SME Banking Relationship Manager

LLOYDS BANK PLC; Billingshurst; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 67,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension up to 15%

Annual bonus

Share schemes

Flexible holidays

Job summary

Lloyds Banking Group in Sussex is seeking an SME Banking Relationship Manager to lead a portfolio of ambitious local businesses. You’ll understand each business’s goals, explore lending, working capital and deposits, and spot opportunities to help them progress.

The role combines relationship management with credit risk assessment, and uses digital tools to simplify banking. This is a hybrid role with office days to collaborate.

Qualifications

• Experience building lasting client relationships and portfolio management.
• Proven business development track record identifying new opportunities.
• Experience assessing credit propositions using established frameworks.
• Strong understanding of commercial loans and working capital products.
• Ability to analyse markets and competitors to spot opportunities.
• Good digital literacy and familiarity with banking platforms.

Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of Sussex-based SME clients.
• Identify opportunities, develop relationships and create value.
• Assess credit propositions and make well-reasoned decisions.
• Utilise digital tools and banking platforms in day-to-day work.
• Build networks with colleagues and external partners.

Skills

Relationship management

Business development

Credit risk assessment

Lending / working capital

Digital literacy

Communication skills

Market insight

Critical thinking

Job description

Job Details

Job Title: SME Banking Relationship Manager

Locations: Sussex

Hours: Full time

Salary: Starting from £61,344

Working Pattern: Our work style is hybrid, which involves spending at least two days per week, or 40% of your time, at one of our office sites.

About this opportunity

Want to help ambitious businesses turn their plans into progress? Join our Commercial Banking SME team and look after a portfolio of businesses across Sussex, with turnover between £3m and £10m. You’ll get beneath the surface of each business, understanding what they want to achieve and where banking can make a difference. That might mean exploring lending or working capital, discussing deposits or bringing in expertise from elsewhere in the Group. There’s a strong growth focus too. You’ll spot potential within your portfolio, make new connections across the local business community and develop new-to-bank opportunities. Along the way, you’ll build a valuable network of colleagues and external partners who can help turn ideas into outcomes. Good judgement will be just as important as commercial instinct. You’ll assess credit propositions, consider risk and use evidence to reach well-reasoned decisions. You’ll also adopt digital tools and new ways of working that make banking simpler for the people you work with. It’s a role with variety, visibility and real scope to build your career in Commercial Banking, with opportunities to develop your expertise and progress further within the Group.

What you’ll need

• Relationship Management – experience developing lasting relationships, understanding individual priorities and managing the varied demands of a client portfolio.
• Growing the Franchise – strong business development experience, with a track record of identifying opportunities, developing prospective relationships and creating value through new and existing business.
• Credit Risk – experience assessing credit propositions, applying established frameworks and balancing commercial value with effective risk management.
• Commercial Loans & Working Capital – a strong understanding of lending products and how to identify suitable options based on individual business needs.
• Business & Commercial Insight – the ability to understand businesses, markets and the competitive landscape, using that knowledge to uncover opportunities.
• Critical Thinking – the ability to assess information objectively, challenge assumptions and make sound, practical decisions.
• Financial Services Experience – experience of relationship management or business development within banking or wider financial services.
• Managing Key Relationships – experience navigating different priorities and bringing people together to achieve positive outcomes.
• Writing a Credit Deal – experience using commercial information and judgement to develop credit proposals.
• Digital Literacy – experience making effective use of digital tools and banking platforms in your day-to-day work.

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. We are 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 launch a dedicated Working with Cancer initiative. We offer reasonable workplace adjustments for colleagues with disabilities, including flexibility in office attendance, location and working patterns. As a Disability Confident Leader, we guarantee interviews for a fair and proportionate number of applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role and have 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.

Benefits

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

About Lloyds Banking Group

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.