Technology Escrow SME

Technology, Escrow, Agreements, Third parties, Frameworks, Regulations, PRA, Dora, Risk, Analysis

Working with a leading global financial to secure the services of a Technology Escrow SME. We are seeking a highly organised and technically competent Technology Escrow Specialist to support a strategic escrow uplift programme aimed at assessing, defining and strengthening the banks Third Party Technology Escrow framework.

This role is critical in ensuring that the bank has a fit for purpose escrow framework, compliant with global regulation and relevant internal bank policies and procedures, that ensures business-critical third-party services are protected by robust, verifiable, and release-ready escrow arrangements aligned with current regulatory, legal, and operational best practices.

Responsibilities

• Undertaking an As Is' assessment of existing escrow usage across the organisation, including coverage of Important/Critical Services, frequency of deposit and level of validation in place.
• Working with key stakeholders across first and second lines of defence, to define policy standards and supporting guidance.
• Support development of a source code escrow framework for overseeing escrow arrangements, including type of escrow relevant to the service (including criteria for determining if and what type of escrow should be applied per service type), depositing and build instructions, verification & testing, and contracting requirements.
• Design of supporting operating model, including definition of ongoing escrow responsibilities for impacted roles.
• Define records management and best practice reporting/governance of escrow arrangements.
• Develop remediation plan to ensure critical Third Party services have adequate escrow arrangements in place.
• Work closely with key stakeholders such as legal, procurement, technology, and external escrow agents to embed improved escrow controls.
• Define governance and oversight processes to ensure compliance and/or manage exceptions.

Essential Experience

• Strong experience in end-to-end software escrow management, including agreements, testing and verification of source code, relationship with escrow agents, executing arrangements in live scenarios and oversight/governance of escrow frameworks.
• Source code deposit & verification oversight, including coordination of timely and complete deposits of source code, documentation, and build instructions, managing technical escrow verification processes, from basic deposit confirmation to full build verification testing, liaise with third-party escrow providers to ensure verification reports meet internal standards.
• Good understanding of the Third Party Management life cycle, supporting processes and understanding of Technology supplier portfolios and the nuances there of.
• Detailed understanding and knowledge of core Third Party resilience regulations, including but not limited to PRA SS1/21 Operational resilience: Impact tolerances for important business services, and The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) - Regulation (EU) 2022/2554.
• Understanding of Third Party Risk and Resilience frameworks and processes, including knowledge/experience in key risk domains (eg, Cybersecurity, Business Continuity, Exit Planning,)
• Knowledge and experience of best practices in Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) principles.

Essential Skillset

• Hands on approach with strong analysis skills and ability to consume complex inputs and turn into sensible plan of action.
• Self-starter, independent and willing to self-define and drive required outcomes to achieve objectives.
• Excellent cross stakeholder management, communication, presentation and influencing skills.