Relationship Director – Barclaycard Payments Acceptance

hackajob is collaborating with Barclays to connect them with exceptional professionals for this role. Join us as a Relationship Director within our Financial Institutions vertical team in Barclaycard Payments, where you will play a key role in owning, developing, and retaining relationships across a portfolio of strategic corporate clients. You will partner closely with senior stakeholders across the wider Barclays Group — including Corporate and Investment Banking — alongside third‑party payment partners, processors, card schemes, and independent software vendors to deliver best‑in‑class payment acceptance solutions.

You will be responsible for driving revenue growth, account development, and client retention within a managed portfolio of Financial Institutions clients (typically organisations with business turnover in excess of £50m). This will be achieved through the cross‑sell and expansion of the full Barclaycard Payments acceptance product set, including acquiring, payment gateways, alternative payment methods, disbursements, eCommerce, and face‑to‑face payment solutions. You will operate as a trusted adviser to senior client stakeholders, leading complex commercial discussions and negotiations, building and executing opportunity pipelines, and embedding Barclaycard as a long‑term strategic payments partner.

A critical aspect of the role is combining excellent relationship leadership with deep payments expertise to deliver sustainable, profitable growth across the strategic end of the client book.

• Experience successfully identifying, driving, managing, negotiating, and closing deals within an existing client base.
• An excellent consistent history of over‑achieving against revenue targets.
• Demonstrated success in account development and customer retention within complex portfolios.
• Expert personal impact, with the ability to build robust relationships at pace with senior stakeholders and key decision‑makers.
• Proven ability to build, manage, and execute an opportunity pipeline across a portfolio of strategic clients.

• Working knowledge of the payment acceptance / acquiring industry and competitor solutions.
• Understanding of card schemes, their drivers, industry dynamics, interchange, and the future industry roadmap.
• An up‑to‑date knowledge of the fast‑moving payments industry.
• Knowledge of payment gateways and eCommerce payment solutions.
• Experience working with Financial Institutions such as banks, building societies, insurers, funds, or FX providers.

You may be assessed on the key critical skills relevant for success in role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen, strategic thinking, and digital and technology, as well as job‑specific technical skills. This role is located in London/Northampton.

To establish and nurture profitable relationships with both corporate and individual clients. It's the bridge between the bank's offerings and clients' needs, ensuring mutual benefit and long‑term success.

• Management of client relationships to identify the client’s financial goals, challenges, and risk tolerance, supporting analysis of data obtained from various sources, including the investment portfolio and cash flow, to identify trends, insights, areas for improvement and additional services to support client needs.
• Research and understanding of the client’s industry trends, regulatory landscape, and competitive environment to inform strategic recommendations.
• Design of customised solutions that address the client’s specific needs and objectives, incorporating a range of products and services from the bank’s portfolio.
• Communication of the value proposition of proposed solutions, justification of recommendations, and negotiation of terms that are beneficial for both the client and the bank.
• Provision of guidance to clients to support their financial decisions, offering expert investment advice, risk management and wealth management strategies support, and updates on market trends to ensure a positive and continuous relationship.
• Assessment of financial, legal, and operational risks associated with client relationships, and implementation of measures to minimise potential losses.
• Documentation of all client interactions, transactions, and agreements to ensure transparency and auditability, and communication of findings effectively to support product development, service offerings, and the overall bank strategy.
• Monitoring of client satisfaction, revenue generated, and other relevant metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of relationship management efforts.

To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalation of breaches of policies/procedures. If managing a team, define jobs and responsibilities, plan for the department’s future needs and operations, counsel employees on performance and contribute to employee pay decisions/changes.

They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic and tactical priorities, while balancing short and long-term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements. If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.

OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long‑term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions.

Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment. Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda. Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does. Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business. Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.

Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In‑depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions. Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes. Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.