Policy Adviser X2 - Securities and Markets

Job summary

If you’re interested in making a difference to people’s lives, the Treasury can offer you an exciting opportunity to influence decision making that affects the whole of the UK. Working at the heart of government, we collaborate across government to promote responsible public spending and drive strong and sustainable economic growth.

Our work ranges from protecting customers through the regulation of the financial sector, helping to reduce carbon emissions and creating a greener economy, to promoting British trade around the world and supporting people across the country on jobs, growth and more.

We are part of the Darlington Economic Campus, a cross-government hub bringing people together to tackle key national issues while working closer to the communities we serve.

Job description

The Securities and Markets Team develops policy on matters relating to the competitiveness,regulation and, and good functioning of the UK’s financial markets, to support UK growth. The range of our work is wide, from formulating the laws which govern the behaviour of investment bankers and traders, to ensuring that UK financial markets continue to attract the best UK and overseas companies. As part of this, we work closely with teams across HMT and Government, with industry, think tanks and with the regulators. In particular, the team works closely with colleagues in the Financial Conduct Authority, Bank of England and UK representatives around the world. The team is regularly required to work at pace to provide advice to Ministers on high-profile current issues and listings. We have a strong focus on personal development, where you will be encouraged to pursue stretching projects to enable you to develop and thrive.

The team has 19 colleagues across three units: the Capital Markets Unit, Wholesale Markets Unit, and the Financial Market Infrastructure Unit.

One of these roles sits in the Capital Markets Unit. The Capital Markets Unit has 5 people, sitting between a Primary Markets branch leading on policy to enhance the competitiveness of capital markets, and the Listings Engagement and PISCES branch (where this role sits) which leads on the stakeholder strategy to secure listings in the UK, and the development of PISCES.

The other role sits within the Financial Market Infrastructure Unit. The FMI unit is a branch of 6 people (1 Grade 6, 2 Grade 7s and 2-3 SEOs). FMIs are institutions that sit at the heart of financial markets, providing the underlying “plumbing” for the system – without them, most transactions that take place across financial markets couldn’t happen. FMIs underpin the overall stability and resilience of markets and help avoid problems at individual firms from translating to a wider systemic collapse. Given the importance of UK FMIs to the global financial system, they generate significant interest from abroad and this has a strong influence on the unit’s work.

These roles are currently in Securities and Markets Team. However, you should note that there may be changes to the shape of the broader Financial Services Group which could affect which team the roles ultimately sit in.

About the roles

Policy Adviser - Listings and PISCES

This is a fascinating and stretching job, providing the opportunity to the postholder to develop their strategy and policy skills on two high-profile areas of financial services, which sit at the centre of the political debate on the UK’s competitiveness as a global financial centre, and the government’s growth mission.

In this role, you will be responsible for leading engagement with other government departments (in particular the Office for Investment) to support the Listings Taskforce, a ministerial cross-government initiative that directs HMG’s strategic engagement with firms considering Initial Public Offerings on UK public markets. You will also support engagement by HMT ministers with priority targets the Listings Taskforce identifies. You will also act as the government’s account manager for its relationship with the London Stock Exchange.

In addition, you will be responsible for supporting work on PISCES (the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System), a brand-new type of stock exchange for private companies which has been established in a regulatory sandbox. You will do this through leading engagement with PISCES operators, and supporting engagement with companies who are prospective users of PISCES. You will also work closely with lawyers and the Financial Conduct Authority to monitor the effectiveness of the PISCES regulatory framework, and advise ministers on new and innovative policy interventions that will emerge from this cutting-edge policy area.

Success in this role requires strong communication skills and an ability to work effectively across multiple teams and organisations. To do all this, you will need to build relationships with Ministers, Civil Service colleagues, stakeholder groups and the public. Given the fast-paced nature of the work involved, the postholder will be required to apply sound judgement to a range of fast-paced engagement and policy issues, promoting the objectives of the team.

