Quality Assurance and Operational Risk Manager

Set the standard. Strengthen controls. Deliver better customer outcomes.

At Castle Trust Bank, we pride ourselves in being a fintech challenger bank, providing specialist property mortgages, retail finance lending and savings accounts to a variety of customers.

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Quality Assurance & Operational Risk Manager to lead the day-to-day delivery and continued development of our First Line Quality Assurance and Operational Risk frameworks.

This role is based in Basingstoke on a hybrid basis working 3 days office and 2 days at home.

This is a key role within our operational first line, responsible for quality assurance and operational risk activity across the business, supporting 2 direct reports initially. You'll ensure that risks, incidents and control weaknesses are identified effectively, understood through robust root cause analysis, and supported by clear and measurable remediation.

Working closely with colleagues across Operations, Risk, Compliance and other business areas, you'll help us maintain strong customer outcomes, operational resilience and regulatory compliance.

• Owning and maintaining the First Line Quality Assurance framework, methodology and governance.
• Ensuring QA activity is delivered consistently and in line with agreed standards and risk appetite.
• Leading and developing colleagues responsible for quality assurance reviews across operational processes.
• Overseeing calibration, trend analysis and reporting to provide consistent, meaningful management information.
• Identifying emerging themes, control weaknesses and potential customer outcome risks.
• Driving continuous improvement across QA methodology, reporting and oversight.
• Ensuring QA findings lead to clear actions, ownership and measurable remediation.

• Leading the day-to-day delivery of First Line Operational Risk activity.
• Managing and developing Operational Risk Analysts responsible for incident and breach reporting, issue assessment, root cause analysis, remediation tracking and thematic analysis.
• Supporting business areas to identify, assess and manage operational risks and control weaknesses.
• Ensuring incidents are recorded, investigated and escalated appropriately.
• Monitoring remediation plans to ensure actions are completed effectively and within agreed timescales.
• Helping to embed a strong risk and control culture across operational teams.
• Contributing to operational resilience and continuous improvement initiatives.

• Producing clear and meaningful management information for senior leaders and governance forums.
• Building strong working relationships across Operations, Risk, Compliance and wider business teams.
• Supporting regulatory, audit and assurance activity when required.

You'll be a conscientious and collaborative leader who can combine functional expertise with sound judgement and analytical thinking. You'll be comfortable investigating complex issues, challenging constructively and translating findings into practical improvements.

Most importantly, you'll understand how effective assurance and risk management contribute to positive, fair and consistent outcomes for customers. You will also have the following:

• Experience with in financial services ideally Banking, Mortgages or Consumer Finance.
• Demonstrated experience within Quality Assurance, Operational Risk, Risk and Control, or Operational Oversight.
• The ability to balance day-to-day operational delivery with longer-term continuous improvement.
• Experience producing management information and governance reporting.
• A strong understanding of operational risk principles, incident management and control frameworks.
• The ability to identify themes, root causes and process improvement opportunities.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Experience producing management information and governance reporting.

• Champion of customer outcomes.
• Experience supporting operational resilience, control enhancement or assurance programmes.

• Competitive salary
• Performance bonus (based on individual and company performance)
• Generous contributory pension through Hargreaves Lansdown
• Life Assurance
• 25 days' holiday + option to buy/sell 5 days
• Additional paid volunteering day
• Private healthcare through Equipsme (includes…