Job Title:  Director of Business Development and Borrower Experience

Department:  Impact Lending

Contract:  Full-time, Permanent

Location:  Hybrid, with a minimum estimated 5-10 days per month in the Tonbridge Office

Responsible to:   Chief Executive

 Overall Purpose of the Role

The Director of Business Development and Borrower Experience will be responsible for optimising the performance of the Impact Lending Department’s team of Relationship Managers (RM’s) and the supporting Lending Services and Portfolio Management teams. They will also lead and direct on initiatives in support of continuous improvement of the borrower experience as Charity Bank’s most important selling point.

Leader, liaison and champion are the key characteristics of the role. As such, a track record and expertise in property-backed lending and the successful management of teams are requirements. They will directly oversee the bank’s regional customer-facing operations outside of London and the South of England, as well as the Tonbridge-based Lending Services and Portfolio Management teams. As principal liaison between the team in the field and head office departments and executive management, they will be a champion for the RM’s and their customers.

Working very closely with the Director of Impact Lending, they will be co-responsible for the overall performance of Charity Bank’s lending business and for developing the bank’s forward-looking lending strategy, including new market entry opportunities and the development of new lending programmes and products designed to meet the needs of the bank’s target market of UK charities and social enterprises, whilst achieving the bank’s business and social impact objectives. Together with the Director of Impact Lending and the wider team of RM’s, they will foster relationships with business introducers and other strategic partners and identify and facilitate new lending business opportunities for new and existing borrowers.

Dimensions of the Role

• Member of Executive Committee (EXCO), reporting to the CEO

• Line management responsibility - 6 direct reports

o    Senior Manager, Impact Lending – Northwest

o    Senior Manager, Impact Lending – Northeast, Yorkshire and Humber

o    Senior Manager, Impact Lending – The Midlands

o    National Impact Lending Manager – Structured Finance (property development and syndicated transactions)

o    Head of Lending Services (responsible for post-approval loan documentation, disbursements and payments; liaising with the bank’s external legal advisors and other third-party service providers; second line control function in close coordination with the Credit Department)

o    Head of Portfolio Management Unit (supports the RM team with preparation of annual credit reviews and relationship management of seasoned borrowers)

Context

The Director of Business Development and Borrower Experience is a newly created role at Charity Bank. Historically, the entire team of RM’s and the Portfolio Management Unit have reported to the Director of Impact Lending, who is also the bank’s senior most RM and directly responsible for a large volume of the bank’s annual lending business. The introduction of this EXCO-level leadership role into the team relieves the Director of Impact Lending of much of their personnel management responsibilities, enabling them to increase their focus on deal generation alongside a senior-level partner in the strategic business development effort, whilst also providing the rest of the team with a dedicated liaison and advocate.

The Director of Impact Lending will continue to be responsible for lending business in London and the South of England, as well as the Social Investment Solutions unit which manages the bank’s specialist ‘blended finance’ offering, including programmes designed to improve access to finance by underserved organisations and communities.

Another key development enabled by the introduction of this role is a change in reporting lines of the Lending Services team from the Credit Department to Impact Lending. Lending Services will retain certain second line characteristics, continuing to work closely with Credit, but will reside organisationally as an important support role for Impact Lending and a critical element of the end-to- end loan transaction journey and overall borrower experience.

A key strand of Charity Bank’s Business Strategy is to ‘continually improve customer service, aiming to be the lender of choice for UK impact-driven organisations’. The introduction of this role provides the bank with a dedicated senior manager responsible for driving forward key lending process improvement initiatives which heretofore have not received the attention and focus that they merit.

Key Contacts

• Internally:

o    CEO and EXCO members, including the Director of Impact Lending

o    Department managers; RM’s, Lending Services and Portfolio Management teams

o    Membership of internal committees: EXCO, Credit Committees

o    Non-executive Board members

o    Attends Charity Bank Board meetings by invitation

• Externally:

o    Existing and potential borrowers

o    Sector bodies and networks

o    Service providers

Other requirements

• Regular travel in the field and to head office in Tonbridge and to Board meetings (approximately six per year) in Tonbridge or London

• Occasional long hours

  Key Accountabilities

  Performance management of the Relationship Manager team

• Principal liaison between the RM team in the field and head office departments and executive management:

  o     Effectively communicating to direct reports and team members the key developments, policies, practices, and risk appetites emanating from head office

  o     Championing the RM’s and their borrowers at head office with respect to policies and procedures, lending processes and product design, as well as credit approval

  o     Works closely with the Director of Credit and the Credit team to assess and manage risk and ensure that appropriate risk management is effectively balanced against socially impactful lending opportunities and business development objectives

  o     Engenders collegial and efficient internal working relationships across the end-to-end borrower journey (Impact Lending, Credit and Lending Services)

