Reporting to: Head of Investment Consultancy

Team: Regulatory Policy, Analysis and Advice

Contract type:

Permanent

Salary: Between £76,635 and £101,731 per annum dependent on skills and experience, with access to performance related pay, bonus and civil service pension scheme

Location: Brighton

Closing date: Wednesday 15 June 2022

Job ref: 122850

TPR grade: Advisory 6 – Principal

More than half the UK working population rely on The Pensions Regulator (TPR) to regulate their retirement savings. With a career at TPR, you’ll be joining an organisation that will impact on millions of lives for decades to come.

Everyone at TPR plays an important role in helping to keep more than £2trn of savings safe. We’re committed to bringing people into TPR who are ready to make a difference and put UK savers at the heart of what we do.

It is important to us that TPR remains a great place to work. We do all we can to help our people reach their full potential with learning, secondment, and development opportunities. We put our 900+ employees first, supporting flexible working and offer a diverse, lively, and inclusive environment. This includes our Disability Network, Family Network, LGBT+ Network (Proud), Minority Ethnic (ME) Network and Women’s Network, which offer spaces to connect.

Our new corporate strategy outlines a bold and challenging vision of how pensions regulation should evolve to keep pace with a change in the scale and nature of the industry. We are at the start of that journey. Join us to find out what part you can play.

We operate a hybrid working model, subject to government guidelines, where regular attendance in our Brighton office is required. Attendance in the office is team and role dependant.

Role

Would you like to use your investment skills to improve the retirements of millions of savers? If you’re an investment specialist with workplace pensions experience, then this role could be for you.

We are looking for the right candidate to join our small, collegiate and growing team within TPR to do a variety of work. Our investment skills and broader pensions knowledge help TPR regulate workplace pension scheme investment.

We do this by helping shape TPR’s regulatory strategy, our codes of practice and guidance, individual scheme authorisation, supervision and enforcement. Working closely with colleagues at all levels and other regulators, our work includes interacting with the advisers, trustees and sponsoring employers of the UK’s most significant pension schemes. Our public profile is important, and with your help we will continue to raise TPR’s status within the pensions and investment industry through a range of public speaking engagements.

The investment consultant team works with a wide range of TPR, industry and regulatory colleagues. The successful candidate should be able to engage credibly with individuals from different backgrounds and levels of seniority.

A lot of our work involves problem solving and analysis, so the successful candidate is likely to be good at this, to approach work with appropriate care for detail and accuracy, and to communicate the results effectively.

Responsibilities

You will be expected to do a range of investment work to support TPR’s objectives, to be agreed depending on your particular skills, interests and experience. This may include:

• developing investment policy / guidance relating to climate change
• advising on the investments of defined contribution (DC) master trusts
• advising TPR colleagues on schemes’ investment strategies (defined benefit [DB] and DC)
• developing the new DB scheme funding framework
• creating policy and supervisory frameworks for collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes
• speaking and networking at investment and pensions conferences
• developing the team’s house investment views
• supporting TPR’s investment modelling capabilities

Essential and desirable criteria

Essential

• Up-to-date knowledge of workplace pension fund investment.
• Experience of working with workplace pension funds, eg in-house, as an investment consultant, or as an investment or fiduciary manager.
• Communication and influencing skills at all levels of seniority.
• Commitment to TPR’s values and a professional approach to work.

Desirable

• In-depth knowledge of DC investment and / or DB investment strategy.
• A network of contacts across the pensions and / or regulatory landscape.
• Public speaking and presentation skills.
• Relevant professional qualification such as CFA, FIA, FFA or similar.

Person specification

• Proactive and flexible.
• Can-do approach.
• Ability to prioritise and use initiative (pragmatism).
• Communication skills at all levels.
• Personable and a team player (knowledge sharing, consistency in approach, providing views and expert input on work others are involved with, promoting the team's capabilities and reputation).

Salary and benefits

As well as a salary between £76,635 and £101,731, we offer:

• Civil Service Pension arrangements, which are recognised as some of the best in the pensions world
• discretionary bonus arrangements
• access to performance related pay progression
• 25 days annual leave provision
• flexible working arrangements
• development opportunities
• enhanced parental leave arrangements
• a free employee assistance programme
• an excellent office location in Brighton

How to apply

To apply please email recruitmentteam@tpr.gov.uk quoting role reference number 122850 along with:

• a covering letter with details of how your skills and experience meet the role requirements
• a copy of your CV
• details of your notice period

Current employees in their first 12 months of employment who want to apply for this vacancy should first contact their line manager to discuss their application.

We are an inclusive employer and offer equal opportunities regardless of an individual’s age, disability, gender identity, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

As a Disability Confident employer, we’re committed to the recruitment, employment, retention, and development of people with disabilities, and to improving their employment opportunities. Candidates who declare that they have a disability and who meet the essential criteria for the job will be offered an interview.

Applications will be considered on a part time and job share basis.

Please be aware, as we work within a hybrid environment, unless specified we will be holding interviews through Microsoft Teams for the foreseeable future.

In accordance with Home Office guidance, the successful candidate will be required to provide their right to work in the UK before they start employment. Unfortunately, TPR is not able to offer sponsorship at the time. TPR is a UK-based organisation with a working location in Brighton, candidates must live in the UK to be employed by us.

The Pensions Regulator is an arm’s length government body and part of the public service.

Any offer of employment will be subject to the receipt of satisfactory background screening checks and criminal record checks (BPSS).

If you have any queries about this role, or if you have a disability and wish to request a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process, please email recruitmentteam@tpr.gov.uk.