Central Digital Review Unit Lead Investigator - Leeds

Central Digital Review Unit Lead Investigator - Leeds

Do you want to play a leading role in helping to shape and develop The Central Digital Review Unit (CDRU)?

The team/ department
The Central Digital Review Unit (CDRU) is a specialised review unit providing a comprehensive digital evidence review service to Enforcement and Market Oversight (EMO). We support case teams in investigatory reviews on regulatory, civil, criminal, dual-track, and disclosure cases.

CDRU’s core function is the review of digital evidence using the EDT eDiscovery tool. Analysis of a large numbers of documents in an expert manner in line with the review protocol. Strategic direction for eDiscovery techniques in the processing and review of digital evidence. Guidance and advice on the administration of the EDT eDiscovery platform and the eDiscovery supervised machine learning platforms and management of hosted digital evidence.

What you will be doing (the role)

This is a permanent position to oversee CDRU Leeds:

• Manage and develop your team, demonstrating accountability for the work for both the team and be responsible for how the team prioritises work in line with wider FCA objectives
• Manage day to day resourcing of conflicting demands and motivate team to stay focussed and achieve demanding timescales
• Be accountable for driving quality assurance on all cases across the team, including training, developing and coaching team members and colleagues when required to ensure maintenance of proficiency and quality of team
• Provision of accurate statistical representation of CDRU quantitative and qualitative performance
• Ongoing liaison with Investigation Case Teams, Criminal Disclosure Unit and others to provide regular updates, advice and provide effective eDiscovery techniques, including acting as point of escalation for complex issues
• Provide assistance to the Manager in the development and planning of the team strategy and priorities, team planning and evaluation the eDiscovery proof of concept work and any other projects and initiatives when required

What you will get from the role

• An opportunity to gain further management experience, in a new an exciting department, within a supportive environment committed to learning and development
• The opportunity to help shape and develop the CDRU digital review service it provides to EMO and the wider FCA
• Innovate using supervised machine learning and enhance your technical abilities and knowledge in eDiscovery/EDRM
• You will work on investigations that really matter, supporting the aims of the organisation in the regulation of financial services in the United Kingdom and its economy

Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifecycle. You can use this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work or you have the option top up your base salary by taking this as cash.

Core benefits that you will receive as standard are:

• 25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays
• Private healthcare with Bupa
• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8% of basic salary each month (there are several contribution levels that increase depending on your age – up to 12% a month once you reach age 35)
• Life assurance of eight times your basic salary
• Income protection

We support hybrid working which means you will be able to work from home up to 60% of the time over a month with the remainder of your time in one of our three office locations.

The skills and experience you will have

Minimum

We are a signatory to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to disabled candidates entering under the scheme, should they meet the minimum criteria for a role.

• Experience in any of the following areas: regulatory investigations or litigation; investigations involving serious fraud, complex financial crime, or criminal cases
• Previous experience and utilisation of eDiscovery/EDRM and achievement and maintenance of eDiscovery certifications in our vendor specific application (training will be provided)
• Previous people management/leadership experience, with proven evidence of monitoring/reviewing performance and coaching and mentoring to support development

Essential

• Experience of managing, coaching and mentoring a team
• Proven ability to assess and evaluate voluminous amounts of digital data in complex cases and balance conflicting demands to ensure delivery
• Ability to identify and solve issues through effective Quality Assurance mechanisms
• Demonstrate ongoing proficiency in document review outcomes and able to endorse those judgements where appropriate, including to senior management and presentation in court or tribunal
• An open and flexible management style and the ability to communicate and influence to a wide range of audiences/stakeholders, with differing skills and perspectives
• Experience in developing effective review strategies including identifying key risks and putting in place steps, to mitigate those risks
• A knowledge of both Civil and Criminal disclosure rules and evidential standards
• Knowledge of the eDiscovery Reference Model (EDRM) process and understanding of artificial intelligence and continuous active learning (CAL)

About the FCA

The FCA regulates the conduct of 50,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work well for individuals, businesses and the economy as a whole. For more information on what we do, our three-year strategy can be found here.

The FCA's Values & Diversity

Our ambition is to cultivate a culture of inclusion for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.

The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisations. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, disabled and minority ethnic candidates for our role.

Flexible working

We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements. Many of our staff work flexibly including working part-time, staggered hours, and job shares. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want but we won’t judge you for asking.

Multi-location

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 role will primarily based within the Leeds office, but you may be required to work at other locations to meet the needs of the business.

Useful information

Applications for this role close at 23:59 on 19th March 2025.

This role is graded as Lead Associate – Regulatory.

This is will be primarily be based in Leeds.

On-line application: please submit your CV and answer the following:

Can you describe a situation where you successfully led a team through a challenging project or task? What was your approach and what were the outcomes? and (ii) Describe a project where you had to work closely with colleagues from different departments or disciplines. How did you ensure effective collaboration, communication, and confidence across teams?

Your answers should relate to the criteria listed above, covering your relevant skills, knowledge, and experience with no more than 250 words for each answer. Your application will not be accepted without both your CV and your answer.

What to expect from our interview process

The process will be over one or two stages where your key competencies will be assessed.

Application support

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 your application as easy and comfortable as possible, and your recruiter will be happy to work with you to make any necessary arrangements where possible.

Security Clearance/Vetting (as required )

The successful candidate will hold or will be required to obtain Security Clearance (SC) level vetting. (If applicable to role)

Please note that all applications must be submitted through our online portal, applications sent via email will not be accepted.