VP, Strategic Initiatives

Barclays•Wilmington, NC

11h•Hybrid

About The Position

The purpose of the role is to provide independent and balanced advice and counsel to senior stakeholders through problem identification, solving, and decision-making practices. This role involves providing strategic advice to Group Executives to support the decision-making process for business challenges and opportunities. It also includes developing and implementing strategic advisory incentives to grow and optimize the bank’s operations through market research and analysis. Collaboration with various stakeholder groups is key to identifying the appropriate strategic direction to meet the needs of Barclays clients and investors. The role requires the development of financial models to support strategic recommendations and transactions through financial data analysis, financial projects, and consideration of the financial impact of transactions. Management of transactions, negotiations, transaction structure development, and post-transaction integration are also core functions. Collaboration with internal stakeholders is essential for maintaining client relationships and developing new ones to identify opportunities. The role also involves identifying industry trends, maintaining peer benchmarking, and staying updated on developments related to strategic advisory services by attending conferences, participating in training, and conducting market research. In this role, you will leverage your growth mindset and creative problem-solving skills to drive activities that span strategy, risk, and operations for the Total GAP portfolio. Your work will position the program to realize its vision of delivering high-performing financial services for GAP’s most loyal customers through easy, rewarding, and culturally relevant payment experiences and products. In addition to guiding a prioritized list of portfolio-wide strategic efforts, you will support the annual strategic planning process by examining the internal environment and the innovative landscape, including AI and machine learning solutions. You’ll also support mechanisms to deliver strategy, monitor progress (monthly business reviews and budget coordination), and improve operational excellence (CX listening sessions and action planning). You’ll be part of a team of VPs responsible for managing and sequencing the delivery of business intent (including Barclays-wide programs that impact the portfolio), building business requirements, and developing financial business cases to execute the overall program strategy.

Requirements

Experience covering Card or Financial Services programs.
Experience driving strategic projects and solving high-impact business tasks, with the ability to identify opportunities, influence stakeholders, and deliver measurable business results.
Experience coordinating retail financial services and co-brand partnerships, with progressive oversight experience overseeing partner programs and end-to-end P&L performance.
Leveraging a deep understanding of retail financial services, including co-brand, private label, and other payment solutions, to assess risk, optimize program performance, and drive growth.
Communicating multi-layered business inquiries with clarity, translating insights into strategic recommendations and actionable plans for senior stakeholders.
Ability to drive and execute an agenda in an uncertain and fluid environment.
Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams in a matrixed environment across multiple geographies.
Ability to work with ambiguity, providing structure to unstructured situations.
Risk and controls.
Change and transformation.
Business acumen.
Strategic thinking.
Digital and technology.
Job-specific technical skills.

Nice To Haves

Growth mindset
Creative problem-solving skills
Critical thinking
Driving disruptive innovation
Getting things done
AI and machine learning solutions

Responsibilities

Provision of strategic advice to Group Executives to support the decision-making process of business challenges and opportunities.
Development and implementation of strategic advisory incentives to grow and optimise the bank’s operations, through market research and analysis.
Collaboration with various stakeholder groups to identify the appropriate strategic direction type to meet the needs of Barclays clients and investors.
Development of financial models to support strategic recommendations and transactions through financial data analysis, financial projects and considering the financial impact of transactions.
Management of transactions, negotiations, transaction structure development and post-transaction integration.
Collaboration with internal stakeholders to maintain client relationships, and develop new relationships to identify opportunities.
Identification of industry trends, maintain peer benchmarking and developments related to strategic advisory services by attendings conferences, participating in training and conducting market research.
Contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change.
Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/ processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalate breaches of policies/procedures.
Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.
Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.
Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives.
In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.
Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes.
Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.
Guiding a prioritized list of portfolio-wide strategic efforts.
Support the annual strategic planning process by examining the internal environment and the innovative landscape, including AI and machine learning solutions.
Support mechanisms to deliver strategy, monitor progress (monthly business reviews and budget coordination), and improve operational excellence (CX listening sessions and action planning).
Managing and sequencing the delivery of business intent (including Barclays-wide programs that impact the portfolio).
Building business requirements.
Developing financial business cases to execute the overall program strategy.