At the FCA, we’re creating a fair and more resilient financial system. We’re establishing more transparent relationships between financial services and customers, building trust in financial markets and protecting vulnerable consumers.
We’re currently on an exciting journey as we drive forward significant organisational, people, process, and AI and technology transformation to become a more forward-thinking, proactive regulator. We will use data more effectively to drive better regulatory decisions and build greater cohesion across our broad financial services remit.
Significant improvements in digital enablement, business intelligence, market data and information management maturity are all being pursued to maintain our position as a world leader in financial services regulation.
In March 2025, the FCA launched a new 5-year strategy to deepen trust, rebalance risk, support growth and improve lives. The FCA will focus on four priorities:
We have an exciting opportunity for a permanent Head of AI & Technology Security Operations. This role is designed for an experienced manager, senior technical specialist, or existing Head of Department with proven experience of leading teams and operating at scale in a rapidly evolving digital and AI-driven operating environment. The successful candidate will strengthen their strategic and operational leadership while overseeing high-tempo, service-critical digital and AI operations.
The Head of AI & Technology Security Operations is accountable for ensuring that the FCA’s technology estate — including rapidly expanding AI capabilities — is robust, secure, and able to withstand, detect, and recover from disruption, failure, or exploitation.
The role brings together operational resilience, infrastructure governance, supplier oversight, and enterprise technology and AI-specific vulnerability management, ensuring that both traditional infrastructure and AI-enabled systems are designed, operated, and governed to remain safe, dependable, and trustworthy under stress.
Working in close collaboration with C&IR (Cyber and Information Resilience), this HoD plays a critical leadership role in implementing and managing the technology controls needed to anticipate and mitigate AI-driven risks, including model vulnerabilities, upstream dependency risks, data poisoning, adversarial attacks, and control failures arising from increased autonomy and scale.
This role will be responsible for leading, motivating and directing the department (~70FTE) across London, Leeds, & Edinburgh; and managing the FCA’s critical Digital and AI systems, including AI live service, Service Desk, Incident Management, Cyber Security Operations and Supplier Management.
This is a fantastic development opportunity which will help to build expertise, experience and career skills in a senior, challenging and highly visible role.
The role will be reporting to the Chief Information Officer, and sit in the wider Data, Technology, and Innovation Division.
What will the candidate get from the role?
As Head of AI & Technology Security Operations, you will join the DTI senior leadership team at a pivotal moment in the FCA’s evolution, supporting its ambition to become a forward-thinking, AI-enabled and data-driven regulator. You will lead a skilled multidisciplinary department, working across high-impact digital and AI initiatives to strengthen technology and AI risk management, improve resilience and enable the safe adoption of emerging technologies. Collaborating closely with Cyber & Information Resilience, DTI leadership, product teams and front-line divisions, you will play a key role in driving meaningful change and reinforcing the FCA’s reputation as a trusted, innovative regulator.
This is a high-profile leadership role with enterprise-scale accountability, operating at the intersection of AI, cyber, technology, supplier and operational risk, with a direct contribution to the FCA’s regulatory credibility and public trust.
We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Employer, and therefore, people or individuals with disabilities and long-term conditions who best meet the minimum criteria for a role will go through to the next stage of the recruitment process. In cases of high application volumes we may progress applicants whose experience most closely matches the role’s key requirements. (To learn more about the Disability Confident Scheme Click Here)
Our ambition is to create a diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects the society we serve, helping us to be a better regulator. We serve the public and our decisions directly affect the wellbeing of people, businesses and the UK economy. So, our values matter. They represent the culture we aspire to every day, guiding our judgements, building trust and helping us to be ‘At our best’.
The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of our organisation. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, disabled, and minority ethnic candidates, as under-represented groups.
As an inclusive employer, we are open to considering flexible working arrangements, including job shares. Please inform your recruiter if you wish to apply for this role on a flexible basis.
As part of the FCA’s on-going commitment to develop our national presence, most of our vacancies are now open to working in our Edinburgh, Leeds or London offices. This means that as part of the application process you will be able to select your preference of which office location you would like to work from.
We want to remove any possible barriers and are committed to providing a wide range of reasonable adjustments so that you can keep the focus on your conversations and be at your best. If you have an accessibility requirement, disability, or condition that means you might require changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter to discuss this further.
Our aim is to make you application as easy as possible, and your recruiter will be happy to work with you to make any necessary arrangements where possible.
Our competitive benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifecycle. You can this this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work, or you have the option to top up your base salary by taking this as cash. Core benefits that you will receive as standard are:
All applicants to the FCA are required to demonstrate that they do not have other interests likely to conflict with their responsibilities as an employee of the FCA. You should declare any potential conflict of interest as early as possible in the selection process, and also disclose information or personal connections that, if appointed, might be open to misperception.
Any potential conflicts of interest will not prevent candidates going forward to interview but may, if appropriate, be explored during the interview to establish how the candidate would address the issue(s) should they be successful in their application.
We enable a fair and thriving financial services market for the good of consumers and the economy.
We do this by:
- Regulating the conduct of approximately 50,000 businesses
- Prudentially supervising 48,000 firms
Our Head Office is based in London, and we have offices in Edinburgh and Leeds.
Firms and individuals must be authorised or registered by us to carry out certain activities. Before we grant authorisation, firms must demonstrate that they meet a range of requirements. We then supervise these firms to make sure they continue to meet our standards and rules after they’re authorised. If firms and individuals fail to meet these standards, we have a range of enforcement powers we can use.
