Director - Head of Climate Tech

About Innovation Banking

With colleagues located in London and around the UK, Innovation Banking holds relationship with clients operating in frontier technologies that are typically venture capital backed and exhibit high growth characteristics. The team plays a leading role in supporting the scale up ambitions of the Innovation Economy and connects clients across the Barclays Group to deliver the breadth of our Banking solutions. Climate Tech is one of four subsectors within Innovation Banking

Overall purpose of role

• Responsible for leading the national strategy and execution of the Climate Tech subsector within Innovation Banking
• Develop our early stage Climate Tech proposition (Series A-D) to ensure Barclays is a leading partner across the UK, delivering UKC’s role in the Climate Escalator and target the market effectively to increase Barclays’ market share
• Act as the Sector lead in UKC to represent Barclays across key external and internal stakeholders, and be an industry spokesperson to influence across the Climate Tech ecosystem including engagement with Investors, Government, trade bodies and professional firms/KBIs
• Partner with BUK, Sustainable Finance and Energy Transition Group colleagues to create a unified and compelling value proposition, ensuring relevance and ease of banking for clients in the subsector
• Deliver a Climate Tech marketing strategy in collaboration with Sustainable Finance to accelerate our presence in the market including thought leadership articles and hosting sector events
• Act as the First Line of Defence to manage risk aligned with our Enterprise Risk Management Framework
• Operate as a senior member of the Innovation Banking team to contribute and drive strategy forward
• Embed, live and promote our Corporate values to support junior colleague development and build a high performance culture

Business Development

• Drive incremental new to bank client acquisition growth by proactively targeting the Climate Tech market
• Hold senior relationships with relevant industry stakeholders, including VC Investors, to build new client relationships and deliver income growth
• Be familiar with Barclays energy transition strategy and champion the role of early stage Climate Tech businesses to support the UK’s net zero ambitions
• Promote Barclays’ industry presence both internally and externally, remaining up to date on evolving market trends and the technological development within the sector to deliver credible industry knowledge
• Create thought leadership to position Barclays as a leading partner to Climate Tech and drive external marketing of the sector through appropriate channels
• Proactively build positive relationships the Climate Escalator to deliver a single and compelling Group proposition to market
• Adopt and support wider initiatives & responsibilities across Innovation Banking and Group to build Barclays position in the market

Person Specification

Essential:

• Proven track record of delivering growth in Climate Tech and/or similar Innovation Economy industries
• Experience working with VCs, Climate Tech investors and/or Growth Lending, and holds a strong network of Industry contacts
• Appetite to build out a new proposition as a key part of UK Corporate Bank’s growth strategy
• Consistently meets and exceeds challenging targets
• Influences peers and managers to re-focus business plans
• Challenges status quo and looks for new ways of doing business
• A strong team player, but at the same time, is able to work under own initiative
• Experience of managing client relationships and driving income delivery, within the context of the Barclays suite of solutions. 

Preferred:

• A technical background in Climate Tech and/or relevant Sustainable Finance/Energy transition background would be beneficial

Purpose of the role

To establish and nurture profitable partnerships with corporate clients. It's the bridge between the bank's offerings and clients' needs, ensuring mutual benefit and long-term success. 

Accountabilities

• Management of client relationships to identify the clients financial goals, challenges, and risk tolerance to support the analysis of data obtained from various sources, including the investment portfolio and cash flow, to identify trends, insights, areas for improvement and additional services to support client needs.
• Research and understanding of the client's industry trends, regulatory landscape, and competitive environment to inform strategic recommendations.
• Design of customised solutions that address the client's specific needs and objectives, incorporating a range of products and services from the bank's portfolio.
• Communication of the value proposition of proposed solutions, justification of recommendations, and negotiation of terms that are beneficial for both the client and the bank.
• Provision of guidance to clients to support their financial decisions, risk management and wealth management strategies and updates on market trends to ensure a positive and continuous relationship.
• Assessment of financial, legal, and operational risks associated with client relationships, and implementation of measures to minimise potential losses.
• Documentation of all client interactions, transactions, and agreements to ensure transparency and auditability, and communicate findings effectively to support product development, service offerings, and the overall bank strategy.
• Monitoring of client satisfaction, revenue generated, and other relevant metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of relationship management efforts.
• Execution of market research and analysis to support the identification of potential new opportunities, market trends, and customer needs, to develop strategies for business growth.

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.