Head of Small Business Lending

Base location - London preferred but some flexibility

Following the acquisition of Virgin Money, Nationwide is on a bold journey to build a credible, relationship-led Business Bank, combining strong customer advocacy, deep sector and local knowledge, sustainable growth and disciplined risk management, aligned to the benefits of being a modern mutual.

In support of this ambition, we have a senior leadership opportunity to shape and develop our small business lending capability, ensuring we can make high-quality credit decisions for customers while safely scaling our business.

As Head of Small Business Lending, you’ll lead our small business credit risk decisioning capability across scored, automated and manual underwriting. You’ll shape how risk appetite, policy, scorecards, models, limits and controls translate into lending decisions, ensuring we deliver commercially effective, well-controlled and customer-focused outcomes.

Reporting to the Director of Business Credit, you’ll lead our Small Business Credit team and work closely with colleagues across Business Credit, Product, Distribution, Model Risk, Compliance, Technology and Operations. You’ll play a key role in developing a scalable credit decisioning capability that can support Nationwide’s ambitions for growth in small business banking.

What you’ll be doing

• Set the strategic direction for small business credit decisioning across scored, automated and judgemental underwriting, ensuring lending operates within approved risk appetite, policy and delegated authorities.

• Own the effectiveness of small business scorecards, decisioning models, cut-offs, limits, overrides and associated controls, using performance insight to identify where changes or improvements are required.

• Lead and develop the Small Business Credit team, building capability, judgement and consistency in lending decisions while embedding a strong risk and control culture.

• Provide senior credit risk input, insight and challenge through relevant governance, identifying and escalating material risk, control or portfolio performance concerns.

• Oversee small business portfolio performance, including arrears, losses, model effectiveness, exception trends and customer outcomes, taking appropriate action within agreed mandate.

• Lead the small business lending automation roadmap, working across Product, Distribution, Technology, Operations and control functions to create a decisioning capability that is scalable, controlled and aligned to our strategic ambitions.

• Use portfolio, model and customer-outcome evidence to recommend changes to appetite, policy, scorecards, standards and controls as the portfolio develops.

• Act as the senior subject matter expert for small business credit risk, bringing insight and recommendations to inform strategy, governance and investment decisions.

• Provide senior oversight and escalation for complex or non-standard lending and control matters, balancing customer, commercial, conduct and credit risk considerations.

About You

You’ll be an established credit risk leader with significant experience in small business, SME or relevant retail lending, including direct experience of scored and automated credit decisioning. You’ll combine deep credit expertise with a strong understanding of how technology, data and models can enable an effective and scalable lending proposition.

You’ll bring:

• Significant experience in credit risk, with direct exposure to scored and/or automated lending decisioning within a small business, SME or relevant retail lending environment.

• Strong understanding of credit scorecards, decisioning models, model governance, underwriting and portfolio management.

• Experience of building, developing or scaling automated credit decisioning capability, ideally across customer onboarding or point-of-sale lending journeys.

• The ability to use model, portfolio and customer-outcome data to understand performance, identify emerging risks and optimise lending decisions within agreed parameters.

• Strong understanding of the regulatory and control environment relevant to small business lending, including CONC where applicable.

• Strong commercial and risk judgement, with the ability to balance sustainable growth with customer outcomes, conduct and effective credit risk management.

• Experience leading and developing specialist credit teams, building capability and confidence as the lending proposition grows.

• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to work effectively across Credit Risk, Product, Distribution, Technology, Operations, Model Risk and Compliance.

Above all, you’ll combine strong credit judgement with a real understanding of modern lending decisioning. You’ll be comfortable operating at both strategic and practical levels, shaping the future capability while staying close enough to portfolio and model performance to understand where intervention is needed.

This is an opportunity to play a significant role in building a small business lending capability that can scale with Nationwide’s ambitions, while maintaining strong risk discipline and delivering good outcomes for customers.

Your rewards

We continually review and evaluate our offering to ensure we have a broad range of market competitive benefits available for our colleagues. When you put a lot in, it’s only fair to expect a lot out. So, when you help us do the right thing for our customers, we want to reward you.

There are all sorts of employee benefits available at Nationwide, including:

• 30 days holiday
• Access to private medical insurance
• A highly competitive pension to help you build a strong foundation for retirement
• Access to an annual performance-related bonus
• Training and development to help you progress your career
• A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Life assurance to provide peace of mind for you and your loved ones in the event of your death
• Wellhub – access to a range of free and paid options for health and wellness
• Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year

Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society
We forge our own path at Nationwide.

As a mutual, we’re owned by our members — those customers who bank, save or have a mortgage with us. We challenge the financial sector status quo. We don’t see customers as the engine of profit. We put their needs first. Always.
If you’re inspired by fairer finances, passionate about making a meaningful impact, and truly care about customers, you’re one of us.

At Nationwide, you are challenged to grow and rewarded for doing so. Valued. Recognised. Inspired to be your best.
We are purpose driven. Uncompromisingly customer. Unstoppably Nationwide.

What to do next

To apply, simply click the ‘Apply Now’ button. Please ensure you attach your CV and complete a few short application questions.