Director, Head of Generative AI Transformation [12-month FTC]

Key Responsibilities [criteria]

1. Lead AI-Driven Transformation Across Core Journeys

Champion the deployment of AI and intelligent automation across lending, servicing, onboarding, and partner product journeys. This includes simplifying decisioning processes, embedding predictive analytics, and scaling digital solutions that enhance customer experience and colleague productivity. The role will be pivotal in delivering on Business Banking’s ambition to offer instant decisions and fast access to funds, aligned to strategic priorities around lending growth and operational efficiency.

2. Embed Strategic Change Through Intelligent Enablement

Drive the adoption of strategic initiatives by embedding AI-enabled workflows and data-driven decision support across Business Banking. Lead change management efforts that ensure sustained adoption of new technologies and ways of working. This includes enabling self-serve analytics, improving data quality, and supporting the creation of strategic data products that underpin transformation.

3. Influence and Align Senior Stakeholders Across the Ecosystem

Act as a strategic connector between Product, Risk, Technology, and frontline teams to ensure AI initiatives are aligned with commercial and regulatory goals. Represent Business Banking in governance forums and influence investment decisions that support priorities such as deepening customer relationships and protecting deposits.

4. Deliver Measurable Commercial and Customer Outcomes

Own the delivery of outcomes linked to SME growth, digital adoption, and customer satisfaction. Use AI to improve NPS, onboarding conversion, and lending performance through targeted interventions. The role will be accountable for enabling segmentation strategy and journey optimisation, ensuring tailored support for startups, growth businesses, and established SMEs.

Purpose of the role

To manage and drive the innovation strategy to meet customer needs and ensure the bank's long-term success and competitive edge. 

Accountabilities

• Execution of market research to understand customer needs, pain points, and emerging trends to support the analysis of profitability, market size and positioning for new products compared to existing offerings, and to identify opportunities for diversification to gain a competitive advantage.
• Collaboration with stakeholders across departments and teams including marketing, sales, technology, engineers, designers etc to generate innovative and feasible product ideas and prototypes for testing aligned with customer needs and strategic goals.
• Development of concepts and specifications which define features, functionalities, target market, user interface, technical specifications and potential revenue models of new products.
• Evaluation of the technical feasibility, legal compliance, and potential risks associated with the development and launch of the new product.
• Monitoring of market trends and analysis feedback from internal employees and target customers through prototypes, user testing sessions, and beta programs to identify areas for improvement to refine the product before launch.
• Management of comprehensive launch plans and technical deployments for products that establish rollout timelines, marketing strategies, training initiatives and communication channels to promote the launch new products effectively.
• Monitoring of key metrics such as adoption rates, usage patterns, customer satisfaction, and revenue generation to assess the product's performance against set goals.

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.