the-art cloud-based tools. In alignment with our digital transformation, we use regulatory and markets data to better supervise the firms we regulate. This includes large wholesale banks, principal trading firms, and market infrastructure such as exchanges. Further, using our markets data, we aid in the development of our regulation/policy to improve how our markets work and analyse the impact of our policies.
You do not need to be an expert in financial markets to apply but we are looking for someone with real interest in markets, someone that wants to put their technical ability to use to make a real difference. It’s an exciting time to be joining us.
You will be working as part of a team at the very heart of everything wholesale financial markets at the FCA. Our directorates combine both our supervisory and policy-making work across sell side, infrastructure, and exchanges. Day-to-day, you will work closely with the other analysts on the team, delivering analytics in collaboration with stakeholders across the directorates. As a team, we are fully embedded within the business. This means we have no business analysts between us and our stakeholders, but rather work collaboratively with them.
As part of your work, you will assist in building and designing a comprehensive suite of market monitoring and risk analysis tools to supervise market trends and identify potential risks. You will be using large-scale proprietary datasets (such as transaction-level trading data or data on firms’ derivatives positions) as well as commercial data (Bloomberg, Refinitiv, etc.). You will be applying techniques as varied as time series analysis, network analysis, and clustering in your analytical scripts that you’ll write using Python after having obtained the data via SQL from high performance databases. On occasion, you will also turn the output of your work into dashboard visualisations (Tableau) or data applications (streamlit/dash) to enable colleagues across the division to interact with them.
What will the candidate get from the role?
- Opportunity to develop your programming and analytical skills by working alongside experienced colleagues in an interesting and fast-paced environment.
- You will a get broad exposure to wholesale financial markets and build your understanding of the products (for example various types of bonds or derivatives), how they are traded, the various types of markets participants and applicable regulations
- You will get direct exposure to senior frontline supervisors and experienced regulatory policy experts
- The work will be a good mix of both medium-term strategic projects and time-sensitive and topical ad-hoc analytical work
- You will learn skills in managing external and internal stakeholders
- You can take ownership of your work and help shape its direction
About You
We’re a signatory to the Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to disabled candidates entering under the scheme, should they meet the minimum criteria for a role. A minimum criterion needs to be measurable when reviewing a candidate’s CV. Exceptions may apply if due to the volume of applications we are not able to interview all eligible candidates who qualify under the scheme.
Minimum criteria
- Strong programming skills, as evidenced by previous experience.
- Proven experience of cleaning, transforming, and analysing large-scale data sets
Essential Criteria
- Although your programming language of choice (e.g. R, MATLAB, or C) is not important, we do require the ability to become a fluent Python programmer in a short timeframe.
- Genuine interest for wholesale financial markets
- Proven ability to deliver work independently
- Excellent communication skills, with demonstrated ability to tailor communication to less technical audiences
Desirable criteria
- Experience with core Python libraries (Pandas, NumPy, Statsmodels, Scikit-learn)
- Experience working with financial data
- SQL experience (ideally PostgreSQL)
- Exposure to cloud computing (AWS preferred, GCP, Azure)
- Experience with data visualisation tools (Tableau, QlikView, Spotfire, Power BI etc.)
The FCA's Values & Diversity
Diversity, equity and inclusion is central to how we act both as an employer and regulator. We value all forms of diversity, including but not limited to age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religion and sexual orientation. One way we support diversity and inclusion is through our staff-run networks, which are summarised here.
We particularly welcome applications from women, disabled, Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, as under-represented groups.
Flexible working
We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements. Many of our staff work flexibly including working from home, staggered hours, and job shares. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want but we won’t judge you on what you are asking.
Multilocation & hybrid working
As part of the FCA’s on-going commitment to develop our national presence, all our vacancies are now open to working in our Edinburgh, Leeds, and London offices. This means that as part of the application process you will be able to select your preference of which office location you would like to work from. The FCA also supports hybrid working which means you will be able to work from home up to 60% of the time over a month with the remainder of your time in one of our three office locations.
Useful Information
- The job family for this role is Associate level 8 - Regulatory
- This is a permanent role
- This role is based in London, Leeds or Edinburgh
- The salary range for the Associate positions in London is approximately £44,900 - £50,000 depending on the successful candidate’s skills and qualifications, plus a competitive benefits package and non-contributory pension
- The salary range for the Associate positions that are National (Edinburgh & Leeds) is approximately £40,600 - £45,700 depending on the successful candidate’s skills and qualifications, plus a competitive benefits package and non-contributory pension
- Applications for this role close on Sunday 4th June 2023
- If you are an internal applicant and would like to discuss this role, then please reach out Beth Haydon on beth.haydon@fca.org.uk
- If you are an external applicant and would like to discuss this role, then please reach out to Chhavi Bartaria on chhavi.bartaria@fca.org.uk
Additional Information
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has recently set out a new employment offer designed to reward strong, consistent performance, aid career development and close pay gaps.
This follows an extensive, wide-ranging and comprehensive consultation with all FCA colleagues and the FCA’s Staff Consultative Committee. The changes, including updates to the proposals consulted upon, will mean that the FCA continues to provide one of the best reward packages of any regulator or enforcement agency in the UK.
If you have any questions please speak to your recruiter or visit the FCA website (or intranet for internal colleagues).
Please note – Applications must be submitted through our online portal. Applications sent via email will not be accepted.
