Collections Specialist in Northampton

Are you an experienced collections or credit risk professional who is passionate about delivering positive customer outcomes through data-driven decision making? We're looking for a Collections Specialist to join our growing team and play a key role in shaping collections and recoveries strategies for our Credit Card customers. In this role, you'll use data, insight, and industry expertise to influence customer journeys, optimise collections performance, and ensure customers receive the right support at the right time.

Working closely with stakeholders across Risk, Underwriting, Operations, Compliance, Customer Insight, and Product teams, you'll help support the integration of Virgin Money and Nationwide Building Society while contributing to strategic change initiatives across the business. This is a fantastic opportunity to make a real impact by delivering innovative collections strategies that balance customer needs, regulatory requirements, and commercial objectives, helping to drive sustainable growth and fair customer outcomes.

We are happy to consider flexible working approaches to help you perform at your best. The working hours (per week) for this role can be between 28 and 35 hours. This is a 21-month secondment opportunity. 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 role, you'll be based at your nearest regional office or hub. We value time spent together to connect with colleagues for collaboration so there will be a regular requirement to attend our Northampton site approximately once per month. If you are based at an office location, you'll be expected to meet our hybrid working requirement of at least two days a week, or 40% of your working time if part-time, in the office.

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

As a Collections Specialist, you will take ownership of the integration of the collections strategy for the unsecured customers, ensuring it remains aligned with customer outcomes, risk appetite and regulatory requirements. Working closely with Legal, Compliance and Risk teams, you will ensure strategies remain compliant with existing and emerging regulatory requirements, adapting approaches and monitoring frameworks as necessary. You will build and maintain strong relationships with a range of internal stakeholders across Financial Care, Second Line Risk, Compliance and Commercial teams, collaborating to deliver effective and customer-focused outcomes.

About you

You will have:

• Extensive experience of Virgin Money or Nationwide Building Society collection strategy processes
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with experience using SAS and/or SQL to interrogate data, develop insights and make data-driven recommendations
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence and build relationships across multiple business areas and seniority levels
• Working knowledge of FCA CONC, Consumer Duty, SME lending standards, Treating Customers Fairly (TCF), vulnerability guidance, and forbearance expectations
• Experience developing, monitoring and optimising credit risk or collections strategies
• Strong understanding of portfolio performance management, risk trends and customer outcomes
• Ability to translate complex data and analysis into clear, actionable business recommendations
• Experience presenting findings, performance updates and strategic recommendations to senior stakeholders and governance forums

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.

Qualifications

The extras you’ll get:

• 25 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

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 our 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. As a community, we want our working lives to count. As a team, we celebrate what we achieve. As a standard-setter, we work for the good of customers, communities, and broader society. We are purpose-driven. Uncompromisingly customer. Unstoppably Nationwide.

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. The hiring manager for this role is Nick Royston, and the main recruitment contact is Angela Darbar.