Operational Resilience Manager (Pioneer)

Who are Admiral Pioneer?

Disruptive. Customer Centered. Transformational.

Admiral Pioneer exists within Admiral Group as a venture studio, providing the greenhouse in which to grow new businesses. We’re leveraging Admiral’s strengths to deliver commercially strong businesses that answer the financial needs of new audiences and respond to emerging opportunities.

We seek to disrupt the markets we enter, taking a truly customer-centric approach. We achieve this by experimenting and proving new products, business models and partnerships through a disciplined, discovery-driven approach.

About the role

The Operational Resilience Manager will play an exciting and important role in our regulatory transition; accountable for the design, implementation, and embedding of Pioneer’s Operational Resilience Framework, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and alignment with Admiral Group standards.

The role provides independent second-line oversight and challenge, while also leading the practical implementation required to meet regulatory milestones. It will act as the central subject matter expert for Operational Resilience within Pioneer and a key interface with Group Risk and external regulators where required.

Key Responsibilities  

Operational Resilience Framework Ownership

• Accountable for designing and implementing Pioneer’s Operational Resilience Framework in line with FCA requirements and Group policy.
• Lead the identification and mapping of Important Business Services, ensuring robust documentation of end-to-end processes, dependencies, and third-party arrangements.
• Define and calibrate impact tolerances, ensuring Board understanding and approval.
• Establish governance, reporting, and escalation mechanisms appropriate to Pioneer’s size, complexity, and risk profile.
• Ensure integration of operational resilience with existing risk, outsourcing, business continuity, and third-party risk frameworks.

Regulatory Compliance

• Lead Pioneer’s programme to meet all applicable FCA operational resilience milestones.
• Act as the primary contact for Operational Resilience matters in regulatory interactions (FCA/GFSC where applicable), in conjunction with the Pioneer Compliance Lead.
• Ensure documentation, self-assessments, and Board attestations are robust and regulator ready.
• Monitor regulatory developments and proactively adapt Pioneer’s framework accordingly.

Scenario Testing

• Design and oversee severe but plausible scenario testing for Important Business Services.
• Ensure testing is proportionate, realistic, and drives meaningful insight into vulnerabilities.
• Oversee remediation tracking and ensure accountability for addressing weaknesses.
• Provide independent second-line challenge to first-line resilience planning and testing outputs.

Incident & Crisis Integration

• Ensure alignment between Operational Resilience, Business Continuity, Incident Management, and Crisis Response frameworks.
• Provide second-line oversight of incident response effectiveness and post-incident reviews.
• Ensure lessons learned are formally incorporated into resilience planning and control improvements.

Governance & Reporting

• Own Operational Resilience reporting to the Pioneer Risk Management Committee and Board.
• Provide clear, risk-based insight on resilience exposure, vulnerabilities, and regulatory readiness.
• Support Board understanding of impact tolerances, residual risk, and strategic trade-offs.
• Represent Pioneer within Admiral Group resilience forums, ensuring alignment and proportionality.

Embedding & Culture

• Develop and deliver targeted training and awareness initiatives to embed operational resilience principles across Pioneer.
• Influence senior stakeholders to ensure resilience considerations are integrated into product development, outsourcing decisions, and strategic initiatives.
• Promote a pragmatic, proportionate, and commercially aligned approach to resilience within a fast-growing environment.

Essential Experience

• Strong working knowledge of the FCA Operational Resilience regime and its practical implementation requirements.
• Experience implementing or significantly enhancing operational resilience frameworks within a regulated financial services environment.
• Experience operating within a second-line risk function, providing independent oversight and challenge.
• Demonstrated ability to engage effectively with senior leadership and governance committees.
• Strong analytical capability and ability to translate complex regulatory requirements into practical, proportionate frameworks.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Strategic and forward-looking, able to balance regulatory robustness with commercial pragmatism.
• Structured and disciplined in programme delivery.
• Comfortable operating in a growing, entrepreneurial business environment.
• High integrity, resilience, and sound professional judgement.

Desirable

• Experience within insurance or commercial lines distribution.
• Knowledge of outsourcing, third-party risk, or technology risk management.
• Relevant professional qualification (IRM, ICA, CII, or equivalent).

As a Disability Confident Leader, for candidates with a disability or long-term health condition, that opt into the Disability Confident scheme, we’ll invite a fair and proportionate number of applicants that meet the essential requirements of the role to the first stage of our selection process.

If you need any adjustments or support with your application or during the recruitment process, just let us know. Please do email Daniel.Cavill@admiralgroup.co.uk or contact us on 07502 959750. This number is dedicated to supporting candidates that require reasonable adjustments or support during the application process.

Admiral: Where You Can

We take pride in being a diverse and inclusive business. It's a place where you can Be You, and show up as you are. We’re committed to fostering a people-first culture where everyone is accepted, supported, and empowered to be brilliant. You can, Grow And Progress at a pace and direction that suits you, Make A Difference for our customers and each other, and Share in Our Future with all colleagues eligible for up to £3,600 of free shares each year after one year of service.

Everyone receives 33 days holiday (including bank holidays) when they join us, increasing the longer you stay with us, up to a maximum of 38 days (including bank holidays). You also have the option to buy or sell up to an additional five days of annual leave.

We’re proud of our people-first culture. In fact, we've been recognised as a Great Place to Work for Women, a Great Place to Work for Wellbeing, and an overall Great Place to Work for over 25 years! We’re fully committed to making sure your progression is not slowed or halted by barriers related to race, gender, age, sexuality or any of the protected characteristics.

Our fantastic benefits make sure our colleagues have a great work-life balance; You can view some of our other key benefits here.

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