Head of Business and Commercial Credit Risk

We have a fantastic opportunity to lead a proactive and influential Business and Commercial Credit Risk team, overseeing the entire credit lifecycle of the Group’s Business and Commercial credit arrangements, whilst adhering and aligning activities with the Group’s risk appetite.

As Head of Business and Commercial Credit Risk, the role holder will be an expert in Commercial Credit lending, help shape the strategic plan, embed a strong credit risk culture and ensure your team is focused on achieving key objectives.

Key Responsibilities

People:

Lead and develop a high-performing team, ensuring strong people management and effective communication. Acting as a key representative internally and externally, engaging with leadership and industry forums, advises on critical credit risk issues, and builds strong relationships across business functions to drive good customer and commercial outcomes.

Finance:

Manage and plan resources on a cost-effective basis in line with budgets, ensuring fit for purpose structures, talent and succession planning, identification of essential staff development needs and high standards of recruitment and induction.

Customer:

Delivering market-leading customer and commercial outcomes aligned with the Group’s principles and values, while simplifying complex processes to improve customer experience and value. The role prioritises analysing risk and arrears trends in the Business and Commercial portfolio to improve performance and customer outcomes. It ensures lending assessments capture all key information upfront for accurate first-time offers and optimizes processes and resources to meet service level agreements.

Risk:

The role leads the development of strategies for credit decisions, limit setting, while working with existing policies and creating new ones to enable lending in new sectors.

The role holder is an SME in managing Business and Commercial Credit Risk, including arrears management and second-line risk oversight. Acting as the Responsible Functional Owner, providing independent challenge and support to senior executives, and engaging stakeholders up to Board level on strategy and policy.

If you are a strategic leader with deep credit risk experience and a passion for driving strong customer outcomes while managing risk effectively, we’d love to hear from you

Location:

• Hybrid working arrangements are team-led.
• Manchester-based team members: Expected to come into the office once every two weeks.
• West Midlands employees: Required to travel to Coventry for their in-office days.

 Our benefits include:

• 28 days holiday a year plus bank holidays and a holiday buy/sell scheme
• Annual discretionary bonus scheme
• Personal pension with matched contributions
• Life assurance (6 times annual salary)
• You’re entitled to a company car allowance
• Private Medical Insurance
• Health Screening

Find out more about the fantastic benefits of joining Coventry Building Society here.

 We reserve the right to close this advert early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications

To be successful in this role it’s essential you have:

• Expertise is Business and Commercial credit risk lending, strategies and experience of approaches for customers who are in difficulty
• Extensive Credit Risk Management experience across full range of Business and Commercial banking products/services including syndicate transactions, CRE and specialist sectors. 
• Knowledge and experience of managing customers in distress and the expert assessment of ECL and provisions needed on such cases
• Experience of larger lending transactions including the preparation, presentation and sanctioning of such proposals.
• Skilled working across boundaries to manage credibility with senior management whilst working across lines of defence to build collaboration
• Excellent influencing skills with the ability to articulate clearly and concisely to gain buy in from a variety of stakeholders.
• Skilled communicator able to relate to and build trust with colleagues at all levels across the Bank up to and including Board level.

Desirable experience will be:

• Demonstrable experience of crisis communications and risk management principles.
• In-house experience working for a consumer facing brand

In January 2025, Coventry Building Society purchased The Co-operative Bank. Bringing together our purpose-led building society with the UK’s original ethical bank was the start of an exciting journey.

Trusted by over four million people, we’re a mutually owned business free from shareholders, and with our combined experience of almost 300 years, our ethics and dedication will continue to guide us. Together, we have shared values and an ethical approach towards our members, customers and colleagues.

We’re officially recognised as a ‘Great Place to Work’ and our benefits go beyond basic pay, with a discretionary bonus scheme, a culture of reward and recognition and comprehensive support for wellbeing. 

We’re serious about equality, of race, age, faith, disability, and sexual orientation and we celebrate diversity. By working together, we know you’ll build more than just a career with us.

Flexibility and why it matters

We understand the need for flexibility, so wherever possible, we’ll consider alternative working patterns. Have a chat with us before you apply to see what the possibilities are for this role.                                                                                             

Proud to be a Disability Confident Committed Employer

We’re proud to offer an interview or assessment to every disabled applicant who meet the minimum criteria for our vacancies. As part of the application process, disabled applicants can opt in for the Disability Confident Interview Scheme. If there are ever occasions where it is not practicable to interview all candidates that meet the essential criteria, such as when we receive a high number of applications, we commit to interviewing disabled candidates who best meet the minimum essential and desirable criteria.