# Head of Small Business Lending at Nationwide

Nationwide is hiring a Head of Small Business Lending. Level rates it Little AI ●○○○; you can [apply on Nationwide](https://jobsbylevel.com/go/9ccb436b-4312-4aed-8781-2916dc127499?utm_medium=ai-agent).

AI Level 1, AI centrality 37 out of 100. United Kingdom.

## Details

- Company: [Nationwide](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/nationwide)
- AI level: AI Level 1 (score 37 out of 100)
- Location: United Kingdom
- Posted: October 30, 2026
- Apply: https://jobsbylevel.com/go/9ccb436b-4312-4aed-8781-2916dc127499?utm_medium=ai-agent
- Free CV review for this job: https://jobsbylevel.com/cv-review?job=head-of-small-business-lending-at-nationwide-5f4dca

## Description

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

The description is cut here. Read the full offer: https://jobsbylevel.com/jobs/head-of-small-business-lending-at-nationwide-5f4dca

Source: https://jobsbylevel.com/jobs/head-of-small-business-lending-at-nationwide-5f4dca

## Cite this page

Level. https://jobsbylevel.com/jobs/head-of-small-business-lending-at-nationwide-5f4dca.

Get job alerts: https://jobsbylevel.com/newsletter