Area Director in Swindon

Area S1 covers the South West of the country with 39 branches and is part of our Branch Network South Region. As Area Director, you’ll provide dynamic leadership across the Area, inspiring and developing your leadership teams to deliver outstanding performance and brilliant experiences for our customers and members. You’ll bring together commercial performance, customer outcomes, colleague engagement and strong risk management, while looking beyond your own Area to identify opportunities that make a positive difference across the wider Region/Network.

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, Barnstaple, Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Taunton or Yeovil branch. If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works.

Responsibilities:

• No two days as an Area Director are the same. You’ll lead, coach and inspire your leadership team to deliver strong, sustainable performance, using insight to understand where the biggest opportunities are and taking action to make a difference.
• You’ll balance performance with great customer outcomes, effective risk management and an engaging colleague experience, while leading your Area confidently through change.
• You’ll also work closely with colleagues and stakeholders across the wider business, bringing challenge, ideas and external insight to help shape and deliver our priorities.

About you:

• A proven track record of leading large, dispersed teams within a financial services environment, delivering strong and sustainable performance.
• Strong leadership capability, with evidence of coaching and developing leaders and creating high-performing, engaged teams.
• Experience of using performance data and insight to identify opportunities, make timely decisions and improve customer and business outcomes.
• Strong understanding of operational and conduct risk, with experience of maintaining effective controls while delivering business priorities.
• Experience of successfully leading and embedding significant change, bringing colleagues with you and maintaining engagement through periods of change.
• Strong influencing and relationship-building skills, with experience of working across organisational boundaries and influencing senior stakeholders.
• Strong commercial and external awareness, with the ability to understand market developments and translate insight into opportunities to improve performance and customer outcomes.

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:

• 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.

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.

What to do next:

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.

Disability Confident: We’re not just guided by data, we’re driven by the real experiences of our people. 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. Whatever your needs, we’re here to support you. If you need any additional support throughout your application journey, email our team at Recruitment Support.

Apply safely with Nationwide. Recruitment scams can look convincing, so take a moment to check the role is listed on our official careers site and read our guidance on Don’t be conned by a job scam.