Job Description
Role Overview
We are seeking a visionary and analytically driven Head of Credit Strategy & Analytics to lead credit policy, data-driven decisioning, and portfolio risk management for our business lending organization. This leader will be responsible for designing scalable credit strategies, building world-class analytical capabilities, and driving profitable growth while safeguarding portfolio quality across diverse business lending products.
The ideal candidate brings a unique combination of deep credit expertise, strong technical and analytical skills, and strategic leadership experience within SMB or commercial lending environments.
Key Responsibilities 1. Credit Strategy Leadership
* Define and continuously refine credit strategies across the full customer lifecycle—acquisition, underwriting, line assignment, pricing, renewals, and collections.
* Design risk appetite frameworks and ensure alignment with corporate goals, capital targets, and market conditions.
* Develop differentiated strategies for varying customer segments, industries, product types, and risk profiles.
2. Underwriting & Portfolio Management
* Lead development of underwriting standards, decisioning rules, credit policies, and documentation.
* Oversee portfolio performance, monitor emerging risks, and identify opportunities to optimize growth vs. risk trade-offs.
* Implement early-warning systems and triggers to proactively manage delinquencies and credit losses.
3. Credit Analytics & Decisioning Infrastructure
* Build and lead a high-performing analytics team responsible for data science, BI, modelling, and quantitative strategy.
* Own model development and performance for:
o Small business credit scorecards
o PD/LGD/EAD models
o Fraud and identity-risk models
o Pricing and profitability models
* Partner with engineering and product teams to enhance data pipelines, automated decision engines, and machine-learning decision workflows.
4. Cross-Functional Leadership
* Collaborate with product, sales, operations, finance, capital markets, and compliance to define credit strategy and execution plans.
* Support new product development with robust risk frameworks, modelling, testing, and market-entry strategies.
* Present portfolio insights, trends, and recommendations to executive leadership, board committees, and external partners.
5. Regulatory, Compliance, & Governance
* Ensure credit strategies and models comply with regulatory expectations and industry standards (e.g., OCC, FDIC, state lending laws, fair lending).
* Lead governance of credit policies, model documentation, and risk controls.
* Coordinate with internal audit and external regulators as needed.
Qualifications Required
* Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Finance, Economics, Statistics, Data Science, or related field.
* 8–15+ years of experience in credit risk, underwriting, analytics, or strategy within small business lending, commercial lending, factoring, equipment finance, or fintech .
* Proven track record of building and scaling credit strategy and analytics functions.
* Strong command of credit data, financial statements, cash-flow analysis, and small business underwriting.
* Proficiency with analytics tools (SQL, Python, R, SAS) and familiarity with machine-learning models.
* Excellent communication skills with ability to influence executives and cross-functional stakeholders.
Preferred
* Prior executive leadership experience in a business lending or fintech environment.
* Experience with alternative data sources (bank transaction data, accounting system data, e-commerce data, etc.).
* Familiarity with automated decision engines and cloud-based architecture for credit decisioning.
* Experience managing external model vendors and credit bureaus.
* Strong understanding of capital markets, loan sales, and securitization requirements (if applicable).