Head Of Credit Underwriting - Business Banking & Sme

Lloyds Banking Group; Ledston; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Lloyds Banking Group is seeking a Head of SME & Business Banking Credit Underwriting to lead credit decisioning for SME, SME Corporate Real Estate and Business Banking. You will shape underwriting strategy, oversee a team of ~90 colleagues across the UK, and drive improvements in data, automation and AI to speed decisions while maintaining credit quality.

You’ll collaborate with senior leaders to balance growth and risk, set policy, and transform the end-to-end client journey, ensuring

Qualifications

• Extensive SME credit underwriting and sanctioning experience across trading sectors.
• Corporate Real Estate credit expertise with senior oversight capabilities.
• Experience across Business Banking and Commercial Banking credit.
• Strong knowledge of credit risk, portfolio management, policy and risk appetite.
• Experience leading specialist credit or underwriting teams.
• Proven track record leading complex change and embedding new technology, processes and ways of working.
• Experience leading teams through significant change with engagement.
• Excellent commercial judgement balancing growth and risk with sound credit risk management.
• Executive-level communication and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead Credit Underwriting across SME, SME Corporate Real Estate and Business Banking.
• Provide senior credit leadership across a diverse portfolio of trading sectors and CRE, including oversight of complex lending.
• Maintain accountability for the quality and risk profile of credit decisions.
• Partner with senior business leaders to support growth, balancing commercial ambition, client outcomes and risk appetite.
• Influence credit policy, mandates, risk appetite and portfolio strategy.
• Lead significant transformation across the underwriting function, simplifying client and colleague journeys and improving pace and consistency of decisions.
• Lead the implementation and adoption of new processes, technology and ways of working, including data, analytics, automation and AI.
• Lead, develop and engage a large team of credit professionals, building capability and inclusive culture.
• Represent Credit at senior executive and governance forums and deputise for the BCB Business Risk Director where required.

Skills

SME credit underwriting

Credit risk expertise

Portfolio management

Change leadership

Stakeholder management

Executive communication

Job description

Description

The opportunity

SME & Business Banking serves UK clients with revenues up to £50m across Trading, Agriculture, Healthcare and Commercial Real Estate and Housing, and forms part of Lloyds Banking Group’s Business & Commercial Banking division.

The Head of SME & Business Banking Credit Underwriting is a significant senior leadership role with responsibility for Credit Underwriting across SME, with a particular focus on Trading and Corporate Real Estate, alongside Business Banking. The role reports directly to the BCB Risk Director and will be responsible for leading a team of c.90 colleagues across multiple UK locations.

You’ll bring deep technical credit expertise and commercial judgement across a broad range of trading sectors and Corporate Real Estate, and will be accountable for high-quality credit decision-making and portfolio outcomes, whilst supporting the sustainable growth ambitions of the business.

This is also a major change leadership role. You’ll help shape the future of underwriting, simplifying the end-to-end credit journey for clients and colleagues, transforming processes and ways of working, and making greater use of data, automation and AI to deliver faster, simpler and more consistent decision-making without compromising credit quality.

What you’ll be doing

• Lead Credit Underwriting across SME, SME Corporate Real Estate and Business Banking, setting clear strategic direction and maintaining high standards of credit judgement.
• Provide senior credit leadership across a diverse portfolio of trading sectors and CRE, including oversight and challenge of complex, material and judgement-led lending.
• Maintain accountability for the quality and risk profile of credit decisions, supporting strong and sustainable portfolio performance.
• Partner with senior business leaders to support growth, balancing commercial ambition, client outcomes and risk appetite.
• Influence credit policy, mandates, risk appetite and portfolio strategy, bringing practical underwriting expertise and insight to their development.
• Lead significant transformation across the underwriting function, simplifying client and colleague journeys, removing unnecessary complexity and improving the pace and consistency of decision-making.
• Lead the implementation and adoption of new processes, technology and ways of working, including increased use of data, analytics, automation and AI.
• Lead, develop and engage a large team of credit professionals, building capability, creating an inclusive and high-performing culture, and leading colleagues successfully through change.
• Represent Credit at senior executive and governance forums and deputise for the BCB Business Risk Director where required.

What we need from you

• Deep and extensive SME credit underwriting and sanctioning expertise, gained across a broad range of trading sectors.
• Strong Corporate Real Estate credit expertise, with the credibility to provide senior oversight and challenge on complex CRE lending.
• Broader experience of Business Banking and Commercial Banking credit.
• Strong technical knowledge of credit risk, portfolio management, policy, mandates and risk appetite.
• Significant experience leading specialist credit or underwriting teams.
• A proven track record of leading complex change, including client journey simplification, process improvement and operating model transformation, with strong evidence of successfully embedding new technology, processes and ways of working.
• A track record of leading teams through significant change, creating clarity and engagement while building the capability and culture required for the future.
• Excellent commercial judgement, with the ability to balance growth and client outcomes with sound credit risk management.
• Strong executive-level communication, stakeholder management and influencing skills.

About working for us

Our focus is to ensure we’re inclusive every day, building an organisation that reflects modern society and celebrates diversity in all its forms. We want our people to feel that they belong and can be their best, regardless of background, identity or culture. We were one of the first major organisations to set goals on diversity in senior roles, create a menopause health package, and a dedicated Working with Cancer initiative. And it’s why we especially welcome applications from under-represented groups.

We’re disability confident. So if you’d like reasonable adjustments to be made to our recruitment processes, just let us know.

We also offer a wide-ranging benefits package, which includes

• A generous pension contribution of up to 15%
• An annual performance-related bonus
• Share schemes including free shares
• Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping
• 30 days’ holiday, with bank holidays on top
• A range of wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies

If you’re excited by the thought of becoming part of our team, get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.

At Lloyds Banking Group, we're driven by a clear purpose; to help Britain prosper. Across the Group, our colleagues are focused on making a difference to customers, businesses and communities. With us you'll have a key role to play in shaping the financial services of the future, whilst the scale and reach of our Group means you'll have many opportunities to learn, grow and develop.

We keep your data safe. So, we'll only ever ask you to provide confidential or sensitive information once you have formally been invited along to an interview or accepted a verbal offer to join us which is when we run our background checks. We'll always explain what we need and why, with any request coming from a trusted Lloyds Banking Group person.

We're focused on creating a values-led culture and are committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the customers and communities we serve. Together we’re building a truly inclusive workplace where all of our colleagues have the opportunity to make a real difference.