Wholesale Lending Business Readiness Director in London

Head of Business Readiness and Business Analysis within the Invest & Lending Strategic Change & Transform team which spans across the Corporate and Investment Bank.

Essential Skills / Basic Qualifications

• Strong business analysis skills, including the ability to capture key requirements and summarise into management‑style presentations or proposals
• Experience operating in lending, product, or strategic change environments
• A deep understanding of process design, optimisation and ownership, with a focus on client outcomes and operational effectiveness
• Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills
• Strong programme management and organisational skills
• Comfortable working in a fast‑paced and dynamic environment
• Ability to challenge existing ways of working and drive process improvements

Desirable Skills / Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in lending
• Understanding of UI and UX (User Interface and User Experience) principles
• Exposure to product ownership models within complex, multi‑stakeholder organisations
• Understanding of regulatory requirements and controls within lending processes
• Experience working in agile or hybrid delivery environments
• Experience driving behavioural or cultural change, particularly around ownership and accountability
• The ability to use data and insight to support decision‑making and process improvement
• Experience working within a central change, strategy or transformation function

Purpose of the role

Director role within the Invest and Lending strategic change team & Transform team to support the build‑out of our Borrow Money lending client journey strategy, perform business analysis on key new product or process efficiency opportunities and support business readiness activities to identify, track business benefits and oversee the transition of key change to business users.

Accountabilities

• Define the 3‑year roadmap strategy for Borrow Money to digitalise and automate lending, working with key senior business and infrastructure leads.
• Scope new key product or process efficiency opportunities, including a business case to aid funding prioritisation.
• Develop business readiness strategies that ensure successful implementation of change initiatives.
• Communicate with stakeholders, including senior management, project teams and external partners, to keep them informed about change initiatives and ensure their needs are met.
• Collaborate with Client Readiness, Operational Readiness & Tech Delivery to ensure business, sales, operations, client servicing and functional partners are prepared for a smooth transition of technology delivery into BAU.
• Manage resistance to change, ensuring stakeholders are engaged and concerns addressed.
• Review business readiness plans and status reports in conjunction with change delivery managers to ensure activities are completed on time, including newly identified risks, issues and dependencies.
• Collaborate with project teams to ensure change initiatives are aligned with project objectives and that change management activities are integrated into project plans.
• Provide guidance and support to business stakeholders, ensuring they have the necessary skills and knowledge to implement change initiatives successfully.

Director Expectations

• Manage a business function, providing significant input to function‑wide strategic initiatives and influencing policy and procedures.
• Lead a large team or sub‑function, embedding a performance culture aligned to the values of the business; or, as an individual contributor, act as a deep technical expert and thought leader.
• Train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long‑term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions.
• Provide expert advice to senior functional management and committees to influence decisions made outside of own function.
• Coordinate and enable resourcing, budgeting and policy creation for a significant sub‑function.
• Escalate breaches of policies and procedures appropriately.
• Foster and guide compliance, ensuring regulations are observed and relevant processes are in place to facilitate adherence.
• Monitor and influence the external environment, regulators, or advocacy groups on behalf of Barclays when appropriate.
• Demonstrate extensive knowledge of how the function integrates with the business division or group to achieve overall business objectives.
• Maintain broad and comprehensive knowledge of industry theories and practices within own discipline and insight into external market developments and initiatives.
• Use interpretative thinking and advanced analytical skills to solve problems and design solutions in complex or sensitive situations.
• Exercise management authority to make significant decisions and certain strategic recommendations within own area.
• Negotiate with and influence stakeholders at a senior level both internally and externally.
• Act as the principal contact point for key clients and counterparts in other functions or business divisions.
• Mandate as a spokesperson for the function and business division.

All Senior Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver consistently excellent standards. The four LEAD behaviours are: Listen and be authentic, Energise and inspire, Align across the enterprise, Develop others. All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship, and the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.