Product, Change & Delivery Industrial Placement - Retail

Good things this way

If you're ambitious, curious and enjoy solving problems, our Product, Change & Delivery Industrial Placement provides an exciting opportunity to gain hands-on experience while exploring a future career in banking.

Help improve products, services and customer experiences while gaining valuable experience of how change is delivered across a large and complex organisation. The pathway is designed for future professionals who want to understand business and customer needs, design effective solutions and help turn ideas into reality.

Whether you're interested in product development, business analysis, project delivery or process improvement, this placement offers the opportunity to develop practical skills while contributing to meaningful business outcomes.

The experience is designed to help you build confidence, apply your learning and gain valuable insight into how customer and intermediary experiences are delivered. Along the way, you'll broaden your network, work with experienced professionals and discover where your interests might take you after university.

Looking for a rewarding career in banking? Good things this way.

Where you’ll be working

You'll join our Retail, Customer Operations and Product function, where teams work together to improve experiences, deliver change, solve business challenges and support Nationwide's long-term success

As part of the programme, you'll gain exposure to different teams and perspectives while building a strong understanding of how Product, Change & Delivery contributes to the wider business.

Location 

At Nationwide we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected.

For this job you'll spend at least two days per week, based at our Swindon or Northampton offices.

If we receive a high volume of relevant applications, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so please apply as soon as you can. 


 

What you'll be doing on the Product, Change & Delivery Industrial Placement - Retail

Our Product, Change & Delivery Industrial Placement is a 12-month programme designed to combine practical experience, professional development and real workplace learning. This isn't a placement spent watching from the sidelines. From day one, you'll contribute to meaningful work while receiving the support needed to learn and grow.

Your placement begins with induction, development support and structured learning designed to help you settle in, build confidence and understand the role you'll be performing.  Alongside this, you'll join a 10-month collaborative project with other Industrial Placement students from across Nationwide. Throughout the placement, you'll gain hands-on experience while following a personalised learning pathway tailored to your role. Workshops, simulations and on-the-job learning will help you continue developing your skills and confidence.

During the placement, you'll complete a series of experiences across Product, Transformation, Change, Delivery and Process Improvement teams. These placements will help you build a well-rounded understanding of how ideas move from concept to implementation while developing the skills, knowledge and professional network needed for a successful career in Product, Change & Delivery.

No two days are the same. Activities could include attending team meetings, collaborating with stakeholders, contributing to projects and change initiatives, reviewing customer and business insights, supporting process improvement activity and helping to plan or track delivery of work.

You'll gain exposure to a variety of tools and platforms used to support collaboration, project delivery, change management and business improvement. The specific technologies will vary depending on the team you're working with, helping you build broad experience across different environments.

Along the way, you'll develop practical skills in:

• Product thinking and management

• Business analysis and requirements gathering

• Project and programme delivery

• Change management

• Process improvement

• Customer journey mapping

• Stakeholder management

• Communication and relationship building

• Creative problem solving and critical thinking

These experiences will help you build a strong foundation for future opportunities across Product, Change & Delivery disciplines.

Successful completion of the placement may help shape future career choices and could provide a route into one of our Skills Development Programmes after university.

Who we're looking for on the Product, Change & Delivery Industrial Placement - Retail

We're looking for curious, motivated people who enjoy working with others, solving problems and learning new skills. You'll share our determination to push for better and put customers first in the decisions you make. Whatever your route, this placement will help you gain valuable experience while exploring where a future career in Product, Change & Delivery could take you.

To succeed on our Product, Change & Delivery Industrial Placement, you'll need to show:

• An interest in understanding business challenges and identifying opportunities for improvement.

• Curiosity about how products, services and organisations are designed, improved and delivered.

• The ability to think critically and analyse information to support decision-making.

• Confidence building relationships and working with different people.

• Curiosity about how businesses understand and respond to customer needs.

• The ambition to keep growing, take on new challenges and build towards your next career step.

• A logical, methodical approach, with the ability to understand both the detail and the bigger picture.

• The confidence to build relationships and work with colleagues across the business.

• Drive, high performance and a commitment to learning from feedback and setbacks.

• A determination to push for better and put customers first in the decisions you make.

Eligibility: You must be studying towards an undergraduate degree in any discipline.

Our customer first behaviours put customers and members at the heart of how we work together. They are the set of behaviours that every colleague needs to display, in every role:

• Feel what customers feel - We step into our customers’ shoes, using their feedback and insights to empathise with them and to understand their needs, so that every decision we make starts and finishes with our customers in mind
• Say it straight - We are brave in speaking out and saying what we think – we’re honest and direct with good intent, openly sharing diverse perspectives to reach the best conclusions and using language everyone can understand
• Push for better - We don’t settle for mediocrity, we challenge the status quo, taking responsibility for continuous improvement and personal development
• Get it done - We prioritise what will have the greatest impact, we are decisive, and we take accountability for delivering brilliant customer outcomes.

The extras you’ll get

High performing and purpose-driven colleagues deserve a rewarding career and competitive benefits to match. We offer you:

• Structured learning, personalised development and hands-on experience to help you build future-ready skills and progress your career in banking
• 25 days holiday each year, which increases over time to 30. Plus, you can ‘buy’ up to 10 extra days
• The opportunity to earn an annual bonus based on your performance
• Private medical insurance to help you access additional healthcare when you need it
• Wellhub access to a range of free and paid fitness and wellbeing options, plus free on-site gyms at selected locations
• A highly competitive pension to help you start building your financial future 
• A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Up to 14 paid hours each year to volunteer for a cause that matters to you
• Life assurance to provide additional peace of mind for you and the people who matter to you

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 our own profit. We share our profits with them and put their needs first. Always there when they need us. Supporting them and their lives.

If you’re inspired by fairer finances, passionate about making a meaningful impact, and truly care about our 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. As a community we want our working lives to count. As a team, we celebrate what we achieve. As a standard-setter, we work for the good of customers, communities, and broader society.

We are purpose-driven. Uncompromisingly customer. Unstoppably Nationwide.

What to do next 

If this role is for you, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button, where you’ll be asked to answer a few quick questions for us.  

We’ll send you our online assessments to complete and there will also be a short video interview to find out more about you. If you are successful, you could be selected to attend one of our assessment centres which run from January 2027.

Visa sponsorship information 

As a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) approved sponsor, we have a responsibility to comply with the applicable Immigration Rules and guidance (which are subject to change). The Skilled Worker route has specific requirements relating to skill level of the role and minimum salary expectations. As such, our ability to employ individuals who require sponsorship for immigration purposes is limited or may not be possible for some programmes. 

VISA Sponsorship cannot be offered on this programme. 

All successful applicants with need to demonstrate their right to work in the UK on commencement of employment and for the duration of the programme applied for without requiring sponsorship. 

If you have any further questions, please contact us at Early.Careers@nationwide.co.uk