Sector Head – Corporate Credit -BPL

We are seeking a Sector Head – Corporate Credit to join the BPL Credit team. The team will deal with new and existing credit risk exposures covering Barclaycard’s Acquiring Portfolios across the UK and Europe. The role involves the recruitment of new clients, on-going management of back-book names in terms of credit performance and debt recovery/management of distressed merchants.

To be successful as a Sector Head – Corporate Credit, you must have the following essential skills:

• Experience of sanctioning and managing complex Acquiring cases
• Excellent communicator with strong verbal and written skills with an ability to influence both internally and externally.
• Collaborative work style and ability to work across multiple projects and manage multiple stakeholders.
• Exprience providing mentoring and coaching support to colleagues in respect of how to deal with complex credit assessment

Some other highly valued skills may include

• Experience working in global/pan-European teams
• Quantitative and detail orientated with educational background in finance, economics etc or relevant industry experience. 
• Experience in an Acquiring/Banking environment
• Knowledge of presentation tools and data-analysis preferable.

You may be assessed on key critical skills relevant for success in role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen, strategic thinking and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

This role can be based in London or Northampton.

Barclays’ payments acceptance business provides critical infrastructure to the UK economy, processing billions of pounds of payments annually for both small businesses and domestic and international corporate clients.

In April 2025, we announced a long-term partnership with Brookfield Asset Management to grow and transform the payments acceptance business by broadening the range of services offered, enhancing the experience for both existing and prospective clients. Leveraging extensive client relationships and deep experience of UK payments, we will create an environment of continuous innovation - activated by Brookfield’s global private equity expertise in payments, technology, operational transformation and corporate carve-outs - to ensure the business is strategically positioned for long-term growth.

Barclays will invest approximately £400m in the new business, the majority of which will be incurred during the first three years. Performance-linked incentives will drive greater alignment between the partners, underpinning the long-term commitment to the transformation. Barclays and Brookfield will work to create a standalone entity over time, continuing to use the Barclaycard Payments (BPL) brand and acting as the sole payments acceptance services provider to Barclays’ clients for a minimum of ten years.

For more information on our partnership with Brookfield, please visit Barclays.com

Purpose of the role

To safeguard the financial health of the bank by identifying, analysing, and mitigating potential credit risks associated with lending activities.

Accountabilities

• Analysis of financial data, including income, assets, liabilities, credit history, and economic trends, to determine the risk of default.
• Monitoring of existing loan portfolios to identify potential credit deterioration or early warning signs of default.
• Recommendation of loan approvals, rejections, or adjustments based on risk evaluation and bank lending policies.
• Development and implementation of credit risk mitigation strategies, including collateral management, loan restructuring, and workout plans.

Vice President Expectations

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/ processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalate breaches of policies/procedures..
• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements..
• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People 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..
• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.
• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.
• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.
• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.
• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes.
• Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

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.