Head of Operations

Hello,

We are Recognise Bank; a modern business bank built to support the UK's SMEs with tailored lending and savings solutions. Founded in 2017 by experienced business owners, we set out to challenge traditional banking by offering more flexibility, understanding, and practical support to help businesses thrive. Since receiving our banking licence in 2021, we've built a loyal customer base and a strong, diverse team that puts people first.

Our vision is building stronger futures with bespoke financial solutions. We understand that no two financial needs are the same, which is why we work closely with UK SMEs and individuals to unlock potential others often overlook. Through smart, flexible lending and savings products, we're here to build and grow stronger futures for lasting success.

Our values shape how we work and grow together:

Can do, will do: We take ownership, solve problems, and adapt as our customers' needs evolve.

Be brilliant: We show up with curiosity and energy, always striving for better.

Do the right thing: We act with integrity, responsibility, and care in everything we do.

Make a difference: We focus on impact, helping our customers, colleagues, and communities succeed.

About the role As The Head of Operations you will lead and manage the operational delivery of lending and savings activities across the Bank, ensuring high performance, regulatory compliance and excellent customer outcomes. This includes oversight of the completions post underwriting through to drawdown, in life servicing, portfolio management, arrears and recoveries and savings operations.

As part of our Leadership team you will be responsible for managing internal teams at the heart and engine of the business, driving operational execution, supporting change initiatives and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. You will be required to have a deep operational experience in bridging lending, a strong understanding of its regulatory, customer, and risk dimensions. The role is responsible for ensuring operational excellence, regulatory compliance and robust governance within the function, and effective third party oversight, while continuously enhancing performance across the function.

Key Responsibilities

• New Business Operations (Completions):
• Lead and manage the team responsible for progressing credit approved deals through to drawdown ensuring timely and efficient completion of loans.
• Oversee the drawdown process, ensuring all conditions are met and funds are released in line with customer expectations and set standards.
• Ensure strong cross functional collaboration with the Lending Managers (commercial team), Underwriters (credit team), Legal & Compliance to deliver a seamless and compliant customer experience.
• Monitor pipeline activity and team performance, proactively identifying and resolving bottlenecks or delays.
• Own and manage relationships with key third party suppliers involved in completions, including solicitors and valuers, ensuring they deliver high quality service within agreed SLAs.
• Hold third parties accountable for service delivery and customer outcomes, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements and internal standards.
• Ensure robust oversight of KYC and AML processes, maintaining compliance with regulatory standards and Bank risk appetite and supporting effective customer onboarding.
• Champion a culture of operational excellence, customer focus, and continuous improvement within the completions team.
• Drive automation and process improvement to enhance completion efficiency, scalability and customer experience.
• Ensure all processes and activities adhere to relevant regulatory requirements.

• Portfolio Management (In Life Servicing):
• Lead and manage the team responsible for the ongoing servicing of the loan book, covering customer queries, variations, renewals, redemptions, extensions and covenant monitoring.
• Ensure operational processes support customer retention, effective risk management and regulatory compliance.
• Oversee and own the complaint handling and resolution process, ensuring timely responses and fair outcomes for customers, with a focus on identifying root causes and improving service delivery in line with regulatory expectations.
• Responsible for the identification and appropriate management of customers in vulnerable circumstances, embedding regulatory guidance and best practice into day to day operations.
• Drive automation and process improvement to enhance servicing efficiency, scalability and customer experience.
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence across the servicing function.
• Oversee the management of accounts in arrears, ensuring early intervention and effective resolution strategies.
• Support restructuring efforts for non performing loans, working closely with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ensure robust MI and reporting to monitor performance and support governance.
• Collaborate with Risk and Compliance to ensure servicing activities align with policy and regulatory requirements.

• Savings Operations:
• Lead the oversight of savings operations, managing the relationship with Newcastle Strategic Solutions (NSSL) to ensure service delivery meets contractual obligations, regulatory standards, and customer expectations.
• Lead the oversight relationship management with deposit aggregators, ensuring service quality, performance against SLAs, and alignment with strategic objectives.
• Ensure strong oversight of good customer outcomes, including the quality of service delivered by NSSL and aggregators, compliant complaint handling, and appropriate support for customers in vulnerable circumstances.
• Monitor SLAs, KPIs, and customer outcomes, ensuring performance is tracked and issues are addressed promptly.
• Ensure robust oversight of operational risk, data integrity, and customer communications.
• Oversee change initiatives such as product launches, regulatory updates, and process improvements, ensuring smooth execution and alignment with strategic goals.
• Ensure savings operations are fully aligned with internal policies, risk appetite, and regulatory requirements.
• Provide assurance to senior management and regulators on the effectiveness and resilience of outsourced arrangements.
• Collaborate with Compliance, Risk, and Technology to maintain governance, mitigate risks, and support continuous service improvement.

• Leadership and Strategic Contribution:
• Act as a leader within the Bank, contributing to strategic planning, operational delivery, and cross functional initiatives.
• Support the COO in driving broader operational transformation and change programmes.
• Serve as the operational subject matter expert, providing functional input into change activity, including process design, testing, and implementation.
• Drive a high performance culture across all operational teams, focused on execution, accountability, and delivering excellent customer outcomes.
• Champion efficient, scalable, and customer centric processes, embedding a mindset of continuous improvement and operational excellence.

• Corporate Responsibilities:
• Read and follow all relevant company policies and procedures.
• Adhere to all risk related responsibilities applicable to your role, as set out in the Risk Management Policy.
• Abide by all compliance and financial crime related policies, procedures and reporting obligations applicable to your role.

Required Skills & Experience

• Experience:
• Minimum of 10 years' experience in operational leadership roles within financial services, ideally across lending and savings.
• Experience in bridging lending is essential; experience in other types of lending is beneficial.
• Proven track record of managing operational functions, including completions, servicing, arrears, and collections.

• Operational & Strategic Skills:
• Proven ability to bridge across functions, aligning operational delivery with strategic, risk, compliance, and customer objectives.
• Strong experience in managing third party relationships, including outsourcers, legal firms, valuers, and deposit aggregators.
• Execution and performance driven, with a strong focus on meeting operational targets and delivering results.
• Comfortable operating at a senior level, with experience contributing to strategic planning and executive level discussions.

• Regulatory & Risk Expertise:
• Deep understanding of regulatory requirements and operational risk within a banking environment.
• Strong understanding of KYC and AML frameworks and their operational implementation within lending.
• Experience in complaint handling, vulnerable customer management, and delivering fair customer outcomes.

• Leadership & Change Management:
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams through change, transformation, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Strong analytical and decision making skills, with experience using MI to drive performance and governance.

Why Join? At Recognise Bank, we're building more than a bank - we're creating a culture where people feel empowered to make a difference , supported to be brilliant with a can do will do attitude . click apply for full job details