Control Automation and Improvement Lead

Control Automation & Improvement Lead

Are you passionate about improving how organisations manage risk, controls and assurance? We are seeking an experienced professional to join our First Line Controls Centre of Excellence as a Control Improvement & Automation Lead. This is an exciting opportunity to help shape the future of our control environment by introducing more effective, efficient and technology-enabled approaches to managing risk and control across Yorkshire Building Society.

Working across Operational Risk, Technology & Data Risk, Change Risk, Conduct Risk and People Risk, you'll play a key role in modernising our control environment. You'll help move us beyond traditional manual and retrospective controls by embedding control-by-design principles, automating controls, enhancing monitoring capabilities and supporting the adoption of continuous assurance techniques.

Your role will be crucial in helping the Society strengthen its control environment, improve operational efficiency and support better outcomes for our members. Working closely with business teams, control owners, technology specialists and our Control Testing team, you'll identify opportunities to simplify processes, improve controls and drive meaningful change across the organisation.

About the Role

• Lead Control Improvement and Automation: Identify opportunities to simplify, standardise and automate controls, reducing manual activity while improving control effectiveness and sustainability.
• Embed Control by Design: Work with business teams and change initiatives to ensure controls are designed into processes, systems and customer journeys from the outset rather than added retrospectively.
• Develop Automated Monitoring: Design and implement automated control indicators, risk indicators, dashboards and monitoring capabilities that provide timely insight into control performance and emerging risks.
• Support Continuous Assurance: Partner with the Control Testing team to identify opportunities to automate testing and introduce more continuous and data-driven approaches to assurance.
• Improve Processes and Controls: Analyse control testing results, incidents, risk events and operational data to identify root causes, control weaknesses and opportunities for improvement.
• Collaborate with Technology Teams: Work with technology teams and ServiceNow IRM specialists to develop automated workflows, dashboards and monitoring solutions.
• Build and Manage an Improvement Pipeline: Develop and maintain a prioritised pipeline of control improvement and automation opportunities aligned to risk, business value and strategic priorities.
• Influence and Support Stakeholders: Work with colleagues and senior leaders across the Society to implement practical solutions that strengthen controls, improve resilience and support better member outcomes.

About You

• Control Improvement and Automation Experience: Experience improving, redesigning or automating controls within risk, assurance, audit, operations, technology or transformation environments.
• Risk and Control Expertise: Strong understanding of control design, risk management concepts and control frameworks within a regulated environment.
• Process Improvement Mindset: Experience identifying inefficiencies, simplifying processes and implementing sustainable solutions that improve control effectiveness and operational performance.
• Data and Technology Knowledge: Experience using data, analytics, dashboards or technology-enabled solutions to improve monitoring, insight and decision-making.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Comfortable working with stakeholders at all levels, including Senior Manager and Director level, to influence change and drive improvement.
• Continuous Monitoring and Assurance: Understanding of monitoring, assurance, audit or control testing approaches and how technology can be used to enhance them.
• Organisation and Flexibility: Able to manage multiple priorities simultaneously while maintaining quality and delivering meaningful outcomes.