Title:  Risk & Control Analyst

Canada Life UK looks after the retirement, investment and protection needs of individuals, families and companies. We help to build better futures for our customers, our intermediaries and our employees by operating as a modern, agile and welcoming organisation.

Part of our parent company Great-West Lifeco, Canada Life UK has operated in the United Kingdom since 1903. We have hundreds of respected and supported employees committed to doing the right thing for our customers and colleagues.

Canada Life UK is transforming to create a more customer-focused business by providing our customers with expertise on financial and tax planning, offering home finance and annuities propositions, and providing collective fund solutions to third party customers.

Job Summary

As a Customer Services Risks & Controls Analyst, you will act as a first line risk specialist for our Customer Services function. You will provide expert oversight, support, and challenge on all aspects of risks and controls across products, processes, legal entities, and locations.

You will help ensure we meet regulatory and policy requirements, protect customers, and foster a culture of rigorous thinking and effective controls across Customer Services.

What you’ll do

• Provide day‑to‑day guidance, oversight, and challenge on risk and control matters to Customer Services teams.
• Support the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of key controls across end‑to‑end customer journeys.
• Help identify, assess, and manage key operational, conduct, regulatory, financial, data, and fraud risks affecting life assurance customer operations.
• Provide risk and control input into change initiatives impacting Customer Services (e.g. new products, product changes, system implementations).
• Support the design, refinement, and monitoring of key risk indicators (KRIs), ensuring they are well‑defined, understood, and acted upon.
• Manage Risk Events and Data Protection breaches for Customer Services: logging, investigation, root cause analysis, action planning, and tracking to closure.
• Produce and enhance risk MI and reporting packs for leadership and relevant risk/governance forums, providing clear commentary and recommendations.
• Promote and support a strong first line risk culture, providing practical guidance and informal coaching to team leaders and colleagues.
• Work collaboratively with other first line teams, second line Risk and Compliance, and Internal Audit to coordinate responses to reviews, audits, and thematic work.

Who you are and experience required 

Essential 

• An experienced risk, controls, operations, or compliance professional, ideally within Life Assurance, pensions, or a similar regulated financial services environment.

• Working knowledge of life assurance customer operations.

• Comfortable operating independently, influencing and challenging.
• Strongly customer‑focused, with a clear understanding of how risk and control decisions impact customer outcomes.
• Analytical and structured in your thinking, able to interpret data and MI, identify trends, and get to the root cause of issues.
• A clear and confident communicator, able to explain risk concepts and tailor messages to different audiences.
• Highly organised and dependable, with strong attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Collaborative and pragmatic, building good relationships across functions and locations, and working with others to find solutions.
• Guided by integrity and sound judgement, willing to escalate concerns and challenge where needed to protect customers and the business.

• Awareness of key regulatory and conduct requirements relevant to life assurance and customer services (e.g. Treating Customers Fairly, Consumer Duty, complaints handling, data protection, operational resilience).

Desirable

• Professional qualifications or progress towards them (e.g. CII, IRM, ICA, or equivalent risk/compliance/insurance qualifications).
• Experience using risk management or GRC tools and incident/issue management systems.
• Experience supporting risk aspects of change initiatives (e.g. system migrations, process automation, product launches, outsourcing transitions).
• Demonstrable understanding of first line risk management practices (e.g. RCSA, KRIs, incident and issue management, control design and testing).

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 A* - C / 9 – 4 Grade GCSEs (including English and Maths) or equivalent

Benefits of working at Canada Life

We believe in recognising and rewarding our people, so we offer a competitive salary and benefits package that’s regularly reviewed. As a Canada Life UK colleague, you’ll receive a competitive salary and comprehensive reward package including a generous pension and bonus scheme, along with, income protection, private medical insurance and life assurance.  We have a fantastic number of other benefits and support services as well as regular personal and professional development.

How we work at Canada Life

Our culture is unique and incredibly important to us.  We care about doing the right thing for our people, customers and community and helping others to build better futures.  Our blueprint behaviours shape and influence how we work, and are central to the relationships we have with others.  Every day we are encouraged to be more curious, own the outcome, face into things together and find a way forward. 

We want colleagues to have rewarding careers with us so we invest in the development of our people, technology and workplaces. That’s why we offer a range of training, flexible working and opportunities to grow and develop.

Diversity and inclusion

Building an inclusive workplace with a diverse workforce where everyone can feel they belong and achieve their potential regardless of gender, ethnicity or any other characteristic is a key commitment for us.  We are proud of the progress we’re making in DEI, and we continue for it to be a significant focus. 

“At Canada Life we believe in the power of great people from different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives coming together to build better futures. Emerging talent is crucial to our growth and creating an environment that continues to inspire us all.”  Nick Harding, Chief People Officer, Canada Life UK

We appreciate that everyone has different work and life responsibilities. We’re happy to discuss flexible working arrangements, including part time, for any of our roles should this be a requirement for you.