Head of Risk

Salary: From £80,000 to £110,000 + Equity & Benefits

Working Policy: We operate a hybrid policy with a requirement of 3 days a week in the office

About Stream

Stream was founded with the mission to provide fair financial tools to the everyday worker. Offered through destination employers like Greene King, Bupa, Burger King, Asda and the NHS, our award-winning platform helps over three million people to earn, learn, save, spend and borrow on their own terms, all in one smartphone app.

Stream is unique: VC backed and growing at scale, but with a social conscience. Some of the world's leading impact funds were our founding investors, and we operate on a social charter, which means every product and service we create must measurably improve financial wellbeing.

You’d be joining a team of over 300 passionate, ambitious people across Europe and the USA, building a category-defining product, and united by that same mission.

The Opportunity:

Stream operates across multiple regulated entities and jurisdictions (UK, US and Spain), and needs a single senior owner for risk across the whole Group - not just within one product line. You'll take ownership of the Group Risk Management Framework, the three lines of defence model and the Group and entity Risk and Compliance Committee structure, and use it to provide independent, credible second line oversight across every principal risk category the Group faces: commercial and strategic, financial (including but not limited to consumer credit), clients/product/business practices, people, legal and regulatory, and operational. This is a genuinely enterprise-wide remit: you'll be the person people will look to for an independent view on risk, wherever in the business it sits.

The Team:

You'll report into the Director of Compliance, own the Group Risk Management Framework on behalf of the Risk Committee, and be a key voice at Group and entity Risk and Compliance Committees, with periodic reporting into the Group Board of Directors. You'll work closely with first line business leaders and risk owners across all Group entities providing constructive challenge across all risk categories, and make sure the three lines of defence model works in practice, not just on paper. You'll also support risk sub-committees (for example on credit risk) and act as a key contact for regulators on risk-related matters.

What will you be doing?

• Own the Group Risk Management Framework on behalf of the Risk Committee, keeping it current, embedded and reviewed at least annually.

• Maintain and evolve the Group's risk categorisation model - commercial and strategic, financial, clients/product/business practices, people, legal and regulatory, and operational risk - ensuring consistent use across all Group entities.

• Design, propose and monitor Key Risk Indicators (KRIs) across principal risk domains, defining thresholds in line with risk appetite; track performance monthly, challenge first line data, and escalate breaches or adverse trends to Committees and Boards with recommended remediation.

• Maintain and evolve the Group Risk Assessment Matrix, ensuring it reflects the current risk landscape and appetite; lead the introduction of entity-level risk assessments to reflect the distinct regulatory permissions and risk profiles.

• Oversee the enterprise risk register and entity-level risk registers and RCSAs, ensuring risks are identified, scored (likelihood and impact), owned and appropriately reviewed.

• Set and monitor risk appetite, and oversee risk treatment decisions (accept, reduce, transfer or avoid) made by risk owners, including review of risks accepted outside appetite.

• Provide independent second line oversight and effective challenge across all principal risk categories Group-wide.

• Run the escalation and issue management process from entity Risk and Compliance Committees up to the Group Risk Committee and entity/Group Boards, including risk event and incident theme reporting.

• Assist the Director of Compliance with the creation and delivery of the Compliance Monitoring Plan ensuring findings feed back into the risk register and treatment plans.

• Deliver clear, decision-useful risk MI and reporting to Group and entity Risk and Compliance Committees, entity Boards and, where relevant, regulators.

• Build out the risk function as the Group scales, recruiting and developing specialist second line capability.

What experience might you have?

(But if you're close... we'd still love to talk to you!)

• Experience as Head of Risk, or a senior second line risk leader, owning an enterprise-wide risk framework across multiple regulated entities and jurisdictions.

• A strong track record of operating a three lines of defence model, including risk registers, RCSAs, risk appetite setting and committee governance.

• Broad second line experience spanning multiple risk categories - for example conduct, operational, financial crime, people and legal/regulatory risk - rather than a single specialism such as credit.

• Comfortable working to a structured risk methodology (e.g. ISO 31000/27001-aligned likelihood and impact scoring) and adapting it across different entities.

• Confident presenting to and challenging at Board and Board Committee level, and engaging directly with regulators.

Can-be-learnts:

• Stream's specific Group entity and committee structure, and the detail of the existing Group Risk Management Framework and policy templates.

• The nuances of our multi-market regulatory footprint across the UK, US and Spain, if not already familiar with all of them.

• Our specific tech stack, data infrastructure and internal reporting tools.

Within 1 month you'll have:

• Met the key stakeholders across the Group - entity leads, Committee members and the Board - and reviewed the current Group Risk Management Framework, risk registers and RCSAs.

• Built a working understanding of Stream's risk profile across all Group entities and principal risk categories, and identified priority gaps or areas for improvement.

Within 3 months you'll have:

• Presented a review of the Group Risk Management Framework, including any recommended updates to risk appetite or governance, to the Group Risk Committee.

• Established a regular second line reporting cadence and MI pack for Group and entity Risk and Compliance Committees and Boards.

Within 6 months you'll have:

• Embedded consistent second line oversight across all Group entities and all principal risk categories.

• Delivered a demonstrable improvement in the Group Board's visibility of risk and the business's readiness for regulatory scrutiny.

What we’ll do for you

• 25 days' annual leave in addition to public holidays (up to 5 days' rollover), plus flexible time off for ad-hoc childcare, family or caring needs

• 24 weeks' paid maternity leave and 4 weeks' paid paternity leave for employees with over 12 months' service

• Special leave for In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and other fertility treatments

• Sabbatical scheme

• Paid leave to volunteer

• Private healthcare, including comprehensive mental and physical healthcare

• Salary sacrifice to pension, plus bonus exchange to pension: get more from any bonus by paying it into your pension and saving on tax and NI, with added compound growth

• Season ticket loan

• Access to salary sacrifice schemes via ThanksBen, the benefits marketplace. Choose the benefits you want, when you want, pay less tax and get more value, including workplace nurseries, Cycle to Work, and a Home and Tech scheme

• The best benefit of all: access to Stream!

At Stream we celebrate and support our differences. We know employing a team rich in diverse thoughts, experiences, and opinions allows our employees, our product and our community to flourish. Stream is an equal opportunity workplace. We are dedicated to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity/expression, or veteran status.