• Co-responsible with the Director of Impact Lending for the setting and achievement of annual lending targets (approvals and disbursements, lending margins, interest and fee income) as well as social impact KPI’s

• Line management of Relationship Managers outside of London and the South of England

• Responsible for overseeing lending pipeline and workflow management across their team, ensuring that the team’s resources are optimised, with aggregate objectives overriding individual targets

  Staff and Leadership Development

• Responsible for the organisational structure and ongoing development of teams under management: Relationship Managers, Lending Services team, and Portfolio Management Unit

• This may include recommending reorganisation of the structure and reporting lines of teams under their management, as well as delegating certain responsibilities and tasks to team members if deemed desirable and appropriate

• Includes development and implementation of succession plans for key relationship managers

• Oversees the development and implementation of a strategic workforce plan for teams under management to maximise the current and future workforce’s effectiveness in light of strategic business priorities

Builds the next generation of leaders and contributes to company-level goals for talent development, diversity, and inclusion.

Business development

• In partnership with the Director of Impact Lending:

o     identifies and implements opportunities to support the bank’s continued growth (product development, regional and sector expansion, strategic partnerships, funding)

o     develops contacts, networks and lending opportunities, models and replicates best practices in business development across the RM team

o     works closely with the Director of Marketing to ensure that marketing efforts are aligned with the Impact Lending team’s lending objectives and target markets

• Works closely with the Director of Savings to support deposit raising efforts and incorporate these into the business targets of the RM’s

• Ideally, the Director of Business Development and Borrower Experience brings to the bank existing relationships and networks that could be further developed and converted into new lending opportunities for the bank.

  Continuous improvement of borrower experience

• Responsible for ensuring continuous process improvement across the end-to-end borrower journey by working closely with Credit and Lending Services as well as the IT and Projects teams to constantly identify and implement opportunities to streamline and automate processes in order to improve internal efficiencies and the borrower experience.

• As and when appropriate, identifying and engaging third-party advisors and utilising technological applications to support the continuous process improvement and borrower experience effort.

• Maximising the efficiency of the Lending Services function as a critical component of the borrower journey; including identifying opportunities to simplify, streamline and automate documentation and processes, and improve the transparency of the loan closing process from the point of view of the borrower. At the same time, recognising and making the most of the department’s key service delivery role.

• Optimising use of the Portfolio Management Unit as a centre of expertise for the ongoing monitoring and support of borrower financial stability, as well as a means of ensuring borrower satisfaction and potential follow-on business.

Acts as the primary liaison for the lending business for the ongoing development of the bank’s utilisation of Salesforce as its principal CRM tool.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

o   A minimum of 5 years of professional experience operating at a senior level in Charity or SME loans business development

o   Transaction track record and detailed understanding of commercial and residential property loan structuring, credit risk assessment and legal documentation

o   Proven track record of being able to work independently with minimum support and ability to supervise and mentor others

o   Record of successfully managing remote-based teams

o   Ability to communicate effectively at all levels of the organisation

o   Proven skills in credit and financial analysis

o   Practical knowledge of the end-to-end borrower journey, CRM systems, and other loan business management tools and practices

Desirable

o   Existing networks in the UK charity and social enterprise space that can be further developed and converted into new lending opportunities for the bank

o   Understanding of the needs of and issues facing social sector loan applicants

o   Experience of syndicated loan transactions and legal documentation

o   Experience of lending process design and improvement

o   Understanding of relevant regulatory frameworks and practices

Attainments

o   Professional training in commercial lending and/or higher education in a business discipline

 Special Aptitudes

o   Ability to develop strategic initiatives and oversee the development of long-term plans and proposals to support business objectives

o   Ability to challenge, convince and manage multiple stakeholders

o   Ability to effectively drive business, culture and change in a dynamic and complex operating environment

o   Strong business acumen; understands the key financial drivers and dynamics related to growth and revenue goals

o   Excellent verbal and written communication skills

o   Good networking skills

o   Ability to formulate and allocate budgets

 Disposition

o   Team player and inspirational leader, adept at motivating and passing ownership on to teams and individual co- workers

o   Excellent inter-personal skills

o   Excited by the opportunity to work for a values-based organisation

o   Enthusiasm to promote the mission and values of Charity Bank

o   Supports the principles of equality of opportunity and values diversity and difference

 Thinking Style

o   Pragmatic and practical

o   Tenacious and solutions-focused

o   Leads by example

o   A high degree of personal integrity: engenders trust and authority with staff, peers and stakeholders

o   Flexible in style and approach, able to adapt to new situations and/or changing priorities requiring new skills

Circumstances

o   Some unsociable working hours/overnight stays