Head Of Business Planning - Retail

We’re looking for a future thinker and innovator, who is proactive in developing ways of working and capabilities for the future.

It’s an exciting time of considerable and ambitious change at Nationwide and in the Retail function, as we continue to evolve to a new future that sees us accelerate delivery of value to our customers, enhance digital journeys and engage colleagues around new ways of working.

Given the importance of the Society’s blueprint and our commitment to deliver across horizons one, two and three the Head of Planning will work closely acrorss Retail to oversee the design and execution of the business area strategy and customer journey agenda from a governance and planning perspective, supporting with orchestrating, and aligning the work and outcomes across the Society to deliver against our strategic objectives.

So, right now, right across the Society, we're aiming higher, thinking smarter and acting faster than ever before. We're looking for people who are proud of what we stand for, and who have the talent and drive to boost performance even further.

The role will sit in the newly created Retail Business Services bringing business services teams together to provide business critical services across all of Retail whether in Service, Operational or Product areas.

At Nationwide we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected.

For this job you'll spend at least two days per week, or if part time you'll spend 40% of your working time, at one of our offices. If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works. You can also find out more about our approach to hybrid working here.

Office attendance will be required as per business criticality with most meetings located at NH or TNS, expected frequency of this would be 2 days per week minimum.

If we receive a high volume of relevant applications, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so please apply as soon as you can.

What you’ll be doing

The Head of Planning will work closely with key stakeholders across each business area to define priorities, assess activities against strategic fit, highlight gaps and opportunities to ensure activity delivers the business priorities, Ensuring objectives and plans are reflected in and delivered by Retail plans across its product, channel and operational teams.

You will shape, develop and govern progress against the in-year business plan across both execution and outcomes; gain engagement in the plan from key stakeholders, manage challenges and adapt the plan as appropriate in response to a changing environment, revisiting regularly and evaluating progress in order to deliver customer value and increase performance.

You will be required to maintain business continuity plans across Retail and will be a key resource in managing business-impacting incidents. You will work with Directors across the Retail function to build best in class performance management capabilities and drive performance by challenging with insight and data to support improvements.

You  will look beyond current planning period (into Horizons 2 and 3) to understand the implications for and effects on Retail plans and deliverables and communicate outcomes, priorities and objectives to component Retail teams (product, channel & operational), in order to identify and direct required areas of planning focus and supporting actions.

About you

• Broad and detailed knowledge of Society Strategy and component parts.
• Able to create a complex delivery plan, pulling strategic insights from a range of teams to identify plans and metrics that track and demonstrate strategy delivery
• Significant experience of translating strategy into practical action sets.
• Proven leadership experience of operating within a matrix and unifying cross-functional, virtual teams against shared goals and outcomes.
• Transformation and change experience gained via large scale programme activity.
• Strong commercial acumen and experience of driving performance across an executive leadership team.
• Experience of building strong, long-term relationships with multiple, senior stakeholders across the business.

Our Customer First behaviours are all about putting customers and members at the heart of how we work together. You can strengthen your application by showing the behaviours that resonate with you, and how you might have already demonstrated these.

• Say it straight - This is about being honest and direct with good intent and saying what needs to be said in the room. It’s also about being clear, precise, and using language that we and, importantly, our customers and members can understand.
• Push for better - This is about aiming high and constantly looking for better in how we work together and serve our customers and members.
• Get it done - This is about prioritising what will have the greatest impact, being decisive and taking accountability for delivering on the end-to-end outcome.

We know applying for jobs can sometimes feel like you’re sending an application into a black hole. We review each application individually. So, it’s a good idea to call out your most relevant experience on your application to give yourself the best chance.

The extras you’ll get

There are all sorts of employee benefits available at Nationwide, including:

• A personal pension – if you put in 7% of your salary, we’ll top up by a further 16%
• Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year
• Life assurance worth 8x your salary
• A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme.
• Gympass – Access to a range of free and paid options for health and wellness.
• Access to an annual performance related bonus
• Access to training to help you develop and progress your career.
• 30 days holiday, pro rata
• Status car allowance
• Individual healthcare cover

What makes us different

Nationwide is the world’s largest building society. With over 15 million customers, we have a relationship with almost a quarter of the UK’s population. We’ve got the scale to compete with the big banks, but we’re not a bank.
As a building society, we’re owned by our members – that’s our customers who have their current account, mortgage or savings with us. It means we can do things differently to deliver our Purpose – Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society.
When you work at Nationwide, you can experience that difference for yourself. You’ll be part of a high-performing, purpose-driven organisation that offers rewarding career experiences and a highly competitive range of benefits to match. You’ll also be joining us at an important time as we seek to reach more and more people in the UK. We want everyone in the UK to know that they don’t have to bank with a bank. They can choose a modern mutual instead.

What to do next

If this role is for you, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button. You’ll need to attach your up-to-date CV and answer a few quick questions for us.

We respond to everyone, so we will be in contact shortly after the closing date to let you know the outcome of your application.

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