Customer Lending Operations Director in Newcastle upon Tyne

About the Role

As our Customer Lending Operations Director, you’ll play a key role in shaping and delivering the strategy for end-to-end customer and lending operations. You’ll influence how services are experienced across the full customer lifecycle, balancing strong customer outcomes with thoughtful risk management, operational resilience and sustainable cost control.

You’ll lead the development and delivery of a multi-year operating strategy aligned to business priorities, guiding transformation that simplifies processes, enhances digital journeys and creates capacity for future growth. A central focus will be evolving the mortgage proposition—improving platforms, tools and processes to enhance service, scalability and overall performance.

Working as part of the senior leadership team, you’ll nurture and develop high-performing teams, encourage a culture of continuous improvement, and build leadership capability that supports long-term organisational success and growth.

About You

You’re an experienced senior leader with a strong background in financial services operations, ideally within lending or mortgages, and a good understanding of UK regulatory frameworks and governance. You bring the ability to shape and deliver strategic change, while keeping customer outcomes, risk awareness and commercial performance at the heart of decision-making.

You will be comfortable operating in complex, evolving environments, using sound judgement to balance risk and opportunity. With a thoughtful and considered approach, you combine strategic thinking with a focus on delivery, ensuring outcomes are achieved with quality, pace and accountability.

You will build strong, collaborative relationships and are confident working with senior stakeholders, boards and regulators. Through open and effective communication, you create alignment, offer constructive challenge and support cross-functional teams to deliver shared goals.

Above all, you value purpose-led leadership. You are motivated by developing inclusive, high-performing teams, strengthening operational resilience, and delivering meaningful outcomes for customers and communities that support sustainable growth.

The Newcastle Building Society Group comprises of Newcastle Building Society, Manchester Building Society, Newcastle Financial Advisers and Newcastle Strategic Solutions. Our purpose, connecting our communities with a better financial future inspires and directs our activities.

As an inclusive employer and member owned mutual, we aim to reflect the diverse communities we serve and encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds. We believe everyone should feel valued, respected, and celebrated for who they are, we want colleagues to feel this is a place they belong. A place to be you.

• Financial

• Corporate bonus scheme (on target 20%, up to a maximum 30%)
• Pension scheme (up to 9% employer contribution)
• Annual performance related pay reviews
• Colleague mortgage scheme
• Electric car salary sacrifice scheme
• Life assurance (4x salary) and income protection
• Access to our financial advisers
• Access to a range of high street and online discounts

• Work/Life Balance

• A 35-hour weekly contract - We are happy to talk flexible working and welcome discussions
• 30 days’ annual leave + bank holidays
• The option to buy and sell up to 5 days’ holiday
• Hybrid working (typically 3 days’ home based)
• Above statutory family leave entitlement - 3 months full pay, 3 months half pay, regardless of gender or route to parenthood

• Health and Wellbeing

• Private medical insurance
• Access to a health cash plan through a Medicash scheme
• Access to an employee assistance programme
• Free onsite gym at our Cobalt head office and access to discounted gyms
• Two paid volunteering days each year
• Cycle to work scheme

Recognising there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to recruitment, we’re committed to ensuring every candidate has the opportunity to showcase their full potential throughout the recruitment process. We strive to make our processes as accessible as possible, if there are any ways in which we can provide support or make adjustments, we would love to discuss this with you, you can contact your Recruiter for this vacancy at kate.wilkinson@newcastle.co.uk