Europe Card Issuing Sales Manager

Location: The Medelan Building, Milan

Job Description

Purpose of the role

To generate revenue and promote the bank's diverse product and service offerings to various customer segments.

Accountabilities

• Identification of potential customers, analysing their needs and preferences, and staying abreast of emerging market trends and competitor strategies.
• Creation of detailed profiles for target customer segments, outlining their demographics, financial habits, and pain points to tailor sales approaches and product recommendations.
• Relationship management of potential and existing customer relations through the execution of high-quality customer support, by responding to queries and resolving issues, gaining their customer trust, and understanding their financial goals and challenges.
• Understanding of the features, benefits, risks, and compliance requirements of various banking products and services offered. Understanding of the key features, benefits, risks, enhancements, and regulatory requirements of new and existing banking products, and communicate insights clearly to potential customers to address their financial needs.
• Development of compelling sales pitches and proposals that showcase the value proposition of the bank's offerings to convert leads into customers, and negotiation of terms that are beneficial for both the client and the bank.
• Collection and analysis of customer feedback on various products, services, and overall experience, to support the development of reports that communicate key findings to relevant stakeholders, to inform product development and sales strategies.
• Monitoring of lead conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and other relevant metrics to assess sales performance and identify areas for improvement.

Vice President Expectations

• To 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..
• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements..
• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People 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..
• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.
• 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.
• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.
• 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.

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.

Join us as Europe Card Issuing Sales Manager, where you will manage and develop relationships with our customers across Europe, working closely with Coverage and Product teams, operating within a matrix structure and with clear revenue accountability. You will ensure customer satisfaction, identify new business opportunities, and act as the key link between the client and our internal teams. In addition, you will proactively explore and pursue new opportunities with potential customers in the market to support our Issuing as well as wider Europe Cash Management growth strategy.

The role will be based in Milan, and will cover one or more core Southern European markets, with focus defined by language skills and client demand. You will act as a trusted advisor, develop long-term commercial opportunities, and ensure that Barclays is positioned as the preferred partner for card issuing and wider cash management across continental Europe. This is a unique opportunity to help build and scale a European issuing business at a time of significant regulatory change and client demand, working with institutional clients and complex, international use cases.

Customer & Account Leadership

• Acting as the primary point of contact on the commercial card side for key accounts and maintaining long-term relationships.
• Developing a comprehensive understanding of clients’ needs, strategies, and business environments.
• Negotiating and managing contracts and commercial agreements.
• Leading the full sales cycle, from opportunity identification to successful deal closure.

Sales and Commercial Strategy

• Own sales targets, forecasting, account planning, and revenue growth initiatives.
• Identify and develop new business opportunities within your accounts, also via non-traditional buying centers.
• Act as a proactive hunter to identify, approach, and secure entirely new potential customers and strategic prospects.
• Develop pricing strategies in alignment with commercial objectives.
• Monitor KPIs and adjust strategies to drive sustained growth and profitability.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with coverage, sales, B2B card consulting, product, and operations teams to ensure customer and market needs are met.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement within the team and across functions.

Market Insight

• Stay informed about European market trends, competitive landscape, technological developments, and regulatory changes impacting payments and issuing.

To be successful in this role you will have:

• Proven experience in B2B card solution sales or relationship management, within financial services (bank or fintech).
• Ability to articulate both functional and technical aspects of cards platforms; strong technical depth aligned to solution / technical architecture.
• Relevant higher education degree or equivalent experience
• Excellent Italian, as well as English language skills; other languages considered a plus, such as Spanish or Portuguese.
• Proven track record in new customer acquisition and business development
• Strong negotiation, communication, presentation, and data driven decision making skills.
• Structured, goal oriented, and proactive working style
• Knowledge of the payments industry (especially issuing, but also wider working capital and complex cash management solutions) is highly desirable.
• Proficiency with CRM systems and digital sales methodologies

You may be assessed on the key critical skills relevant for this role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen strategic thinking and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

This role is deemed as a Controlled Function role under the Central Bank of Ireland Fitness and Probity Regulations and may require the role holder to hold mandatory regulatory qualifications or the minimum qualifications to meet internal company benchmarks.

This role is based in Milan.

Entry Salary: € 84,500.00

Upper Salary: € 120,000.00

The entry and upper salary information above includes only annual full-time equivalent base salary and represents the typical range of pay for the role. The actual pay rate will reflect the responsibility level of the role and experience level of the individual. The entry and upper salary information does not include any other type of compensation or benefits that may be available.

Barclays employees are also eligible for a suite of competitive country-specific benefits.

This position is eligible for an incentive award.