Key accountabilities for this role include:

1. Supporting the secretariat work of the Listings Taskforce. This includes advising which seniors or ministers should meet with target companies, ensuring those meetings are scheduled and following the progress of target companies within the financial services sector towards a potential listing.
2. Supporting HMT ministers and seniors in their engagement with trade associations, pre-IPO or listed companies, the London Stock Exchange and other important decision-makers. This includes coordinating with colleagues within HMT, preparing briefings for ministerial roundtables and drafting speeches.
3. Becoming the HMT subject matter expert on PISCES, contributing to advice to Ministers and senior officials on strategic decisions, and working with industry and regulators to support its success during the sandbox period and to develop a permanent legislative regime.
4. Building relationships with external stakeholders, which requires representing HMT on cross-cutting issues related to listings and PISCES across government, industry and with the Financial Conduct Authority. This will involve significant engagement with other parts of government, especially the Office for Investment, to ensure the Group’s objectives are reflected appropriately.

Policy Adviser – Digital Strategy

This role is stretching, intellectually demanding and will give the successful candidate a high level of policy responsibility and independence, as well as the opportunity to develop a specific policy expertise.

The postholder would lead much of the FMI unit’s work on the modernisation of markets, particularly with the advent of new and exciting innovations like distributed ledger technology., particularly as they relate to digital assets, tokenisation and central securities depositories (a type of market infrastructure where securities are held and transferred).

The postholder would be jointly responsible for delivering on the outputs of the Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy, published in July 2025, which sets a vision to digitalise financial markets and help ensure that UK markets remain resilient, innovative and competitive on a global stage. The postholder would be expected to work closely across other teams in HMT and with the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority to deliver on this, as well as on new or ongoing workstreams to promote digital assets in the UK, such as the UK’s ongoing “Digital Securities Sandbox”.

Alongside this more strategic angle, the postholder would also be expected to lead on the reform of certain bits of UK legislation (e.g. our financial collateral regulations) to help enable the use of new technologies and to support the government’s wider mission to foster UK competitiveness and growth. This would involve developing a sophisticated understanding of the complex processes and frameworks that enable financial markets to operate, as well as the technical detail of the legislation that governs these.

Key accountabilities for this role include:

1. Delivering on the vision set out in the Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy to modernise and improve UK markets.
2. Becoming a subject matter expert on settlement and digital assets/tokenisation and independently take forward work to support the government’s agenda in these areas.
3. Overseeing the delivery and implementation of market reforms through secondary legislation – working collaboratively with Treasury lawyers.
4. Preparing advice for and working with Ministers and seniors on decisions, risks or issues pertaining to your policy.
5. Monitoring international/technological developments in the digital assets space and ensuring these are fed through/accounted for in the unit’s work.
6. Lead engagement with the financial services regulators and key financial services industry partners on a variety of important policy issues related to your policy area.
7. Be responsible for delivering speeches, briefings, correspondence and Parliamentary engagement.

Whilst hybrid working will be the normal rhythm for both roles, it will require some travel to the London office for regular in-person stakeholder engagement.

If you would like to speak to the hiring manager informally prior to the closing date, please contact Kieran Davis (kieran.davis@hmtreasury.gov.uk) and/or Tim Maloney (timothy.maloney@hmtreasury.gov.uk)

Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.

Person specification

Application Stage

Application Form

Applications should consist of a CV including your employment history, and a 250-word statement demonstrating evidence of each of the below shortlisting criteria. Your CV and employment history won’t be scored. It’s used to give context to your application and support discussions at interview.

The panel will review applications and invite those that best demonstrate evidence of the shortlisting criteria below for interview. Please keep this in mind when writing your application.

Please note that only applications submitted through Civil Service Jobs will be accepted.

