Senior Relationship Manager (North West Based)

Senior Relationship Manager

Remote/North West Travel

Salary, Up to £72,200pa + Car Allowance

Permanent Position

Want to change the world? A career that makes a difference

We’re not a bank that follows the crowd. Instead, we like to stand out for all the right reasons. Our bank is built on co-operative values that stand strong today. A lot has happened in 150 years, we don’t just help people with their money, but help people fight for justice and the causes they care about. Our unique customer-led Ethical Policy, has made us a natural leader in environmental and social issues today, and we’re market leaders in ESG as rated by leading ESG ratings agency Sustainalytics*. 

There has never been a more pressing time for our Bank to focus our efforts on causes that matter to our customers and colleagues. Why not see where you can make a change, and join the UK’s original ethical bank to continue our ambitions to lead the industry on environmental and social issues in 2024 and beyond.

This position is remote based however there is a requirement to travel to attend client sites across the North West whilst attending occasional meetings held at our headquarters in Manchester.

The role: 

As a Relationship Manager, you will have an exciting opportunity to effectively build, manage, and develop a portfolio of lending clients. Be an ambassador for The Co-operative Bank by continuing to deliver excellent customer service whilst creating and building relationships.

Key Accountabilities:

• Forge strong links in the local business community to create awareness of the values and ethics, services and products of the Co-operative Bank to build a portfolio of customers 
• Maintain and manage relationships with an assigned customer portfolio to ensure a high level of satisfaction with the service provided and to maximise business return, regularly reviewing progress against standards and targets for all allocated customers 
• Maintaining a strong working knowledge of your customers portfolios and product portfolio features and options to ensure the current and future business needs of assigned customers/customer portfolio are researched and understood in depth, identify the capability and services required to enable the achievement of business plans, and manage the development of innovative, tailored services and solutions to improve customer satisfaction and to increase business returns 
• Ensure compliance with corporate, statutory and regulatory requirements, plus other relevant internal/external standards for all assigned customers and keep abreast and up to date of changes, the competition and customer propositions which may impact the business and your customers. 
• To fully understand and lead by example in accordance with the Bank’s cultural transformation and new ways of working in relation to our Risk Management Framework, Risk Appetite and ethical policy
• High level of credit skills and credit applications from initial client enquiry through the various stages of gathering the required financial and organisation information, writing the credit paper, negotiating as required with credit officers, dealing with sanction conditions and moving deals through to drawdown
• Lead and continuously seek to improve the development of operational policies and procedures, ensuring the best practices are adopted and implemented, and that these are consistent with overall practices 
• Be an Ambassador of the Bank and SME Banking at all internal and external forums, events and networking opportunities, role model for the team

Knowledge, Skills and Experience Required:

• Excellent interpersonal skills, able to communicate with a wide range of people
• Strong customer service ethic
• Foundation credit skills in a commercial lending environment
• Work well in a team setting, especially with Branch colleagues
• Strong negotiation skills
• Strong decision making skills and the ability to take the lead
• Ability to manage risk
• Confident selling and marketing products
• Comfortable approaching people
• Ability to travel to customer locations as required

What You Can Expect From Us:

• Flexible and remote working
• 27 days holiday rising to 30 with service, plus opportunity to buy 5 extra days
• Competitive pension with up to 10% employer contribution
• Income protection / life assurance
• Commitment from employers on continued learning & development
• Wellbeing support ‘Help@Hand’ offers mental health support, physiotherapy, GP’s for both you and your family.
• 2 paid days for volunteering per year
• ‘MyReward’ corporate discount for over 800 retailers and Cycle to Work Scheme.  
• Family friendly policies and supportive working environment
• Colleague network groups committed to inclusion and diversity within our Bank.

We can only consider candidates with the right to work in the UK at this time.

Our Bank is committed to continuing to create a diverse workforce and an inclusive environment where all colleagues can fulfil their potential. We welcome applications from talented individuals from all backgrounds and lifestyles who can work with us in maintaining a culture of belonging, where people are valued and respected.

If your application is selected for recruitment, we will ask if you require any reasonable adjustments in order to proceed to an interview with us.

If you require more information or this document in a different format, please contact careers@co-operativebank.co.uk  

As a reputable employer regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, all offers of employment for this role are subject to a series of background checks, including criminal (DBS) and financial checks.

*Rated by Morningstar Sustainalytics in the Regional Banks sub-industry with a score of 8.5 as of 9 October 2023.