Assistant Director - Development Finance

Homes England; Leeds; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Homes England, headquartered in Leeds, is seeking an experienced Assistant Director Development Finance to drive delivery for the National Housing Bank. You will lead a team of 4 direct reports and a wider group of 30 to assess, approve and oversee lending to SME residential developers across England.

The role focuses on delivering £1.5bn of new SME lending over the next 5 years, balancing day-to-day delivery with innovative financing solutions for builders typically delivering 5-50 homes.

Qualifications

• Proficient lender with strong experience in completing due diligence for lending to residential development.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of 4 direct reports and a wider team of 30 to deliver lending solutions.
• Drive the deployment of £1.5bn of new SME lending over the next 5 years to support SME builders across England.
• Maintain stakeholder engagement at senior levels and ensure delivery and problem solving.

Job description

Closing Date: 18/9/2026

Interviews dates to be confirmed

Location: As we are headquartered in Leeds our preference is to appoint to this location and priority will be given to applicants based within commuting distance of the Leeds office.

Help build the National Housing Bank

The National Housing Bank (NHB) is a new government-backed financial institution, operating as a subsidiary of Homes England, established to unlock investment and accelerate housing delivery across England.

Working in a team with Nigel Barclay, Director of Lending Origination, and Stuart Dawkins, Assistant Director Lending Alliances, the Assistant Director Development Finance role will play a critical role in the National Housing Bank. You will be joining our highly skilled and experienced team 70 people, who are committed to making positive change in how SME house builders are funded and supported to increase housing delivery.

Nigel Barclay is dedicated to finding innovative and creative approaches to the funding challenges facing SME builders, helping them find ways to grow and deliver more homes. The team values diversity in experience and perspective to foster good decision making and problem solving.

This is a rare chance to shape the future in a fast growing, national organisation with real social purpose. Working with key stakeholders and leading a professional team of 40 colleagues, you will be a confident leader with a focus on delivery and able to efficiently, consistently and effectively resolve challenges which arise.

The role will support the deployment of £1.5bn of new SME lending over the next 5 years supporting a very important cohort of smaller builders which typically complete projects of 5-50 homes across England. This is an excellent opportunity to balance day to day delivery whilst bringing innovative solutions to the SME builder community.

About You

You'll be comfortable supporting your 4 direct reports and wider team of 30 people to find solutions to complex problems. You will be a proficient lender with strong experience in completing the required diligence for lending to the residential development sector.

Delivering on a mission as bold as ours isn’t always easy. You will be resilient and comfortable managing stakeholders at a senior level and your discussions will always be shaped by a good understanding of the commercial and operational impact of what we do as a team. You will enjoy working in an innovative, fun and engaging way and be able to negotiate and persuade.

As an experienced lender you’ll understand how to manage colleagues and be able to demonstrate you can work with others as part of a team in a collaborative, inclusive way.

Why Join?

Backed by £16bn of new financial capacity, the National Housing Bank will work with investors, lenders, developers, housing associations and government partners to crowd in more than £50bn of private investment and support the delivery of 500,000 additional homes across England.

This is a rare opportunity to work collaboratively across teams within the National Housing Bank.

Please find attached job description alongside additional information about the selection process, who we are and what we offer.