1. Working Together - Form effective partnerships and relationships with people both internally and externally, from a range of diverse backgrounds, sharing information, resources and support.
2. Making Effective Decisions - Ability to analyse a range of complex information and evaluate evidence to make decisions.
3. Seeing the Big Picture – Ability to identify emerging issues and trends which can impact on work.
4. Communicating and Influencing – Ability to distil complex or technical language into clear and simple prose.

The lead criterion is: Working Together - Form effective partnerships and relationships with people both internally and externally, from a range of diverse backgrounds, sharing information, resources and support.

If we receive a high volume of applications, we’ll first sift using the lead criterion only. Those meeting the minimum score will then be assessed against all remaining criteria.

Interview Stage

If you are successful at the application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed against the following criteria:

• Strengths
• Behaviours: Working Together, Making Effective Decisions, Seeing the Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing

Interview Task / Presentation

Prior to your interview, we will contact you about a presentation that the panel would like you to deliver as part of the assessment. Further details will be communicated to you nearer the time.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £43,090, HM Treasury contributes £12,483 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Generous Annual Leave - 25 days (rising to 30 after 5 years), plus public holidays and the King’s birthday.
• Outstanding Pension Scheme - Defined Benefit pension with employer contributions of 28.97%
• Parental Leave Packages - Including 6 months’ occupational pay for maternity/adoption, shared parental leave options.
• Flexible & Hybrid Working - Options include part-time, job-share, compressed hours, flexitime, and hybrid working (where business needs allow).
• Advance Schemes & Discounts - Rental deposit, cycle-to-work, SmartTech, season ticket loans, and access to HM Treasury’s benefits portal for a wide range of discount codes.

You can review HM Treasury’s full offer here.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

The reference to Experience above is system generated. For this role, experience is not assessed at any stage. We will ask for some CV details in your application form, but this is for reference only and will not be scored.

Candidate Guidance

Please review the candidate guidance for an overview of the Success Profiles and STAR approach, along with top tips for applications and interviews.

Recruitment Timeline

• Closing date: 19/07/2026 before 23:55
• Shortlisting: Week Commencing 20/07/2026
• Interviews: Week Commencing 27/07/2026

This timeline is indicative and may be subject to change. We will inform you if there is a substantial change to the recruitment timeline.

If your contact details change at any time during the selection process, please ensure you update your Civil Service Jobs Profile.

Reserve Lists

You will be placed on a reserve list if your application is successful, but we cannot offer you a role immediately. Where more than one location has been advertised, candidates will be posted in merit order by location. You will be asked to provide your location preference on your application form. Please note that a place on the reserve list does not guarantee an offer.

If you are offered a role in your first preferred location and you decline the offer or are unable to take up the post within a reasonable timeframe, you will be removed from the reserve list, other than in exceptional circumstances.

Those on the reserve list may also be approached for similar roles at a lower grade. If you are offered a role at a lower grade and choose to decline, you can remain on the reserve list.

Internal Fraud Database Check

Candidates cannot apply to roles in the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Successful candidates will be subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database. This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This also applies to those who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the database will be refused employment.

National Security Vetting

Everyone working with government assets must complete Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks. Additionally, successful candidates will be subject to National Security Vetting. The level of security vetting required for this role is Security Check (SC).

To allow for meaningful checks to be carried out, applicants will need to have lived in the UK for at least 3 out of the past 5 years. You will be asked to provide residency information within your application form, and eligibility for national security vetting will be checked once the advert closing date has passed. In certain circumstances, for example if you have been working abroad on a government posting, a lack of residency would not be a bar to security clearance however the Department will need to consider eligibility on a case-by-case basis once the advert closing date has passed.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Kieran Davis and/or Tim Maloney
• Email : kieran.davis@hmtreasury.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : hrrecruitment@hmtreasury.gov.uk

Further information

Complaints Process: Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment based on fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact HMT by email at: hrrecruitment@hmtreasury.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment.

Attachments

Role Profile - 466652 Policy Adviser - Securities and Markets SEO (x2 roles) Opens in new window (pdf, 159kB)