Deputy Director Credit Risk & Portfolio Management

at  Innovate UK

SKILLS:

• Formulation, delivery and effective management of a loan portfolio in collaboration with a management team
• Strong decision making skills, balancing the desires of multiple stakeholders
• Strong credit risk evaluation skills
• Strong technical and strategic (corporate) finance and risk management capabilities
• Excellent communicator and negotiator with public presentation skills and gravitas
• Proven capability to build a team, develop and implement new initiatives within an organisation on a significant scale
• Ability, flexibility and willingness to thrive in a changing environment, working proactively on new product ideas and processes and providing clarity in areas of expertise
• Highly self-motivated and able to lead on own initiative whilst in close co-ordination with the wider senior team

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS:

Field-based: There will a requirement to travel, mostly national, and there is some flexibility in this. Innovate UK staff make extensive use of telepresence tools for meetings to minimise unnecessary travel. In general, you will need to work in the Swindon office once a week and may have four to six nights away from home per month on average to attend conferences and events.
Swindon/London-based: There may be the occasional requirement for national travel.
Benefits

Alongside your salary of £800,001, Innovate UK contributes £21,600 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

JOB PURPOSE:

Reporting to the Chief Investment Officer you will have overall responsibility for and leadership of the Credit and Portfolio functions of Innovate UK Loans Ltd. Ensuring adherence to policy and process and implementation of best practice in treating customers fairly and lending responsibly.
Since the inception of the innovation loans product in 2017, over £230 million in innovation loans have been awarded to over 250 highly innovative companies. Portfolio companies cover the full spectrum of the future economy and are distributed across the UK.
In this role, you will be part of the Innovation Finance management team and will also be responsible for representing the activities of the Directorate in policy and funding discussions within internal and external stakeholders and the public. The role may also involve being a director and Board member of the Board of Innovate UK Loans Limited and an executive member of its Credit Committee. You will also take membership of wider groups within IUK and represent the wider Products and Services of Innovate UK.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Lead a team of 10 credit and investment specialists and 8 debt portfolio management experts to build and manage a portfolio of high risk, SME loans with mezzanine / structured finance features and controls
• Operate a personal delegation for credit, investment and arrears, default and recovery decisions, operating a devolved delegation on behalf of the Chief Investment Officer as required
• Support the Heads of Function for Credit and Portfolio to systematise and codify precedent in Innovate UK’s approach to responsible lending and debt management, working within the spirit of the FCA’s Treating Customers Fairly framework
• Act as Innovate UK’s technical expert in credit and portfolio management, as part of the wider risk, assurance and governance architecture of the organisation – and provide similar support to UK Research and Innovation, as required
• Work as part of the senior leadership team of Innovate UK’s investment directorate in delivering within a product-oriented, customer-insight driven organisation
• Engage with the wider organisation and across Innovate UK’s Domains and Products and Services as part of the senior management team, contributing to the growth and development of the organisation.
• Build effective working relationships with the senior leadership team across Innovate UK, UKRI and with our governing bodies and other public stakeholders including the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and the British Business Bank
• Provide thought leadership in key public forums and expert representation in key government forums as part of the Innovate UK senior management team
• Attend Credit Committee as an executive member, offering personal opinions and insight into decisions alongside executive and independent members
  This is not an exhaustive list and you might be encouraged to undertake any other duties across the wider directorate, commensurate with the Band and level of responsibility of this post, for which the post holder has the key experience and/or training.