Risk Manager – Assurance & Insights

At M&G, our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. With a heritage dating back more than 175 years, we have a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions.

Our two distinct operating segments, Asset Management and Life, work together to provide access to balanced, long-term investment and savings solutions.

Through telling it like it is, owning it now and moving it forward together with care and integrity; we are creating an exceptional place to work for exceptional talent.

We will consider flexible working arrangements for any of our roles and offer workplace adjustments to ensure you have the support you need to succeed in your role.

Context:

M&G plc, as a major UK listed financial services provider, is required to operate effective risk management across the organisation. The Risk Manager – Assurance & Insights reports to the Head of Life Non-Financial Risk (NFR) and provides dedicated 2LOD Risk oversight, challenge and assurance across the Life NFR agenda.

The role will lead the Life NFR assurance execution, thematic assessment and risk insight activity across the Life business, providing independent opinions on risk profile, control effectiveness, remediation effectiveness and emerging risk themes.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead targeted assurance and deep-dive reviews across material Life risk themes and business areas.
• Undertake thematic analysis of Issues, Events, RCSAs, control outcomes and other risk information to identify recurring or systemic concerns.
• Lead root-cause and lessons-learned reviews, challenging whether management has identified and addressed underlying risk drivers.
• Assess control design, operating effectiveness and remediation effectiveness, including input to Provision 29 and Control Environment Assessment activity.
• Develop evidence-based risk opinions and insights on cross-Life view of risk appetite, recurring risk themes, change activity, systemic weaknesses and emerging risks for Executive and Board governance.
• Support delivery of the assurance universe and annual assurance plan established by the Senior Manager.
• Lead cross-business reviews requiring coordination of central NFR and Compliance SMEs.
• Translate assurance findings into identified opportunities to strengthen risk management, controls and operational effectiveness through insight.
• Coach Senior Analysts in assurance techniques, critical analysis and opinion writing.
• Support the Risk Manager and Transformation Senior Manager where additional assurance capacity or independent review is required.

Experience Required

Essential

• Significant experience within Operational Risk, Non-Financial Risk, Risk Assurance or related control disciplines in a financial services environment.
• Strong understanding of risk management frameworks, governance, regulatory expectations and control environments.
• Significant experience leading assurance reviews, thematic assessments, deep dives and independent challenge activities.
• Significant experience undertaking root cause analysis, remediation effectiveness reviews and control effectiveness assessments.
• Ability to assess complex risk information and identify recurring themes, systemic weaknesses and emerging risks.
• Experience developing evidence-based risk opinions, reports and governance outputs.
• Strong analytical capability with the ability to translate assurance findings into actionable business insight and recommendations.
• Experience assessing Risk Appetite positions, control environments and management responses to material risk issues.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to challenge and influence senior business stakeholders and specialist SMEs.
• Experience coordinating and leading cross-functional review activity involving multiple stakeholders.
• Strong written communication skills with the ability to draft high-quality assurance reports, thematic reviews, risk opinions and governance papers.
• Experience coaching and developing colleagues in assurance techniques, analytical thinking and report writing.
• Ability to manage multiple assurance activities and competing priorities within a regulated environment.

Desirable

• Experience in life insurance, pensions or wealth sectors.
• Experience establishing or enhancing assurance methodologies, review standards or quality frameworks.
• Experience using data analytics to support assurance reviews, thematic assessments and risk insight generation.
• Experience supporting major business change, transformation or strategic initiatives from a risk perspective.
• Relevant professional qualification (eg. IRM, ACA, ACCA, CIMA, IIA, CII or equivalent).

Experience Level: Manager / Expert

Recruiter: Helen Simons

What we offer:

We’re dedicated to supporting your wellbeing and helping you thrive, both at work and beyond. Our benefits are designed to help you balance your professional and personal life, and financially plan for the future. Our UK benefits include:

• A valuable pension scheme of up to 18% (13% made up of employer contributions and 5% employee contributions).
• Access to our Share Save and Share Incentive Plan, alongside financial wellbeing and support services to help give you real confidence to put your money to work.
• Enjoy 38 days annual leave (including bank holidays), with the opportunity to purchase up to five extra days. Our Time Off When You Need It policy gives you the flexibility - to balance work and personal commitments.
• Our market-leading Inspiring Families policy includes comprehensive support and paid parental leave covering maternity, adoption, surrogacy, and paternity leave - because supporting families is an important part of our inclusive culture.
• Health & Protection cover includes Private Healthcare, Critical Illness cover and Life Assurance for you, with additional family options - for peace of mind.

To explore more about life at M&G and our full benefits offering, visit Life at M&G

At M&G we strive to have a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture, underpinned by our policies and employee-led networks that offer networking, support and development opportunities for the diverse communities our colleagues represent. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds – across gender, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation and more – including neurodivergent individuals, career returners and those with military service experience.

M&G is proud to be Level 3: Disability Confident Leader under the UK Government Disability Confident employer scheme, and we welcome applications from candidates with disabilities and long-term health conditions. If you would like to participate in the initiative, you will have the opportunity to indicate this on your application.

We are committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process. All candidates have the opportunity to request reasonable adjustments when applying. If you need any additional support at any stage, please contact us at: [email protected]