Senior Partnership Manager in Chester

Step into an exciting opportunity as a Senior Partnership Manager, where you'll lead a high-performing Unsecured Lending Partnerships team and take ownership of relationships with some of the organisation’s most strategic partners, including Visa, Mastercard, FIS/TSYS and Experian. Working closely with senior leaders, you'll drive partner performance, ensure contractual and regulatory obligations are met, and identify new opportunities that deliver greater value for customers and the business.

This is a highly visible role that combines strategic thinking, commercial insight and influential stakeholder management, with the opportunity to shape partnership decisions that directly support business growth and Board-level objectives. We're looking for a confident and commercially minded partnership professional who thrives on building strong relationships, influencing across business areas and creating win-win outcomes.

You'll bring experience managing regulated supplier or partner relationships, overseeing service delivery, performance and third-party risk, while balancing commercial value and customer benefit. As a proven leader, you'll inspire and develop your team, navigate competing priorities with ease, and use data, financial insight and market opportunities to drive continuous improvement.

This is a fantastic opportunity to play a key role in the future of the business, leading strategic partnerships through a period of growth, change and innovation. You'll have the freedom to strengthen existing relationships, explore new partnership opportunities and help shape the next chapter of the organisation's unsecured lending journey.

We are happy to consider flexible working approaches to help you perform at your best. 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 be located at our nearest regional office or hub. There will be a need to regularly connect with colleagues for collaboration and in some locations you’ll be expected to spend at least two days a week, or if part time you'll spend 40% of your working time, in the office.

If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Unsecured Lending Partnerships team, setting clear priorities, providing direction and developing colleagues to build strong, effective relationships with key partners.
• Ensure partners deliver against agreed expectations, meet contractual obligations and provide maximum value to both customers and the business.
• Collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders to gain insight into partner performance, customer needs, commercial outcomes and future partnership opportunities.
• Use your commercial expertise and understanding of third-party risk management to ensure partnership activity is well governed, evidence-based and aligned with strategic business priorities.
• Assess performance, identify opportunities, manage risk and help shape the future direction of key partnerships, balancing customer benefit with commercial value.
• Play an influential role in strategic decision-making, building robust business cases, preparing governance updates and presenting recommendations to senior stakeholders.

About you

As a minimum you will have:

• Experience leading, motivating and developing high-performing teams, setting clear priorities and driving successful outcomes.
• Proven experience managing regulated partner or supplier relationships, including performance oversight, contractual governance and value delivery.
• Knowledge of third-party risk management within a regulated environment, including SYSC 8 requirements and outsourced supplier controls.
• Experience identifying, evaluating and developing partnership opportunities, assessing strategic fit, customer benefit, commercial value and deliverability.
• Background in strategic planning, business development, partnerships or commercial roles within financial services or a similar regulated sector.
• Strong commercial acumen with experience using customer insights, market analysis, financial data and risk considerations to inform recommendations and decision making.
• Experience developing business cases, commercial proposals, business plans, financial models and senior-level decision papers.

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.
• Say it straight - We are brave in speaking out and saying what we think – we’re honest and direct with good intent.
• 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

• 30 days holiday, pro rata.
• 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.

If this role is for you, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button. You’ll need to attach your up-to-date CV and answer a few quick questions for us. We respond to everyone, so we will be in contact shortly after the closing date to let you know the outcome of your application.

Keeping your data and personal information confidential is important to us.

If you want to find out more about using AI in our recruitment process, please read more here.

We’re a Disability Confident Level 3 Leader, the highest level. That’s why we’re constantly evolving our policies and practices to make sure everyone feels genuinely supported, valued, and empowered to champion inclusion.

If you need any additional support throughout your application journey, email our team at Recruitment Support.