Director - Corporate Strategy & Competitive Intelligence

A leading investment bank seeking an Enterprise Strategy Senior Manager to join its London-based Strategic Planning Department. This is a high-impact opportunity for an experienced banking professional with a background in corporate strategy, strategic planning, competitive intelligence, or strategy consulting to play a central role in shaping EMEA's strategic direction.

Working closely with senior leadership, you will deliver insight-driven analysis that supports strategic decision-making, identifies growth opportunities, and helps shape the organisation's long-term priorities. Combining strong financial services knowledge with strategic thinking, you will assess competitive positioning, analyse market trends, and translate complex information into clear recommendations that influence business direction.

Key responsibilities

• Develop competitive intelligence and strategic insights across global banks, financial institutions, fintechs, asset managers, payments providers, and other relevant ecosystem players.
• Analyse peer performance, business models, strategic priorities, capital allocation trends, and market developments using public disclosures and internal/external data sources.
• Build benchmarking frameworks covering financial, strategic, and operational metrics to assess competitive positioning.
• Monitor industry trends including digital transformation, AI adoption, and evolving financial services business models.
• Translate complex analysis into clear, actionable recommendations to support senior management decision-making.
• Support the development of strategic priorities, including growth initiatives, portfolio optimisation, and investment or divestment decisions.
• Prepare high-quality executive reports, briefing materials, dashboards, and presentations for senior leadership forums.
• Maintain ongoing monitoring of competitor strategies, financial performance, organisational developments, and market dynamics.

Partner with internal stakeholders across strategy, research, finance, and business teams to ensure analytical outputs are robust, consistent, and commercially relevant.

What you bring

• Proven experience within the banking sector, with a strong understanding of banking business models, financial performance drivers, and competitive dynamics.
• Previous experience in corporate strategy, strategic planning, competitive intelligence, business management, or strategy consulting, ideally gained within a leading financial institution or top-tier consulting firm.
• Strong analytical capability, with the ability to interpret financial results, assess strategic positioning, and derive meaningful insights from complex information.
• Solid understanding of financial statements, accounting principles, and key banking metrics.
• Experience analysing competitors, markets, and industry trends and translating findings into strategic recommendations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with experience preparing materials for senior executives and management committees.
• Ability to operate effectively in a complex, international, and multicultural environment.
• Strong commercial judgement, curiosity, and the ability to quickly understand organisational strategy and market positioning.
• Professional qualifications such as CFA, ACA, ACCA, or equivalent are advantageous.
  

Robert Walters Operations Limited is an employment business and employment agency and welcomes applications from all candidates