Operational Risk Policy Governance Analyst

Are you a policy and governance specialist who thrives on bringing structure, clarity, and rigour to complex frameworks? Do you have a foundational grounding in operational risk and a passion for designing policy architectures that genuinely drive sustainable governance? If so, this is your opportunity to make a meaningful and lasting impact at one of the world's leading reinsurance companies.

About the Role:

As an Operational Risk Policy Governance Analyst at Swiss Re, you will be at the heart of building and shaping a central second line of defence (2LoD) policy governance capability for selected operational risks — spanning evolving and high-priority areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Operational Resilience, Third Party Risk Management, and Finance. This role is fundamentally about policy and standard creation, framework design, and lifecycle governance. You will define the architecture, draft the requirements, manage the end-to-end lifecycle, and provide independent oversight — all within an operational risk context. Working closely with first line teams and subject matter experts, you will bring the structure and expertise needed to make policy governance a genuine enabler of sound risk management across the organisation.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and evolve policy architecture — build and maintain the structural framework for selected operational risk policies and standards, ensuring clarity, consistency, and alignment with Swiss Re's governance standards
• Draft policy and standard requirements — create clear, concise, and practical policy requirements and standards that provide effective second line oversight and meaningful guidance to first line teams
• Manage the end-to-end policy lifecycle — oversee policies and standards from inception through periodic review to retirement, maintaining high-quality documentation and producing meaningful governance reporting
• Coordinate approvals and governance processes — manage structured review and approval cycles end-to-end, ensuring timely completion and accurate record-keeping
• Provide trusted second line oversight and constructive challenge — act as a credible and collaborative partner to first line teams and subject matter experts, applying sound judgement and an independent perspective grounded in operational risk principles
• Engage and manage stakeholders across functions and seniority levels — build strong professional networks and communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences
• Drive continuous improvement — proactively identify opportunities to enhance policy governance frameworks, processes, and tools in a dynamic and evolving risk environment

About the team:

The ORM Policy Governance team sits within Group Functions Risk Management (GFRM) at Swiss Re. The team is responsible for building and maintaining a central 2LoD policy governance capability for selected operational risks, working across the organisation to ensure that policy requirements are clear, robust, and fit for purpose. The team collaborates closely with first line teams and subject matter experts to promote consistent, sustainable governance across a broad range of evolving operational risk topics.

About you:

You are a structured, detail-oriented, and proactive professional whose expertise lies in policy and standard creation and governance. You know how to design a policy framework, manage its lifecycle with rigour, and write requirements that are both practical and robust. Alongside this, you bring a foundational understanding of operational risk management — enough to apply sound judgement on governance matters and engage credibly with risk and control teams. You are a confident communicator who can challenge constructively, navigate complexity, and manage multiple priorities, all while contributing to a team culture built on knowledge sharing, curiosity, and continuous improvement.

We are looking for candidates who meet these requirements:

• Policy and standard creation expertise — demonstrated, hands-on experience in drafting, designing, and managing policies and/or standards, including the ability to build and maintain a structured policy framework and govern its full lifecycle from inception through to retirement
• Policy governance and lifecycle management — proven experience managing governance processes such as approvals, periodic reviews, version control, and documentation, with a strong ability to write clear, concise, and practical policy requirements
• Foundational understanding of operational risk management — solid grounding in operational risk concepts and the three lines of defence model, with the ability to apply this knowledge to inform sound policy design and provide credible second line oversight
• Specialist domain knowledge — solid knowledge and demonstrable skills in at least one of the following areas: Artificial Intelligence (AI) governance, Operational Resilience, Third Party Risk Management, or Finance — this specialist grounding is key to enabling credible policy design and meaningful oversight in an evolving risk landscape
• Academic foundation — university degree in business, finance, law, risk management, or a related field (or equivalent experience)
• Communication and stakeholder engagement skills — strong written and verbal communication skills in English, with the ability to engage effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders and challenge constructively across all levels of the organisation

These are additional nice to haves:

• Experience working in a second line of defence or oversight function within a large, complex financial services or insurance organisation
• Familiarity with evolving operational risk topics such as AI governance
• Experience working in a multinational or cross-cultural environment
• Proficiency in MS Office applications, particularly Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Strong organisational skills with high attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple topics and deadlines simultaneously
• A collaborative mindset with a genuine passion for knowledge sharing and continuous improvement
• Ability to move fluidly between detailed analytical work and strategic, big-picture thinking

Our company has a hybrid work model where the expectation is that you will be in the office at least three days per week.

About Swiss Re

Swiss Re is one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance, insurance and other forms of insurance-based risk transfer, working to make the world more resilient. We anticipate and manage a wide variety of risks, from natural catastrophes and climate change to cybercrime. We cover both Property & Casualty and Life & Health. Combining experience with creative thinking and cutting-edge expertise, we create new opportunities and solutions for our clients. This is possible thanks to the collaboration of more than 15,000 employees across the world.

Our success depends on our ability to build an inclusive culture encouraging fresh perspectives and innovative thinking. We embrace a workplace where everyone has equal opportunities to thrive and develop professionally regardless of their age, gender, race, ethnicity, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, skillset, thought or other characteristics. In our inclusive and flexible environment everyone can bring their authentic selves to work and their passion for sustainability.

If you are an experienced professional returning to the workforce after a career break, we encourage you to apply for open positions that match your skills and experience.

We may use AI-powered tools to support the review and evaluation of applications for this position. These tools provide additional insights to our recruitment teams, but all hiring decisions are carefully reviewed and made by people. To learn more about how we use AI in recruitment and how we handle your personal data, please review our Data Privacy Statement before applying.