There is an active market for risk management professionals at all levels of experience throughout the financial services sector in Ireland at present.

This is primarily due to increasing regulatory oversight and other factors such as ICAAP and Basel III for banking entities and Solvency II in the insurance sector. Therefore, companies have a requirement to ensure they have adequately resourced credit, market and operational risk functions.

The ability to present complex information and how it impacts an organisation, in a clear manner, is very important.

Necessary experience and qualifications 

Employers look for professionals with mathematical or quantitative academic backgrounds for junior level roles, with individuals undertaking additional qualifications such as the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) or Financial Risk Manager (FRM) qualifications as they progress their careers. Experience in programming languages such as VBA, C++ and SAS for quantitative roles is important. 

Career path

Progression to senior risk roles requires professionals to have experience in setting up and managing risk infrastructures, reporting to risk and audit committees and in some cases, to executive management or the board. Senior risk managers are also responsible for managing the relationship with regulatory authorities.

The ability to present complex information and how it impacts an organisation, in a clear manner, is very important.