Risk Manager Lead - Risk Decision & Data Science

Nationwide; Swindon; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday

Private medical insurance

Pension

Annual performance bonus

Training and development

Salary sacrifice scheme

Life assurance

Wellhub health and wellness

Paid volunteering

Job summary

Nationwide is seeking a Risk Manager Lead to drive development of credit scoring in the Risk Decision & Data Science team. You will lead multiple scorecard projects, mentor a team, and ensure models align with risk and regulatory requirements across Retail Lending, including Behaviour and Collections/Recoveries.

The role requires hands-on modelling experience, strong communication with senior stakeholders, and a proven track record of delivering under tight timescales.

Qualifications

• Significant experience delivering decision modelling scorecards and innovative risk tooling.
• Deep knowledge of Credit Scoring techniques and their pros/cons.
• Hands-on leadership to deliver modelling tools and mentor a team.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication with senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Engage with senior stakeholders to plan and lead multiple modelling projects across Credit Risk and Collections/Recoveries.
• Develop, document and deliver models and analytical tools using statistical techniques.
• Present model performance to risk committees and senior management.
• Collaborate with Systems, Product Risk, and Model Validation to ensure requirements are understood and implemented.

Skills

SAS

Python

R

Education

PhD

MSc or quantitative degree

Job description

Job Description

A fantastic opportunity has become available as a Risk Manager Lead in our thriving Risk Decision & Data Science team - winners of the "Credit Modelling & Risk Team of the Year" at both the 2022 and 2020 Credit Strategy Awards. RD & DS is a dynamic and fun place to work, with a fantastic team culture and a culture for recognising and rewarding the great work its colleagues do.

As a Risk Manager Lead, with the support of a Senior Risk Manager, you will be responsible for leading and shaping the development of credit scoring capability in the team. Thus, enabling the delivery of cutting‑edge analytical tools that optimise decisions for all our Retail Lending portfolios, across all aspects of the credit lifecycle (Application, Behavioural and Collections/Recoveries), as well as Affordability solutions that ensure responsible lending and compliance with regulation. Experience of "hands‑on" delivery of multiple scorecard / model developments will be essential, as elements of the role will involve developing innovative solutions to complex business problems. Capability to translate complex issues into a more palatable form for a less technical audience will also be critical to ensure productive relationships with key stakeholders. Furthermore, a proven track record of delivering through leading others will be required.

Proven experience in stakeholder management and communication will be integral to the role, as it will involve regular engagement with the Senior Management in Secured and Unsecured Risk, Model Risk Oversight, Collections/Recoveries, and Product areas. People leadership experience will be essential for you to motivate and enable your direct reports and the wider team to deliver high‑quality models to tight timescales.

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 job you’ll spend at least two days per week, or if part time you’ll spend 40% of your working time, based at our Swindon office. If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works. You can also find out more about our approach to hybrid working here.

If we receive a high volume of relevant applications, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so please apply as soon as you can.

Responsibilities

What you’ll be doing

Your responsibilities will include engaging with senior stakeholders, planning and leading multiple projects relating to the ongoing development, maintenance and monitoring of models across Credit Risk and Collections & Recoveries

You will provide strong technical leadership and support, to lead, motivate and enable your direct reports and the wider team. Develop, document and deliver models and advanced analytic tools, employing relevant statistical techniques.

In doing this you will pro‑actively engage and communicate with the wider business on model developments and how they will impact business decisions, presenting model performance to risk committees and senior management.

The role will involve engagement with the Systems, Product Risk, Collections, Recoveries, Retail IRB (Internal Ratings Based) Modelling & Model Validation teams to ensure that requirements are understood, met and implementable. You will also be responsible for presenting your projects and insights to the relevant modelling fora and business committees.

Your role will also be critical to ensure colleagues can develop their careers, and that RD&DS is a great place to work.

About you

To be successful in this role you will:

• Significant experience in delivering decision modelling scorecards and innovative risk decisioning tools to address complex business problems, using coding in SAS/Python/R or similar
• Have deep knowledge of Credit Scoring, the techniques used to develop these models, including Logistic Regression, Gradient Boosting, Neural Networks, etc., and their merits and limitations
• Have hands‑on experience of leading, motivating and mentoring a team to deliver modelling tools for the business
• Have a proven track record of senior stakeholder management, with high‑quality communication and influencing skills
• The role will require deep understanding of portfolio/member behaviour and capability to optimise the use of modelling tools for business decisions
• Have a PhD, MSc or strong quantitative degree ideally from a Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science or related subject

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

Please note that should you be successful in securing this role, the job title on our internal systems will be Risk Manager Lead.