From running her own PR consultancy to becoming a respected legal senior leader

When Caroline joined Barclays, she had not previously worked in Financial Services or in a large organisation. She had run her own PR consultancy shortly after leaving university, but wanted the broader experience and greater challenge a major
corporate could offer her. Now a respected senior leader in Legal, she’s living proof of the wealth of opportunities available at Barclays – whatever your background.

In at the deep end

I joined Barclays as a Project Manager, rolling out a new piece of software with all the associated training, communication and planning involved in the project. With no experience of the sector, and software that was challenging to implement, I found my first six months quite tough. But the project was delivered and I soon found myself looking for further challenges, and joined a completely new team. This kind of mobility is one of the great benefits of Barclays.

A passage to India

After a number of different roles, and increased people management responsibility within the same team, I took a role in India. We were moving Operations roles to Chennai, and I was the first person from the UK, and the first woman, from Barclays to relocate there. My role was Transition Manager, and I had to manage the migration of over 1,000 roles and hire a Change team from the very start. I spent a year and a half there, before moving to Mumbai where I was promoted to Director. When I’d done what I set out to do in India, I came back to the UK.

I love working in Legal even though I didn’t start here. Barclays can offer that kind of mobility to everyone, as long as you’re prepared to work hard, keep learning and growing, and stay relevant and current.

A time of change

I came back as a Programme Manager, playing a major role in structural reform. This was a critically important process for the bank, at a time when new legislation required all banks to change the way they worked. After 2.5 years in that role, was approached by Legal to play a major role in the Brexit programme. This was a big leap for me – I needed to understand a completely new function as well as get to grips with the complexities of the programme. I relished the challenge and this huge opportunity to stretch my abilities and intellect. This was the toughest role of my career: so much to learn! I soon worked out what I needed to know, what I could talk about and when to rely on the legal experts. I built a change team around me, and learned how to work with the lawyers. At the same time, I was also working in the transformation team on other projects.

I then took yet another stretching role in Legal, in charge of the team managing our external legal suppliers – as well as other big projects. And that’s where I am today: amongst clever, intellectual people, with plenty of autonomy. I’m constantly challenged and developed, and I haven’t achieved everything on my career agenda yet!

Keep moving, keep growing

I love working in Legal even though I didn’t start here. Barclays can offer that kind of mobility to everyone, as long as you’re prepared to work hard, keep learning and growing, and stay relevant and current. Lawyers also have the opportunity to move their careers elsewhere in the business if they want to: you can start anywhere and go anywhere. The only limit is your desire to achieve.