Financial Conduct Authority
Senior Associate – Market Research specialist
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Job Title: Senior Associate – Market Research Specialist
Division: Supervision, Policy and Competition
Directorate: Cross Cutting Policy & Strategy
Department: Cross-Cutting Response, Research & Contracts
Salary
- National (Edinburgh and Leeds): ranging from £53,800 to £67,199
- London: £59,200 to £73,799 per annum
- Role Grade: Senior Associate – Regulatory
Recruitment Contact
- Internal: Louis Van den Burg via Louis.vandenburg@fca.org.uk
- External: Tahir Kahn via Tahir.Khan1@fca.org.uk
Application Process
- Applications must be submitted through our online portal.
- Applications sent via social media or email will not be accepted.
- Required documents:
- CV
- Supporting statement (no longer than 500 words)
- Links to any research publications
- Applications without a covering letter may not be accepted.
- You can apply for both the Senior Associate and Research Manager roles through one application. Indicate your interest in both roles and your suitability in your supporting statement.
About The FCA and The Team
The FCA regulates the conduct of approximately 35,500 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair, and competitive. Follow this link to find out more about the FCA.
The FCA’s Market Research team provides vital consumer insights that support regulatory decisions. The team conducts bespoke surveys and qualitative research for other areas of the FCA, collaborates with third-party data providers, and ensures consumer insights are embedded across the organization. They also deliver the Financial Lives survey (FLS) – a key, nationally representative study tracking UK consumers’ attitudes, behaviors, and financial experiences.
Their work informs policy, identifies emerging issues, and measures regulatory impact – helping to keep the consumer voice central to financial oversight. The team also manages a smaller amount of firm research, including research about the perceptions firms and other stakeholders have of the FCA and how firms experience regulation.
Role Responsibilities
The role will be approximately 75% focused on bespoke research and 25% on FLS. You will work closely with the team leads (Lead Associates) for FLS and for Bespoke research.
- Work with internal clients to write excellent Statements of Requirements (SoRs) for new bespoke research.
- Assess/evaluate agency bids.
- Work with appointed suppliers to ensure research projects are delivered on time and within budget.
- Ensure projects use optimal data collection, data is robust, and findings are analyzed and reported well.
- For quantitative projects, ensure that sampling, screening, and weighting are addressed as early as needed in the project timeline and that outputs will meet client needs.
- For qualitative research, ensure projects meet client needs, whether they are standalone projects, intended to help design a survey, to fill the gaps quantitative research cannot fill, or to inform behavioral testing research run by colleagues in Economics.
- For some projects, design the survey or qualitative research and/or provide a clear research design in a SoR for agencies to refine.
- Sometimes produce a first draft of the questionnaire or discussion guide.
- Responsible for two or three retail financial sectors or topics covered by the FLS, meaning you deliver the questionnaire, the tabspec, and the slides-based report for these sections of the survey.
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Skills Required
Minimum
- Prior experience managing market research projects within a market research agency, regulator, or government department, including devising and overseeing workstreams and detailed timelines as well as overseeing suppliers.
- Strong organizational skills, with the ability to work autonomously and deliver on your own initiative, to manage competing priorities, to work collaboratively to achieve wider team goals, and to keep delivery on track.
- High attention to detail, with the ability to implement and maintain processes that ensure the quality and rigor of the team’s work.
Essential
- Experience of designing and conducting research for, or on behalf of, a financial services organization or a public sector organization.
- Very good knowledge of a broad range of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, with the ability to analyze results effectively.
- Experience of writing reports to publication standard, in PowerPoint and in Word.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Broad understanding of the different retail sectors within the financial services industry and the regulatory environment in which it operates.
- Experience of designing and conducting research in one or more financial services sectors (or an ability to demonstrate you will get up to speed quickly).
Benefits
- 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
- Non-contributory pension (8–12% depending on age) and life assurance at eight times your salary
- Private healthcare with Bupa, income protection, and 24/7 Employee Assistance
- 35 hours of paid volunteering annually
- Hybrid model where employees currently work a minimum of 50% in the office each month
- A flexible benefits scheme designed around your lifestyle
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For a full list of our benefits, and our recruitment process as a whole, visit our benefits page.
Our Values and Culture
Our colleagues are the key to our success as a regulator. We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture: one that’s free from discrimination and bias, celebrates difference, and supports colleagues to deliver at their best. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organization – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.
If you require any adjustments due to a disability or condition, your recruiter is here to help - reach out for tailored support.
We welcome diverse working styles and aim to find flexible solutions that suit both the role and individual needs, including options like part-time and job sharing where applicable.
Disability Confident: Our Hiring Approach
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.
Useful Information and Timeline
- Advert Closing Date: Tuesday 8th September 2026 at 23:59
- CV Review/Shortlist: Wednesday 9th – Friday 11th September 2026
- Shortlisted Candidates to be informed: Friday 11th September 2026
- First Round Interviews, over Teams: Monday 21st September – Thursday 1st October 2026
- Second Round shortlist: Thursday 1st October 2026
- Shortlisted Candidates to be informed: Friday 2nd October 2026
- Second Round Interviews, in person ideally, and including a case study task: Thursday 15th October and Friday 16th October 2026
Your Recruiter will discuss the process in detail with you during screening for the role, therefore, please make them aware if you are going to be unavailable for any date during this time.
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