Operational Resilience Specialist

At Smart, our mission is to transform retirement, savings and financial wellbeing, across all generations, around the world.

THE ROLE

We are seeking an experienced professional to lead the delivery of key initiatives within the Risk Team, with a primary focus on Operational Resilience and Business Continuity Management. This role will ensure the organisation is prepared for and capable of responding effectively to events that may impact operations. The successful candidate must be comfortable working independently, manage multiple priorities simultaneously and support the broader risk management framework across the business.

This is a 12 month fixed-term contract, reporting to our Director of Risk and Assurance.

Key responsibilities:

• Develop, maintain, and enhance Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans in line with ISO 22301, ensuring they are robust, tested, and fit for purpose.

• Refine the Business Impact Assessment template and conduct Business Impact Assessments with departments and functions to evaluate the potential impact of disruptions such as cyberattacks, security breaches, or privacy incidents.

• Identify and implement recovery operations to maintain critical services and ensure organisational resilience during incidents.

• Maintain and update the Business Continuity Policy, Business Continuity Plan, and Incident Response Policy to ensure they remain current and effective.

• Develop Incident Response checklist, playbooks, communication plans

• Act as a primary contact for incident response and emergency notifications, including planning, managing, and testing the notification process.

• Design and facilitate simulation exercises, workshops, and scenario testing, reporting outcomes and improvement actions.

• Produce management reports, risk updates, and governance materials for senior management, risk committees, and external stakeholders, providing assurance to auditors and clients.

• Provide subject-matter expertise on emerging risks, regulatory developments, and industry best practices.

• Support the risk identification and assessment process, including ad hoc research projects, to strengthen organisational understanding of risk exposure.

• Promote a strong risk-aware culture, embedding operational resilience and Smart’s principles across the business.

• Collaborate with Risk, Audit, and Compliance teams to ensure alignment and build strong stakeholder relationships.

• Contribute to supporting activities including partner/client due diligence, training delivery and tracking, and policy management to ensure consistency and relevance.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

The skills, experience, and aptitudes we are looking for are listed below but please don’t be discouraged from applying if you don’t meet every single one of these criteria – having a ‘can do’ attitude is sometimes more important than being able to tick every box:

• Strong background in Business Continuity, Operational Resilience, and Risk Management, ideally within a regulated environment.

• Familiarity with ISO 22301 and resilience regulatory requirements (FCA/PRA or equivalent).

• Proven experience in incident response, business impact assessments, and continuity planning.

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to engage at all levels.

• Analytical, detail-oriented, and comfortable producing reports for senior audiences.

• Ability to work collaboratively while also driving initiatives independently.

WHO WE ARE

We work in partnerships with governments and financial institutions in the UK and internationally. Our cloud-native digital platform is revolutionising how people around the world think about, and save for, their retirement.

At heart, we’re a financial technology business. What we do is all about innovation, and using the power of digital change to put the customer first. Our Engineers will tell you that working at Smart gives you the opportunity to play your part in developing world-class technological solutions, working with – and learning from – like-minded people.

You’ll also find that, across our business, our colleagues love Smart’s culture, and how what we do means better financial outcomes for savers. That feels worthwhile, and it means that what we do, collectively, goes way beyond the nine to five of a typical working day.

Don’t just take our word for it – you can see what our colleagues say about working at Smart on LinkedIn Life and Glassdoor .

BENEFITS

At Smart, one of the eight principles we work to is “We want happy and good people in our team”. We created a list of benefits that helps us achieve this goal:

• 25 days’ holiday per year, increasing with length of service.

• £500 annual training budget to spend on your professional development

• Extensive private healthcare, including dental, eyecare and EAP

• Enhanced sick leave (three months’ pay per year)

• Enhanced maternity and paternity (maternity – 6 months fully paid/paternity – 3 weeks fully paid)

• Death in service insurance cover

• Fully-paid five-week sabbatical after five years of employment

• In office wellbeing, such as manicures, massages and barbers.

• Smart employees also enjoy a 50% discount on orders from our sister company Arena Flowers, Britain's most ethical florist. They offer unique hand-tied bouquets, luxury flowers, letterbox flowers, plants and gifts to spend on friends and loved ones or even for yourself.

We think Smart is an awesome place to work. If it sounds like somewhere you’d like to work, too, and if you’re ready to play your part in our continued success in the future, then naturally we’d love to meet you.