Head E-2-E Lending Automation and Digitisation in London

Nationwide is on a bold journey to build a credible, relationship-led Business Bank, combining strong customer advocacy, deep sector and local insight, sustainable growth and disciplined risk management, all underpinned by the principles of being modern mutual.

As part of this journey, we are creating a new and unique leadership opportunity. The Head of End-to-End Lending Automation & Digitisation plays a critical role in shaping and delivering Nationwide’s SME and business banking lending journeys, ensuring customer journeys from pre-application through to credit decision are seamless, scalable and underpinned by strong controls and customer outcomes. This includes digital origination, KYB and Open Banking integration. It also covers the evolution of AI‑augmented decision making capabilities, supporting faster, more consistent and customer-focused outcomes across all SME lending products.

Reporting to the Director of Business Banking Transformation, this position provides single-threaded accountability for the performance and continuous evolution of SME lending journeys, including ownership of key metrics such as time-to-yes. The role is responsible for translating credit policy into clear, operable decisioning frameworks, embedding rules, models and AI-enabled features into production environments, and ensuring these are delivered in a controlled and repeatable way. It also sponsors the development of advanced underwriting capabilities and leads the integration of Virgin Money’s origination capabilities into Nationwide’s target operating model.

Working in close partnership with Product, Digital & Technology, Operations, Credit Risk, Financial Crime and Data teams, this role is instrumental in driving lending transformation at scale. It ensures that decisioning and origination capabilities are aligned with regulatory expectations, operational resilience requirements and customer needs, while establishing a unified and sustainable platform to support Nationwide’s long-term SME lending strategy.

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, or if part-time, you'll spend 40% of your working time, based at either our Swindon, Northampton, Glasgow or London office. If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works.

You can also find out more about our approach to hybrid working here. Nationwide is committed to the redeployment of our employees impacted by change, as such applications for redeployment candidates will be prioritised in this recruitment process.

If you’re a colleague on long-term absence (for example, on parental leave) or a temporary worker, please use your personal email address to submit an application.

Responsibilities

You will take ownership of SME lending journeys, with responsibility for key outcomes including customer experience (NPS), time-to-yes and approval rates, alongside contribution to commercial performance. You will help shape and deliver the multi-year product roadmap across origination and credit decisioning, working closely with the SME Lending Tribe to align delivery.

You will own the digital application and KYB journey, including entity verification, beneficial ownership, and sanctions screening, alongside Open Banking and accounting package integrations (e.g. Xero, Sage, HMRC). This includes ensuring that journeys are simple, scalable and deliver strong customer and risk outcomes.

You will own the credit decisioning capability as a product, overseeing rules, scorecards and policy overlays, and translating credit risk requirements into well controlled releases. A key part of the role is defining and managing the balance between automated and human decisioning, working closely with Credit Risk to monitor performance and drive continuous improvement.

You will lead the integration of Virgin Money origination and credit capabilities into Nationwide’s target operating model, including the simplification and decommissioning of legacy pathways. Alongside this, you will lead cross-functional teams across Product, Engineering, CX and Data to deliver against the roadmap and manage release cadence effectively.

You will operate as a key point of alignment across Credit Risk, Technology, Compliance and Financial Crime for origination and decisioning, representing SME lending in relevant senior governance forums.

From a technology perspective, you will lead the application of AI and advanced analytics across the journey. This includes improving application readiness through automated data capture, enhancing underwriting through decision-support tools, and increasing levels of straight-through processing where appropriate.

You will ensure that robust approaches to model deployment and monitoring are in place, working with second-line teams to maintain strong controls, transparency and alignment with regulatory expectations. You will also support the use of alternative data and digital capabilities to enhance decisioning and customer experience.

Qualifications

You’ll bring significant experience in SME, commercial or business banking product management, with a strong track record of owning or shaping end-to-end lending journeys and credit decisioning capabilities, including within SME or business banking lending environments.

This role requires a deep understanding of SME customer needs, including the nuances of business structures, cashflow-based lending, and the use of financial and behavioural data in underwriting. This includes experience working with credit decisioning or underwriting capabilities, with a clear understanding of how credit policy, decisioning engines and model governance interact in practice.

You’ll be comfortable operating at the intersection of product, risk and technology, with a working understanding of core credit risk methodologies (including PD, LGD, EAD and IFRS 9), and their application within SME and business lending portfolios. You’ll understand how these translate into decisioning rules, scorecards and measurable customer and portfolio outcomes (e.g. approval rates, loss performance, customer experience).

You will also bring strong familiarity with UK regulatory and data frameworks, including KYB, AML, Companies House data, and Open Banking integration, alongside experience working with identity and data providers.

You’ll have led or played a key role in delivering transformation within a regulated lending environment, ideally including platform change or replacement programmes (e.g. nCino, Provenir, Experian PowerCurve, FICO, or in-house builds). You’ll be confident navigating complex delivery environments and ensuring that change is implemented in a way that balances pace, control and regulatory expectations.

An understanding of advanced analytics and emerging technologies is important. You’ll ideally bring experience deploying machine learning or LLM-enabled capabilities into production environments, with appropriate model risk guardrails in place, and a clear appreciation of the controls required in a regulated setting.

You’ll be experienced in working with and influencing senior stakeholders, including at ExCo level, and comfortable preparing investment cases and representing initiatives through Credit Risk, Technology and Compliance governance forums. Your ability to operate across disciplines and align stakeholders will be critical to delivering successful outcomes.

You will bring additional depth through experience in credit analysis, underwriting or risk operations, providing a strong grounding in policy and risk frameworks. Familiarity with modern lending platforms, decisioning tools and orchestration frameworks would be advantageous, as would experience integrating acquired portfolios or working with intermediated broker channels.

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.

You can strengthen your application by showing how our customer first behaviours resonate with you, and where you may have already demonstrated these.

The extras you’ll get

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

• 30 days holiday, pro rata
• 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 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 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. If you’d like to find out more about the role or have any questions, feel free to contact christopher.royston@nationwide.co.uk (Executive Resourcing) for a confidential conversation.