SME Area Director (Midlands & East)

Lloyds Banking Group; West Midlands; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension up to 15%

Bonus potential

Share schemes

Flexible benefits

30 days holiday

Wellbeing & parental leave

Job summary

Lloyds Banking Group in Birmingham is hiring an SME Area Director to lead Midlands & East and shape sector strategy for the region. You will mentor senior teams, manage a high-value client portfolio, and act as a visible ambassador for the Group in the local market.

You will drive cross-functional collaboration, ensure governance and risk management, and deliver sustainable growth through strategic planning and client-facing excellence across the Midlands & East of England.

Qualifications

• 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 income generation and balance sheet responsibility.
• Experience leading Relationship Director and Relationship Manager teams, driving consistent performance.
• Expertise in credit, risk and trading, including oversight of complex client structures and proposals.
• Strong governance and risk management in a regulated environment.

Responsibilities

• Contribute as a board member of Midlands & East of England SME Leadership Team to strategic leadership and planning with the Regional Director.
• Motivate, develop, mentor and appraise team members to deliver stretching business goals.
• Develop theCapability of the Relationship team, grow local business plans, and run client portfolios in compliance with policies.
• Provide oversight to client proposals and implement appropriate solutions to develop income.
• Regularly evaluate team performance against objectives and supervise regulated products when required.
• Support relationship management of clients and key introducers across segments, engaging with MDs, FDs and directors.
• Promote the bank’s image as a key figurehead in the local market and build new business opportunities.
• Transform the Group through technology investments, workplace enhancements and a strong focus on diversity.

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.

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