Job Title:                   (Position Filled) Head of Risk & Assurance

Salary:                        £65,000 - £75,000

Location:                   London

The Company

A leading Casino Operator is seeking a Head of Risk and Assurance to identify and manage potential Risk across the business.

The Role

  • Head of Risk & Assurance will be responsible for and identifying and assessing potential risks to the company as a result of non-compliance with internal policies and work with the business to reduce risk levels. 

  • The job is inspired by the mantra, “prevention is better than cure.” It’s all about avoiding threats and mitigating the effects of those which are essentially unavoidable.

  • The Head of Risk & Assurance will be responsible for advising the senior management team on potential risks to the business that are likely to affect its ability to hold the legal and regulatory licences needed to conduct its business and that could affect its reputation as one of UK’s leading Casino operators.  

  • They are expected to work with the CRO in providing organisational expertise in risk management and use this to lead, develop, implement and continually evaluate how the organisation recognises and addresses risk - including establishing clear risk ownership and effective incident management planning. 

  • Some of the areas of responsibility will be, but are not limited to:

  • Companywide policy management process

  • Annual assurance audit plan

  • Risk KPI monitoring

  • Risk performance reporting

  • Risk register management

  • Remedial action plan management

  • Third party audits and policy evaluation

  • Incident management planning

  • Risk function project management

  • Corporate risk management group chair

  • Health & Safety risk group chair

  • Compliance and Risk Committee secretary

  • Key to the role is the fact that the Head Of Risk & Assurance will be responsible for ensuring that the company operates with an effective third line of defence and work with the operations and compliance teams to ensure that the 3 lines of defence principal is applied across the whole of the business. 

  • Ensuring that Health & Safety requirements are met is another key factor and therefore, while not responsible for Health & Safety policy delivery, applicants should at least have experience of Health & Safety requirements in a retail environment and be willing to develop their knowledge to a level where a recognised qualification appropriate to the role can be obtained 

  • Reports to Chief Risk Officer

Key Accountabilities

Compliance Responsibilities

  • Ensures that appropriate risk and assurance processes are in place to further protect company licences and brand reputation.       

  • Support the CRO in the planning, design and implementation of an overall risk management process for the organisation.

  • Completing risk assessments that identify, describe and estimate the risks affecting the business.

  • Producing risk evaluation reports with criteria such as costs, legal requirements and environmental factors established.

  • Analyse documents, statistics, reports and market trends for risk assessment purposes.

  • Produce group compliance & risk update reports.

  • Regularly evaluating previous handling of risks.

  • Establishing and quantifying the organisation's 'risk appetite'.

  • Project manage on risk functionality.

  • Advise on corporate governance involving external risk reporting to stakeholders.

  • Carrying out processes such as developing and maintaining incident management plans.

  • Conducting audits of policy and compliance to agreed standards, including liaison with internal and external auditors.

  • Generate and manage annual assurance audit plan.

  • Risk and control register management.

  • Deliver on Policy, Procedure & Guidance (PPG) process management.

  • Manage the corporate risk management process.

  • Lead and support remedial action plan management.

  • Ensure the company’s Health & Safety Policy meets current requirements and appropriate processes are in place to achieve full compliance.

  • Manage third party audits and policy evaluation.

  • Lead and/or perform internal investigations, as required.

  • Attend and manage the Health & Safety risk group meetings.

  • Attend and manage the Corporate Risk Management meetings.

  • Act as secretary and contribute to the Compliance & Risk Committee meetings.

Skills and Knowledge

Basic Requirements    

  • Minimum 3 years, experience in a similar risk management role, ideally within the gambling industry

  • An in depth understanding of the three lines of defence risk management model and demonstrable experience of its successful application.

  • Proven track record in developing risk management processes that support a regulated business in protecting its ability to trade.

  • Experience of designing and undertaking risk-based audits

Essential Knowledge               

  • Established risk identification and prioritisation processes

  • Risk reporting and monitoring systems

  • Risk evaluation and prevention techniques

  • NEBOSH Health and Safety at Work Qualification or similar

Desirable Knowledge

  • Knowledge of the UK Gambling Act and Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice.

  • Understanding of gambling products

  • NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety or similar

TO DISCOVER MORE CONTACT STEVEN JACKSON ON STEVEN@GRS-RECRUIT.COM