Head of Operations

We provide flexible financial solutions designed to help businesses and individuals grow and succeed.Established by experienced business owners, we offer a practical alternative to traditional banking, combining tailored lending and savings products with hands-on support. Since receiving our banking licence, we have built a loyal customer base and a strong, diverse team committed to helping clients achieve their financial goals.Our approach focuses on understanding each customer’s unique needs. By offering smart, adaptable solutions, we help businesses and individuals unlock opportunities and build long-term, sustainable success.About the roleThe Head of Operations leads and manages the operational delivery of lending and savings activities across the organisation, ensuring high performance, regulatory compliance, and excellent customer outcomes. This includes oversight of completions post-underwriting through to drawdown, in-life servicing, portfolio management, arrears and recoveries, and savings operations.This is a leadership role with responsibility 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.This role requires deep operational expertise in bridging lending, with a strong understanding of its regulatory, customer, and risk dimensions. The role is responsible for ensuring operational excellence, compliance, and robust governance within the function, as well as effective third-party oversight, while continuously enhancing performance across all areas.Key ResponsibilitiesNew 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 organisational standards.Ensure strong cross-functional collaboration with Lending Managers, Underwriters, Legal, and Compliance teams to deliver a seamless and compliant customer experience.Monitor pipeline activity and team performance, proactively identifying and resolving bottlenecks or delays.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 organisational risk appetite while 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 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.Ensure 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 and customer experience.Champion a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence across the servicing function.Oversee 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 OperationsLead oversight of savings operations, managing relationships with outsourced partners to ensure service delivery meets contractual obligations, regulatory standards, and customer expectations.Oversee relationships with deposit aggregators, ensuring service quality, performance against SLAs, and alignment with strategic objectives.Maintain strong oversight of customer outcomes, including service quality, complaint handling, and appropriate support for vulnerable customers.Monitor SLAs, KPIs, and customer outcomes, ensuring performance is tracked and issues 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 ContributionAct as a senior leader, 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 ResponsibilitiesAdhere to all company policies and procedures.Comply with all risk-related responsibilities applicable to the role, as set out in the Risk Management Policy.Abide by all compliance and financial crime–related policies, procedures, and reporting obligations relevant to the position.Required QualificationsMinimum of 10 years’ experience in operational leadership roles within financial services, ideally across lending and savings.Proven ability to align operational delivery with strategic, risk, compliance, and customer objectives.Demonstrated success in managing operational functions including completions, servicing, arrears, and collections.Experience in bridging lending is essential; experience in other lending types is beneficial.Strong experience managing third-party relationships, including outsourcers, legal firms, valuers, and deposit aggregators.Deep understanding of regulatory requirements and operational risk within financial services.Proven ability to lead teams through change, transformation, and continuous improvement initiatives.Experience in complaint handling, vulnerable customer management, and delivering fair customer outcomes.Strong understanding of KYC and AML frameworks and their operational implementation.Analytical and decisive, with experience using MI to drive performance and governance.Execution and performance-driven, with a strong focus on achieving operational targets and results.Comfortable operating at a senior level, with experience contributing to strategic planning and executive-level discussionsThis role operates on a hybrid basis, with four days per week in our Milton Keynes office. If you are interested in this opportunity, please apply.