Business Development Associate, Growth Finance

About Allica Bank

Allica is the UK's fastest growing company - and the fastest-growing financial technology (Fintech) firm ever. Our purpose is to help established SMEs, one of the last major underserved opportunities in Fintech.

Established SMEs are the backbone of local communities - representing over a third of our economy - yet have been largely neglected both by traditional high street banks and modern fintech providers.

Role Description

The Growth Finance Associate role will work closely with the Senior Sales Manager, Sales Managers, and Head of Growth Finance. As the GF product develops national coverage during H2 2024, the person in this role will assist with face-to-face and digital marketing, at regional and national levels, including taking responsibility for delivering projects such as LinkedIn campaigns and organizing Team on Team meetings with national relationships. The role will also cover gathering and filtering market intelligence to maintain and update contacts and key targets. Once a new deal is in process, the Associate will work alongside the relevant Sales Manager to obtain the required background information for the initial financial analysis, market and sector analysis, compliance/regulatory information, and credit report details including attending site, meeting management, and drafting elements of the first stage and final credit submissions.

Principal Accountabilities

• Working with the sales team, assisting with face-to-face and digital marketing to Key Business Introducers, prospective KBIs, and clients.
• Assisting in maintaining and developing the introducer base and extending the national network of corporate finance and debt advisory professionals, selected specialist brokers, and similar.
• Developing product knowledge and inter-personal skills to make appropriate level contacts with a view to developing an introducer network to support individual sales targets within the next 12 to 24 months.
• Developing a working understanding of assessing opportunities, working effectively to progress live deals, and ensuring momentum is maintained throughout the process of collecting the information required to submit a deal to first stage credit and make an offer.
• Developing a working understanding of credit policy, risk factors, and additional financial or commercial analysis which will be needed to take an accepted offer to full credit submission.
• Assist with management of the pipeline, ensuring records are kept up to date, all requests are responded to promptly, and deals advance through the pipeline to credit approval quickly and efficiently.
• Working closely and collaboratively with all areas of Allica to ensure a seamless and professional service is always provided.
• Be an advocate for the product with colleagues throughout the bank.
• Complying with all mandatory policies and developing and adhering to operational procedures to maintain a strong internal control environment.

Personal Attributes & Experience

• A desire to contribute to the success of a small, growing team. Customer focus, attention to detail, and a desire to learn will be key personal attributes.
• You're a natural team player with an ability to develop strong working relationships.
• You will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Experience of working competently with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
• An ability to work accurately, particularly with numbers.
• Able to interpret financial information including balance sheets and cash forecasting.
• Able to work to deadlines while managing a varied workload.

Working at Allica Bank

At Allica Bank, we want to ensure our employees have the right tools and environment in which to succeed in their role and in support of our customers.

Our employees are at the heart of everything we do, so our benefits are designed with you in mind:

• Full onboarding support and continued development opportunities.
• Options for flexible working.
• Regular social activities.
• Pension contributions.
• Discretionary bonus scheme.
• Private health cover.
• Life assurance.
• Family-friendly policies including enhanced Maternity & Paternity leave.

Don't tick every box?

Don't worry if you don't have all the skills or requirements listed on the job description. If you think you'll be a good fit, we'd still love to hear from you!

Flexible working

We know the '9-to-5' isn't right for everyone. That's why Allica Bank is fully committed to flexible and hybrid working. Please let us know what is best for you and, if we can, we will do our best to accommodate.

Diversity

We're a diverse bunch here at Allica, with all kinds of experiences, backgrounds, and lifestyles. Our openness and differences make us stronger, and we want everybody to feel comfortable bringing as much of themselves to work with them as they like.