Nationwide plans 750 tech roles at new digital hub in London

Nationwide Building Society is to open its first major technology hub in London to give it access to the IT professionals it needs to continue its digital journey.

The new digital innovation hub will add 750 tech jobs, and the building society is also expanding operations in its home town of Swindon, which currently houses all its 3,500 technology operations staff.

In September last year, Nationwide announced that it would increase its IT spending by £1.3bn to £4.1bn for technology over the next five years, aiming to create 1,000 jobs, a fintech fund and a new tech hub in the UK.

The company is currently recruiting tech professionals for its new hub in Holborn, London, where Nationwide was headquartered in 1894.

The building society currently has no significant tech presence in London and wants to tap into the tech talent there.

James Smith, director of digital at Nationwide, said: “We do OK attracting talent to Swindon, with people coming out of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Reading universities. We have the out-of-London market covered quite well, but we don’t have London covered. This is about giving us options.”

Smith said the 750 new tech roles would include developers, engineers, agile development experts and data scientists. “This will drive our digital agenda and we will also have our data activity run from London,” he added.

Developments will include a significant move to the cloud, said Smith. “This will give us two main tech hubs in Swindon and London, showing our commitment to Swindon and giving us access to all the tech talent in London.”

Nationwide’s ambitious digital strategy dates back to 2008, when it embarked on a £1bn project to transform its technology after years of under-investment.

The project involved upgrading its datacentre, outsourcing IT for the first time and implementing Microsoft technology in the front office and SAP at the back. This set the ball roiling and enabled Nationwide to increase its adoption of digital technology.