SVP - Business Assurance

ABOUT US
At OakNorth, we're on a mission to empower ambitious businesses and the communities they serve. Since 2015, we've lent over $21 billion across the UK and US, helped create more than 58,000 new homes and 36,000 new jobs, and supported hundreds of thousands of personal savers — all while driving economic growth in the markets we serve.

ABOUT THE TEAM
The Assurance Centre of Excellence (CoE) delivers high-quality assurance across OakNorth’s key risk domains, including Financial Crime, Finance, Credit, Operations, Technology and Regulatory Reporting. The CoE is a lean, technically rigorous team that partners closely with Risk, Compliance and business functions to provide risk-based assurance and actionable insights.

ABOUT THE ROLE
The SVP, Business Assurance is a critical role: you will both lead the delivery of the assurance plan across Financial Crime, Operations, Conduct & Compliance and personally execute assurance engagements. Reporting to the Assurance COE Lead, you will define the scope and direction of assurance coverage, manage a team, and hold the bar for quality and timeliness across all engagements.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Own and shape the assurance strategy and annual plan across Financial Crime, Conduct, Compliance and Operations, ensuring coverage remains aligned to OakNorth’s key risks, regulatory priorities and growth plans across the UK and US.

• Personally lead and execute complex and high-risk reviews end-to-end, from scoping and fieldwork through to senior stakeholder challenge, reporting and remediation, while ensuring consistently high standards across the wider portfolio.

• Stay ahead of emerging regulatory and business risks, particularly across financial crime, conduct and compliance, and translate changes in the UK and US regulatory landscape into appropriate assurance coverage.

• Build and embed continuous monitoring across key controls and risk indicators, using data and analytics to identify emerging issues, control deterioration and areas requiring deeper assurance attention.

• Act as a senior assurance partner and constructive challenger to Risk, Compliance and Operations leadership, bringing together themes from individual reviews to provide insight on broader control weaknesses, root causes and areas requiring management attention.

• Lead and develop the team, providing technical direction, reviewing critical judgements and work products, and building capability across Financial Crime, Compliance and Operations assurance.

• Drive innovation in assurance delivery, using AI, automation and data analytics to increase coverage, improve risk identification and make assurance more efficient and forward-looking.

YOU'LL BE A GREAT FIT IF YOU HAVE…

• 15+ years of relevant experience in Internal Audit, Risk or Compliance within regulated financial services, with significant experience across Financial Crime, Operations, Conduct and Compliance.

• Chartered Accountant (CA) qualification, together with a relevant Financial Crime / Compliance qualification such as ACAMS or ICA (International Compliance Association, UK) — both are essential for this role.

• Strong technical knowledge across multiple risk and regulatory domains, with the breadth and judgement to assess complex issues, identify emerging risks and independently determine appropriate assurance coverage.

• A strong track record of personally leading and delivering complex, multi-domain reviews end-to-end, while exercising judgement over significant findings, root causes, ratings and remediation.

• Good understanding of the UK regulatory environment, with experience interpreting regulatory requirements and translating them into practical risk and control assessments. Exposure to US regulatory requirements, particularly BSA/AML, sanctions and financial crime, would be advantageous.

• Experience using data and continuous monitoring to provide insight into control effectiveness, emerging risks and areas requiring deeper assurance attention.

• Experience leading, coaching and developing assurance professionals, providing technical direction while maintaining high standards of quality and independent judgement.

• The credibility and communication skills to engage and constructively challenge senior stakeholders, including Risk, Compliance and Operations leadership, and communicate complex issues clearly and proportionately.

• Experinced in AI, automation and data analytics, with an understanding of how these can be used to improve assurance coverage, risk identification and efficiency.

Nice to Have

· Experience building control monitoring frameworks or dashboards

· Exposure to cross-jurisdictional regulatory requirements (UK or US)

· Additional qualification (e.g. CIA or equivalent)

WHAT WE OFFER

• Health & Protection: Medical cover for you, your family & parents; life and accidental cover at a multiple of your salary

• Wellbeing: Annual health check-ups, online doctor consultations, pharmacy discounts, nutritionist support, and an Employee Assistance Programme — all sponsored

• Time Off: Earned, casual/sick leave, public holidays, maternity & paternity leave

• Life Milestones: A financial gesture of support at marriage, childbirth, and bereavement

• Flexible Benefits: Tax-efficient allowances for internet, fuel, meals, leave & travel, and NPS

• Growth: Professional certification support, learning & development opportunities, childcare benefits, and paid volunteering days

• Our Workplace: Modern central offices, weekly business updates, team events, and great coffee — we work hard to build a culture worth showing up for