Performance Lead Manager in Swindon

Description

The Performance Lead Manager role is a unique and pivotal position, often mistaken for a traditional Team Manager but it offers so much more. Sitting at the centre of operations, quality, and capability, this role is focused on driving performance across the contact centre to deliver consistently excellent customer outcomes.

This is not a standard operational leadership role. Instead, it’s about enabling success through real‑time support, coaching, and performance insight. You’ll play a key role in ensuring colleagues are confident, capable, and delivering to the highest standard in every interaction.

Leading a team of Performance Leads, you will take ownership of key areas including live operational support, capability development, and translating performance data into meaningful, actionable improvements across the function.

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.

Virgin Money is now part of Nationwide

Nationwide acquired Virgin Money in October 2024. Virgin Money continues to serve customers on the high street, and there will be a phased and considered integration over the coming years.

You’ll be employed by Nationwide from day one, delivering real impact and benefitting from a highly competitive range of benefits. We’re a workplace where you’re rewarded, recognised and celebrated.

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

What you’ll be doing

This role is focused on driving performance, not just supporting it. You will use data, insight, and real-time trends to identify performance opportunities and intervene early, shifting the operation from reactive support to proactive performance acceleration. A key part of the role is translating insight into clear, targeted actions that improve customer outcomes.

You will lead and develop a team of Performance Leads, setting clear direction, expectations, and standards. Through your leadership, you will build a strong and visible coaching culture that enhances colleague capability and confidence, ensuring your team consistently delivers high-quality, in-the-moment support and guidance.

You will also play a central role in enabling colleagues to succeed by overseeing live support channels and ensuring advisors receive fast, accurate, and confident guidance. Over time, you will reduce dependency on support by building capability and autonomy, embedding simple and consistent ways of working that enable colleagues to get it right first time.

Working in close partnership with Team Managers and Operational Leaders, you will help shape performance rhythms, influence coaching priorities, and align team focus areas and development plans. Acting as the link between quality, insight, and operational delivery, you will ensure alignment across the function.

Finally, you will own customer and risk outcomes, ensuring key controls and processes are consistently executed to protect both customers and the business. You will drive learning from customer feedback, including closed-loop activity, and turn this into meaningful improvements, balancing performance, customer experience, and governance with confidence.

About you

You will have/be:

• Strong experience within a contact centre or operational leadership environment

• Proven track record of driving performance through insight, coaching, and influence

• Passionate about developing people and building high‑performing teams

• Able to translate complex information into simple, clear, and actionable guidance

• Confident in using performance data to identify trends and drive improvement actions

• Comfortable challenging the status quo and continuously seeking better ways of working

• Able to quickly build credibility with Team Managers and senior stakeholders

• Skilled at influencing without authority and bringing others on the journey

• Highly focused on delivering outstanding customer experiences

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

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

• 25 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 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. To find out more about how we use and process your data, please read our .

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

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.

The hiring manager for this role is Nicola Thane, and the main recruitment contact is Jemma Ives.