Health & Safety Manager

Location: London or Leeds

Role Overview

The Health & Safety Manager is a senior strategic role in the Bank’s central Health and Safety Function, acting as the second line of defence for governance, standards, expertise and assurance.

The role owns the Health & Safety Management System, setting the governance framework, standards and assurance model, and ensuring it remains effective, robust and aligned with best practice, including ISO 45001 principles.

You will design and maintain strong safety governance arrangements that enable first-line business areas to manage operational health and safety risks, supported by expert oversight, consistent standards and independent enterprise-level assurance.

Working closely with the Head of Health & Safety and senior stakeholders, you will provide clear insight on risk exposure, control effectiveness and safety performance, helping executive leaders make informed decisions on health and safety risk.

This is a governance, assurance and continuous improvement role, distinct from day-to-day operational safety delivery. It works in partnership with the Health and Safety Operations Support Lead, who supports operational coordination and compliance tracking.

Together, these roles provide both first-line operational enablement and second-line oversight, helping the Bank operate an integrated, effective health and safety management system that reduces risk and supports proactive safety management across the organisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Health and Safety Governance: Lead the development and continual improvement of the Bank’s health and safety governance framework and Safety Management System, aligned to ISO 45001, regulation and best practice.
• Standards, Policy and Documentation: Own the health and safety standards library and management system documentation, ensuring clear, current, risk-based guidance, procedures and evidence are maintained and audit-ready.
• Risk, Control and Assurance: Establish and maintain assurance over health and safety risks, test critical controls, challenge first-line risk management, escalate material issues and drive sustainable improvements.
• Reporting, Insight and Continuous Improvement: Provide clear, data-led reporting on risk, compliance, controls, audits and emerging issues, translating information into practical insight and improvement action.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Work with operational leaders, facilities, projects, suppliers, risk and audit teams to embed health and safety requirements, provide expert advice and constructive challenge.
• Leadership: Provide technical direction to colleagues and support a credible, high-performing function focused on effective governance, assurance and continuous improvement.

Role Requirements

What we’re looking for

Minimum Criteria

• Demonstrable experience in health and safety, risk, assurance or governance within a complex or regulated organisation.
• Working knowledge of UK health and safety legislation, regulations and recognised standards.
• Experience producing clear reports, guidance or recommendations for managers or senior stakeholders.

Essential Criteria

• Proven experience designing, improving or managing health and safety management systems, governance frameworks, standards, policies or procedures.
• Practical understanding of ISO 45001 principles and how these can be applied in a large organisation.
• Experience identifying material risks, maintaining risk registers, mapping assurance activity or assessing control effectiveness.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with evidence of translating technical, regulatory or risk information into clear, decision-ready outputs.
• Experience leading or influencing improvement initiatives, audits or assurance activity that have strengthened health and safety performance, governance or culture.

Desirable Criteria

• Chartered membership, professional certification or formal qualification in health and safety, risk, audit, governance or assurance.
• Experience in financial services, public sector, critical national infrastructure or another highly regulated environment.
• Experience supporting external certification, audits, regulatory reviews or assurance assessments.
• Experience using digital tools, dashboards or data analysis to improve risk visibility, action tracking, assurance or evidence management.

The role reports to the Head of Health and Safety. It sits within the Health and Safety Function’s standards, assurance and risk visibility resource, and works closely with other specialists to support the wider Health and Safety Function team objectives.

Location and Working Arrangements