We are seeking an experienced Business Development Director to drive growth across our Hospitality & Leisure portfolio within the Barclays UK Corporate Bank. This is a senior, high‑visibility role with genuine influence over strategy, investment decisions and client engagement across the sector.

Operating across sub‑sectors including hotels, food & drink, travel, professional sports, leisure venues and experiential offerings, the role blends entrepreneurial thinking with disciplined, execution‑focused delivery.

Core Responsibilities

1. Business Development & Sector Growth

Develop and execute the business development strategy for the Hospitality & Leisure team.Identify new revenue streams, partnerships, concepts and markets, leveraging industry insight and emerging trends.Represent Barclays face‑to‑market with key professionals, investors, brokers, advisers and complementary funders, acting as a senior ambassador for the franchise.Lead negotiation and commercial structuring of opportunities where appropriate, ensuring commercially attractive and sustainable outcomes.

2. Structuring, Origination & Execution

As a Business Development Director, you will:

Originate, structure and execute medium to large transactions for new clients, taking ownership of the overall deal process where appropriateLead or lean in to transactions end-to-end, coordinating internally with Coverage Colleagues, Transaction Management, Credit, and Portfolio Management, and externally with clients and their advisers.Review and challenge complex business lending opportunities, evaluating suitability against Barclays’ risk appetite.Interrogate management business plans, assessing key risks and identifying mitigants using informed judgement, experience, and lateral thinking.

3. Financial Analysis & Risk Assessment

Analyse sophisticated financial models to assess serviceability and sustainability of proposed debt structures.Carry out critical evaluation of assumptions, review covenant structures, and run appropriate sensitivities to test borrower resilience under downside scenarios.Ensure all transactions comply with Barclays’ policies, completing the required testing, documentation and governance steps to a high standard.

4. Market Connectivity & Relationship Management

Support the broader business development agenda through partnership with Coverage teams.Maintain close and effective relationships with the Debt Advisory community, ensuring Barclays is well‑positioned for upcoming opportunities.Communicate clearly, influence credibly and manage senior stakeholders across multiple disciplines.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will bring:

Proven experience in business development within Hospitality, Leisure, Travel or adjacent sectors—or a strong understanding of debt‑structured transactions in a related banking environment.A track record of delivering profitable growth, originating opportunities and shaping go‑to‑market strategies.Strong commercial acumen, strategic thinking, analytical capability and the ability to balance innovation with risk and control.Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with confidence operating across senior internal teams and the external advisory community.

In Summary

This is a rare and compelling opportunity to take a senior leadership role in shaping the future direction of Barclays’ Hospitality & Leisure business. The role offers meaningful impact on strategy, deep engagement across clients and the advisory community, and the chance to originate and support the execution of significant transactions that define the sector.

Purpose of the role

To identify and capitalise on business opportunities, expansion of the customer base, relationship management, and driving of revenue growth.  

Accountabilities

Execution of market research and analysis to support the identification of potential new opportunities, market trends, and customer needs, to develop strategies for business growth.Identification of leads through various channels such as networking, referrals, cold calling, and attending industry events.Development and execution of strategies to acquire new business and expand the customer base, including preparation of proposals, presentations, and negotiation of contracts.Collaboration with relationship teams, product managers, credit analysts, operations, and other internal stakeholders to ensure seamless delivery of banking products and services to clients.Forecasting of sales targets and tracking progress against goals, including regular reports on business development activities, pipeline status, and sales performance to management.Contribution to the development of business development strategies and initiatives to drive revenue growth and achieve business objectives.

Director Expectations

To manage a business function, providing significant input to function wide strategic initiatives. Contribute to and influence policy and procedures for the function and plan, manage and consult on multiple complex and critical strategic projects, which may be business wide..They manage the direction of a large team or sub-function, leading other people managers and embedding a performance culture aligned to the values of the business. Or for an individual contributor, they lead organisation wide projects and act as deep technical expert and thought leader, identifying new ways of working and collaborating cross functionally. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..Provide expert advice to senior functional management and committees to influence decisions made outside of own function, offering significant input to function wide strategic initiatives.Manage, coordinate and enable resourcing, budgeting and policy creation for a significant sub-function.Escalates breaches of policies / procedure appropriately.Foster and guide compliance, ensure regulations are observed that relevant processes in place to facilitate adherence.Focus on the external environment, regulators, or advocacy groups to both monitor and influence on behalf of Barclays, when appropriate.Demonstrate extensive knowledge of how the function integrates with the business division / Group to achieve the overall business objectives.Maintain broad and comprehensive knowledge of industry theories and practices within own discipline alongside up-to-date relevant sector / functional knowledge, and insight into external market developments / initiatives.Use interpretative thinking and advanced analytical skills to solve problems and design solutions in often complex/ sensitive situations.Exercise management authority to make significant decisions and certain strategic decisions or recommendations within own area.Negotiate with and influence stakeholders at a senior level both internally and externally.Act as principal contact point for key clients and counterparts in other functions/ businesses divisions.Mandated as a spokesperson for the function and business division.

All Senior Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.