Accountable for managing and overseeing the end-to-end credit risk in unsecured lending across both the 1st and 2nd lines of defence. Leading multiple teams of analytical specialists to define the risk appetite, design credit risk strategies, support financial modelling (pricing, forecasting and return on equity models) and providing oversight through robust MI and governance for the unsecured portfolios (Credit Cards, Personal Loans, Overdrafts, Asset Finance and Small Business). Highlights include:- Leadership on credit strategies, policies and risk appetite for a new to credit instalment-based credit card, an impaired credit history credit card and the relaunch into the personal loans market- Safely navigating the credit portfolios through the cost-of-living crises, balancing credit risk and profitable growth against risk appetite.- Providing guidance and leadership on innovation through the delivery of enhanced credit strategies and insight through additional 3rd party data sources to significantly improve credit performance. - Providing strategic advice and appropriate challenge to the delivery of an enhanced 3LOD model as part of becoming a tier 1 financial organisation, including the setting up an independent second line of defence and bringing together two heritage credit functions.- Collections oversight and findings, influencing the strategic direction of the banks approach to debt sales and the setting up of a collections transformation project. - Implementing improvements to the Delegated Commitment Authorities (DCA) and oversight frameworks. Supporting and driving enhancements to models, provisions and stress testing.

Providing operational management and leadership for the complex underwriting unit across mortgages and unsecured manual lending decisions and responsible for the asset quality of the unsecured portfolios by leading a team of specialists to define risk appetite and credit strategies. Highlights include:- Leading and motivating a team of c40 specialist underwriters, working with mortgage operations to develop and implement process improvements, to improve conversion rates, reduce days to offer and enhance customer and broker experience through bespoke underwriting solutions. - Leading the unsecured credit response to through COVID-19, embedding changes to support existing customers, ensuring new portfolio lending remained robust and moving underwriting teams to working from home arrangements.

Responsible for providing guidance and support to senior leaders and customer facing teams, by leading a team of technical specialists to deliver analytics, insight, models, forecasting and MI. Driving recommendations based on performance and presenting findings to Bank Leadership team members. Working with wider teams, using knowledge and expertise to support and challenge initiatives across Products, Risk, Operations and Marketing. Highlights include:- Being part of the Virgin Money merger team, responsible for leading on designing and quantifying network impacts, synergies and costs to implement as part of the business case / analyst presentations. Prospectus wording, analysis and verification.- Creating a vision and model framework for assessing store performance and location analysis, developing a marginal value add / cost to income ratio of each current and potential centre.- Removal of manual MI from front line teams and enabling cultural change by moving to source data, creating efficiencies, improving accuracy and the ability to provide in-depth analysis.- Key 1st line representative in regulator interviews as part of the bank’s Mortgage IRB accreditation, focusing on use test and providing appropriate challenge and insight throughout the technical model development. Supporting the wider programme to deliver bank wide training.

Worked directly for the Director of Customer Banking, highlights included:- CYBGs demerger from NAB. Providing advice, analytics and commentary for analyst presentations and evidence points for the prospectus, working closely with senior stakeholders, legal teams and 3rd parties to gain a close insight into the complexities of an IPO.

Led a team of technical specialists to develop management information, forecasting models, operational improvements and proactively supporting others in identifying issues or business opportunities and offering strategic and technical solutions to complex problems.