Senior Business Development Manager - Commercial Real Estate

Help Build Something New at Zempler

At Zempler, we're on a mission to make finance simpler, fairer, and more accessible for businesses across the UK.

As we continue to grow, we're launching an exciting new Commercial Real Estate lending proposition and we're looking for an experienced Senior Business Development Manager to help bring it to life.

This is a rare opportunity to join during the mobilisation phase and play a pivotal role in shaping the future of secured lending at Zempler. You'll be responsible for building broker relationships, originating deals, gathering market insight, and helping validate a new lending proposition before it scales.

This is more than a traditional business development role. You'll be a hands-on originator, market expert, relationship builder and trusted advisor, helping us prove a new proposition in a competitive market while delivering outstanding outcomes for brokers and customers alike.

What You'll Be Doing

As our Senior Business Development Manager, you'll work closely with the Head of Secured Lending Mobilisation to help establish and grow our Commercial Real Estate lending proposition.

You'll spend part of your time actively originating and progressing lending opportunities, while also helping design the foundations, processes, relationships and disciplines that will support future growth.

Key responsibilities include:

Build and Grow New Business

• Develop and manage relationships with commercial mortgage brokers, intermediaries and introducers.
• Generate and convert high-quality Commercial Real Estate lending opportunities.
• Personally originate, structure and progress lending transactions from enquiry through to completion.
• Build a sustainable pipeline of lending opportunities and support the delivery of the first completed CRE transactions.

Bring the Proposition to Life

• Act as a market-facing ambassador for Zempler's secured lending proposition.
• Help demonstrate the value of our technology-enabled lending approach, including faster decision-making, greater transparency and reduced friction for brokers and customers.
• Gather real-world feedback from brokers and customers to help refine the proposition.
• Identify customer needs, market trends and competitive opportunities to support future growth.

Support Mobilisation and Capability Building

• Work alongside the Head of Secured Lending Mobilisation to shape broker engagement strategies, pipeline management disciplines and customer standards.
• Contribute to the development of both our lending pathways:
• Accelerated Lending Solution for standardised transactions up to £2m.
• Relationship-Led Structured Lending for larger or more complex transactions.
• Help define what great looks like across origination, customer experience and intermediary engagement.
• Coach and share expertise with future team members as the function grows.

Drive Commercial Success

• Deliver agreed origination and pipeline objectives during mobilisation.
• Monitor pipeline performance, conversion rates and lending economics.
• Identify barriers to growth and recommend improvements.
• Provide market insight and practical recommendations on proposition development, broker engagement and future scaling plans.

What We're Looking For

We're looking for someone who combines strong Commercial Real Estate lending expertise with a genuine passion for building relationships and creating something new.

You'll likely bring:

• Proven experience originating Commercial Real Estate lending transactions.
• Strong relationships within the broker and intermediary market.
• A track record of generating and converting lending opportunities.
• Excellent knowledge of secured lending products, processes and customer needs.
• Strong commercial judgement and relationship management skills.
• Experience working with credit, underwriting and risk teams to progress lending transactions.
• The ability to influence stakeholders and build credibility internally and externally.
• A hands-on, entrepreneurial mindset with the energy to help launch and grow a new proposition.
• Experience within challenger banks, specialist lenders, commercial banking or real estate finance would be particularly valuable.

You'll have the chance to:

• Help shape a brand-new Commercial Real Estate lending proposition.
• Influence how secured lending evolves within a growing UK bank.
• Work closely with senior leadership and play an active role in strategic decision-making.
• Combine traditional relationship-led lending expertise with innovative, technology-enabled lending solutions.
• Leave a lasting impact on a proposition designed for future growth.

About Zempler

Formerly Cashplus Bank, Zempler is a British business bank built around making money easier for small businesses and consumers. We're ambitious, customer-focused, and constantly looking for better ways to serve our customers.

We're building a culture where people can do their best work, challenge the status quo, and contribute to meaningful change.

Our Commitment to Inclusion

At Zempler, we believe diverse teams make better decisions, deliver better outcomes, and create better experiences for our customers and colleagues.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. If you're excited about this role but don't meet every requirement, we'd still love to hear from you.

If you need any adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know and we'll be happy to support you.