SME Area Director (Midlands & East)

Lloyds Banking Group; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 75,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension contribution up to 15%

Annual performance-related bonus

Share schemes

30 days holiday

Wellbeing initiatives

Parental leave policies

Job summary

Lloyds Banking Group is seeking an SME Area Director for the Midlands & East, based in Birmingham. You will lead the regional SME Relationship team, mentor leaders, and shape strategy with the Midlands & East SME Leadership Team.

The role blends senior client leadership, risk-aware governance, and external partnership building to grow income and support customers. You’ll balance client needs with compliance, and act as a high-profile ambassador for the Group in the local market.

Qualifications

• Proven SME or commercial banking leadership
• Experience managing senior client relationships
• Strong governance and risk management understanding

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic Midlands & East SME leadership planning as board member
• Develop and mentor the Relationship team to deliver goals
• Oversee client proposals, structure solutions, and ensure policy adherence
• Support external partnerships and act as a senior ambassador for the Group
• Evaluate team performance and drive business growth

Skills

SME leadership

Relationship management

Credit & risk

Governance

Job description

End Date

Tuesday 29 September 2026

Salary Range

£0 - £0

Flexible Working Options

Hybrid Working

Job Description Summary

We’re passionate about looking after our customers. Are you?

We have a rare opportunity to lead the hard-working and successful Midlands & East, SME Trading Sectors Team!

Job Description

JOB TITLE:

SME Area Director (Midlands & East)

SALARY:

Competitive- will be discussed at interview stage

LOCATION(S):

Birmingham (Midlands & East)

HOURS:

Full-time

WORKING PATTERN:

Our work style is hybrid, which involves spending at least 1 day per week, or 20% of our time, at one of our office sites, at least 1 day per week, or 20% of your time with clients and the remaining 60% of your week can be spent working from home. As this is a senior leadership role, we’d expect you to manage your diary to suit business needs.

About this Opportunity:

You’ll be expected to build powerful networks to support the team to bring the whole bank to customers and will mentor, develop and support your team to be the most capable and effective they can be for our clients. You’ll have a key external focus too, being a positive high-profile ambassador for the Group in the local market.

Our Relationship Management division has a rich heritage of supporting businesses and the economic prosperity of the nation, passionate about businesses and those with strong links across the city. We provide customers with the support they need to help them grow, handle risk, and improve efficiency, and we continue to invest in our relationship teams and deepen our product expertise to deliver a first-class service.

What you’ll be doing:

• Contribute, as a board member of Midlands & East of England SME Leadership Team, to the strategic leadership and planning of the Sector in partnership with other senior colleagues under the overall direction of the Regional Director.
• Through inspiring leadership and promotion of Equal Opportunities, motivate, develop, mentor and appraise team members, so that individual and collective performance delivers stretching business goals.
• Develop the capability of the Relationship team and utilise specialist knowledge to support them in all aspects of their work, specifically developing their own local business plans and run their client portfolio to ensure full adherence with all policy and compliance requirements.
• Provide oversight to developing, structuring, and assessing client proposals to meet customer requirements and find opportunities to further develop income, guiding, recommending, and supporting implementation of the appropriate solutions.
• Regularly evaluate the team’s performance against business objectives, including the supervision of regulated products (where the role requires), recognising individual / team achievement and taking corrective action where appropriate.
• Provide the appropriate support to the relationship management of clients and key business introducers in and across client segments, ensuring effective response to their business needs through all the available offers. Regularly interacting with complex clients at MDs, FDs and Boards of Director level.
• Promote the bank’s image as a key figurehead in the local community and the Midlands & East of England marketplace with a range of partners including influential, high value clients and city professionals to support development of new business opportunities.

Why join us?

We’re on an exciting journey to transform our Group and the way we’re shaping finance for good. We’re focusing on the future, investing in our technologies, workplaces, and colleagues to make our Group a great place for everyone.

What we’re looking for?

• Proven SME or commercial banking leader, with accountability for a significant client portfolio and team performance.
• Strong track record of managing and growing a mature client book, with responsibility for income generation and balance sheet performance.
• Experience leading Relationship Director and Relationship Manager teams, driving consistent performance outcomes.
• Demonstrated experience managing senior client relationships, influencing effectively at senior leader level.
• Expertise in credit, risk and trading, including oversight of complex client structures and proposals.
• Strong understanding of operating within a regulated environment, with a focus on governance and risk management.

We know that great talent comes from many backgrounds. Whilst this job advert may reference specific experience, we recognise that skills are developed in many ways, so if you have relevant, transferable experience, we encourage you to apply.

This is a place for you:

Our ambition is to be the leading UK business for diversity, equity and inclusion supporting our customers, colleagues and communities, and we’re committed to creating an environment in which everyone can thrive, learn and develop.

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.

We offer reasonable workplace adjustments for colleagues with disabilities, including flexibility in office attendance, location and working patterns. And, as a Disability Confident Leader, we guarantee interviews for a fair and proportionate number of applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role with a disability, long-term health or neurodivergent condition through the Disability Confident Scheme.

We provide reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process to reduce or remove barriers. Just let us know what you need.

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

Ready for a career where you’ll learn and thrive? Apply today and find out more.

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.