Jobs

If you’re an experienced Chair, Chief Risk Officer, Compliance Oversight holder, MLRO, or hold — or are ready to hold — any other FCA Senior Manager Function, this is your starting point. Most of the roles we handle are never publicly advertised, so registering directly with us is genuinely the best way to hear about a live search before it reaches a wider market.

Why Most SMF Roles Aren’t Publicly Listed

SMF searches — board appointments especially, but increasingly executive ones too — are almost always run on a retained, confidential basis. Boards recruiting a new Chair or Senior Independent Director are rarely comfortable with an open advert naming the firm, and firms recruiting SMF16 or SMF17 holders during a sensitive period, such as an authorisation process or a period of heightened supervisory attention, have obvious reasons to keep the search quiet until an appointment is close to confirmed. That means the single best way to hear about live SMF opportunities is to be in our network already, not to wait for a job board listing that may never appear.

Who We’re Looking to Hear From

Non-executive candidates

Sitting or former chairs and committee chairs at FCA or PRA-regulated firms, former senior regulators, and experienced non-executive directors with genuine board-level governance experience — particularly those who already hold, or have previously held, SMF9, SMF10, SMF11, SMF12 or SMF14 at a comparable firm.

Executive candidates

Chief Executives, Chief Risk Officers, Heads of Internal Audit, and compliance and financial crime specialists with direct SMF1, SMF4, SMF5, SMF16 or SMF17 experience — including candidates open to fractional or interim arrangements, not only permanent appointments.

Candidates stepping up for the first time

Strong candidates moving into their first SMF-designated role — a Financial Controller with genuine regulatory reporting depth moving toward SMF16, or an experienced committee member ready to chair for the first time. We’re realistic about what a first-time SMF appointment requires, and we’ll give you an honest view of whether a specific opportunity is the right stretch or a step too far.

How Registering Actually Works

Send your CV to recruitment@smfcapital.co.uk along with a short note covering the specific designation or designations you hold or are targeting, your sector experience, and whether you’re open to permanent, interim or fractional arrangements. Adrian reads every registration personally. Where we have a live search that’s a genuine fit, we’ll come back to you directly and confidentially — we don’t submit your details to any client without your explicit agreement first, given how sensitive many of these searches are for the candidate as well as the firm.

Where nothing live matches right now, being in our network means you’re one of the first people we think of when a relevant search does land — which, given how much of our work depends on already knowing strong candidates before a firm’s Form A timeline starts running, is a genuinely useful position to be in.

What to Expect Once You’re in a Live Process

Every SMF search we run tests candidates against the same fit and proper standard the FCA will eventually apply — so expect a genuinely thorough conversation, not a quick screening call. We’ll ask about specific instances of challenge and escalation, not just general seniority; we’ll be direct about the realistic timeline, including Form A approval once an offer is made; and we’ll give you a straight view of the firm’s actual governance context, not just the role description. Candidates who’ve been through a well-run SMF process elsewhere generally tell us this is a more substantive conversation than a standard senior recruitment process — that’s deliberate, and it’s the same standard the regulator will hold you to once you’re in the role.

Pay Expectations

SMF compensation varies substantially by firm size, regulatory complexity and designation — our guide to what SMF roles actually pay in 2026 sets out current benchmarks across the board and executive designations, including where genuine specialist experience commands a premium over general seniority.