Requirements
Candidates must have proven leadership experience in a fast-paced, customer-facing environment, ideally within the financial services sector. You should demonstrate strong coaching abilities, experience supporting vulnerable customers, and the capacity to lead teams through organizational change.
Job Description
The Collections and Recoveries Team demands a flexible and agile approach to our ways of working. Change can be frequent and your ability to adapt and evolve to change alongside your team will be vital to success in your role.
We require our leaders to be able to motivate and inspire a team of consultants and lead them through change in a fast-paced environment. You will support the team in coaching and demonstrate effective oversight in line with the business area’s training and competency framework.
We are looking for someone who can demonstrate strong leadership skills, build relationships, and have strong collaboration skills as you’ll be working with Senior leaders across the operations. You will be a team player; and work with the wider team supporting, challenging, and sharing best practice with each other to get the best out of our people and deliver consistent fair outcomes for our members.
We are happy to consider flexible working approaches to help you perform at your best.
This is a 12-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, Swindon or Bournemouth 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
What you’ll be doing
You will be required to lead a team of Senior and Specialist Collector & Negotiators, who support our members in times of need. Through effective leadership and coaching you will empower your team to be their best and operate to their full potential. Through effective 1-1’s and regular coaching you will create a high-performance culture to enable fair and positive member outcomes. You will lead teams in different operational areas; this could involve managing a telephony and/or administration team dependent on the area of deployment.
You will be required to deliver creative communication methods, to engage your hybrid teams and find ways to create a strong team dynamic enabling trust, collaboration, and support colleague wellbeing. Things change quickly, so it’s vital our teams are kept up to date with their learning through the established competency frameworks in the area in which you are deployed. You will be required to deliver consistent and appropriate communication that ensure teams are kept fully informed and maintain competence in their roles.
About you
Experience supporting vulnerable customers
Experience working in a collections and recoveries operational environment, supporting customers in financial difficulties, including supporting customers when they have cause to complain
Leadership experience working in a fast-paced environment, leading customer facing teams, including remote or hybrid teams is must
Proven ability to coach and lead your team through effective performance management techniques
Demonstrate clear and confident communication skills to enable you to articulate the department’s key strategic priorities, performance goals and objectives along with key organisational messages.
Be positive, motivated and have an inspirational approach to getting the best out of your team, you won’t be afraid to tackle difficult situations and use your leadership skills to resolve issues and grow talent on your team.
Have knowledge and experience working in the financial services industry, ideally leading operational teams in the areas outlined above
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
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 Privacy policy.
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
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The hiring manager for this role is Thomas Hill, and the main recruitment contact is Amy Baxter.