Head of Team

About Barclays Corporate Banking

Barclays Corporate Banking provides comprehensive financial services to businesses across a range of sectors, supporting them with tailored banking solutions. We are committed to fostering long-term partnerships, helping clients achieve their ambitions while driving sustainable economic growth.

Role Overview

As the Head of Mid Corporate & Business Development for Scotland, you will lead a team of Relationship Directors and Business Development professionals, driving growth, client satisfaction, and operational excellence. You will be responsible for delivering strong financial and operating performance while ensuring a high standard of conduct, controls, and employee engagement. A key focus will be on developing a high-performance culture through skilled people management, training, and development while fostering a diverse and inclusive team environment.

This is a leadership role where you will play a strategic part in raising Barclays’ brand profile in Scotland, developing strong relationships with key stakeholders across the business community and ensuring we remain a trusted banking partner for mid-corporate clients.

Key Responsibilities

Financial & Operating Performance

• Drive sustainable revenue growth by expanding market share and deepening client relationships.
• Deliver strong financial performance, ensuring the team meets and exceeds key performance indicators (KPIs) for income, profitability, and balance sheet management.
• Maintain a clear focus on risk-adjusted returns, ensuring all growth is sustainable and aligned with Barclays’ long-term strategy.

Client Satisfaction & Business Growth

• Lead the team in delivering outstanding client service, ensuring Barclays is the bank of choice for mid-corporate businesses in Scotland.
• Oversee business development efforts, winning new business and driving growth across the region.
• Build and strengthen relationships with key corporate clients, professional advisors, and industry stakeholders to enhance Barclays’ market position.
• Champion a solutions-led approach, leveraging Barclays’ full suite of corporate banking products and services.

Conduct & Controls

• Ensure a robust risk and control framework is embedded within the team, maintaining the highest standards of governance, compliance, and ethical conduct.
• Proactively manage risk, ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements and internal policies.
• Promote a strong culture of accountability, transparency, and responsible banking.

Leadership & People Development

• Inspire, lead, and develop a team of Relationship Directors and Business Development professionals, ensuring they have the skills, knowledge, and motivation to excel.
• Foster a high-performance culture that rewards collaboration, innovation, and client focus.
• Invest in training and career development opportunities, ensuring continuous learning and professional growth.
• Drive diversity and inclusion, building a collegiate team culture that values different perspectives and experiences.

Community Engagement & Brand Positioning

• Represent Barclays at key business and industry events, raising our brand profile across Scotland.
• Engage with local business groups, government agencies, and trade bodies to advocate for Barclays as a key partner in Scotland’s business landscape.
• Champion Barclays’ commitment to sustainability, responsible banking, and community impact, ensuring we support the long-term success of businesses and the economy.

Key Skills & Experience Required

• Proven leadership experience in corporate banking, with a track record of managing teams and delivering strong financial performance.
• Deep understanding of corporate banking, relationship management, and business development.
• Strong client relationship skills, with the ability to engage with senior decision-makers and influence at a strategic level.
• Experience in risk management, governance, and regulatory compliance within corporate banking.
• Passion for people development, fostering talent, and building a diverse and inclusive workplace.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to represent Barclays externally with credibility.
• Commercial mindset, with a strategic approach to growth, client acquisition, and brand positioning.

Purpose of the role

To maximise the growth and success of UK corporate banking. Working collaboratively with colleagues and specialist partners across the group. Leading a team to achieve agreed goals, maximising market opportunity and external brand plus driving income growth, market share growth, through leveraging industry expertise, focus and understanding. 

Accountabilities

• Development of strategic direction for relationship teams, including the implementation of up to date methodologies and processes.
• Management of relationship teams, including oversight of colleagues and their performance, implementation of goals and objectives, oversight of efficiency and effectiveness.  .
• Development and maintenance of strong relationships with the broader Barclays group to promote seamless working across all channels and segments and to support an integrated business planning process.
• Management of all risk aspects including conduct and credit risk, ensuring all team members are fully compliant to enhance great customer outcomes.
• Monitoring the financial performance of relationship teams, including revenue, profitability, and cost control.
• Conducting thorough market research to understand client needs, market trends, competitive landscape, and regulatory changes to identify growth opportunities.
• Excellent service delivery to customers, consistently meeting their ongoing needs, while operating to required levels of cost.
• Actively promote a culture of greater diversity and inclusion plus develop talent and succession within the team.

Director Expectations

• To manage a business function, providing significant input to function wide strategic initiatives. Contribute to and influence policy and procedures for the function and plan, manage and consult on multiple complex and critical strategic projects, which may be business wide..
• They manage the direction of a large team or sub-function, leading other people managers and embedding a performance culture aligned to the values of the business. Or for an individual contributor, they lead organisation wide projects and act as deep technical expert and thought leader, identifying new ways of working and collaborating cross functionally. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Provide expert advice to senior functional management and committees to influence decisions made outside of own function, offering significant input to function wide strategic initiatives.
• Manage, coordinate and enable resourcing, budgeting and policy creation for a significant sub-function.
• Escalates breaches of policies / procedure appropriately.
• Foster and guide compliance, ensure regulations are observed that relevant processes in place to facilitate adherence.
• Focus on the external environment, regulators, or advocacy groups to both monitor and influence on behalf of Barclays, when appropriate.
• Demonstrate extensive knowledge of how the function integrates with the business division / Group to achieve the overall business objectives.
• Maintain broad and comprehensive knowledge of industry theories and practices within own discipline alongside up-to-date relevant sector / functional knowledge, and insight into external market developments / initiatives.
• Use interpretative thinking and advanced analytical skills to solve problems and design solutions in often complex/ sensitive situations.
• Exercise management authority to make significant decisions and certain strategic decisions or recommendations within own area.
• Negotiate with and influence stakeholders at a senior level both internally and externally.
• Act as principal contact point for key clients and counterparts in other functions/ businesses divisions.
• Mandated as a spokesperson for the function and business division.

All Senior Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.