Senior Specialist: Regulatory Compliance

REQ  - Michelle Thabethe

Cluster:
Group Compliance - REGULATORY ADVOCACY AND POLICY

Location:

Sandton

Closing date: 12 October 2026

Governance And Compliance

Compliance

Manage Self:
Professional

The Senior Specialist:
Regulatory Compliance provides expert regulatory policy leadership and advocacy within the compliance function, supporting the organisation’s engagement with regulators, industry bodies and policymakers, interpreting regulatory intent, shaping policy positions, influencing regulatory outcomes through structured lobbying and advocacy, and ensuring that external regulatory developments are translated into defensible internal positions and compliance frameworks.

The incumbent acts as a thought leader on regulatory reform, contributes to industry submissions, coordinates regulatory input, and supports senior stakeholder engagement on complex or emerging regulatory matters. within the compliance function and exercises independent regulatory judgement. The role provides structured advisory support, at times, compliance risk assessments, and supports regulatory inspections and supervisory engagements (as required). Through disciplined regulatory interpretation, structured risk evaluation and proactive stakeholder influence, the Senior Specialist protects the organisation from regulatory breaches, enforcement action, financial penalties and reputational harm.

• The Senior Specialist will lead or support analyses of proposed legislation, draft standards, consultation papers and policy reforms and interprets complex financial sector legislation to assess strategic, prudential, conduct and market‑wide i to determine their applicability and impact.
• Coordinates internal stakeholder input (business, legal, risk, strategy) into cohesive and institutionally aligned regulatory positions.
• Develops formal regulatory policy positions, advocacy submissions and industry responses (directly or through industry bodies).
• Supports senior executives in regulatory engagement strategy, including briefing notes, talking points and policy options
• The role prepares formal, well-reasoned and documented regulatory opinions that clearly articulate regulatory intent, risk exposure and where required, recommend control measures.
• The Senior Specialist participates in product approval forums, governance committees and strategic initiatives to assess regulatory implications before implementation.
• The incumbent evaluates regulatory implications arising from new products, digital innovation, structural changes and client propositions to ensure regulatory risks are identified early and mitigated effectively.
• The role escalates material regulatory exposures and ensures that advisory positions are legally defensible and aligned with regulatory expectations.
• The Senior Specialist maintains independence of judgement and demonstrates the ability to defend regulatory interpretations under internal or supervisory scrutiny.

• The Senior Specialist proactively monitors international and local regulatory developments, industry publications and supervisory trends to identify emerging regulatory changes.
• The incumbent may conduct structured regulatory impact assessments to evaluate how legislative or supervisory changes affect products, processes, governance frameworks and control environments.
• The role defines regulatory obligations arising from new regulatory requirements and maps and allocates these to impacted business units, for comment and / or impact
• Identifies opportunities for proactive engagement or advocacy in response to emerging…