Lead Credit Underwriter — SME & Complex Deals

OnDeck Australia; Sydney; On-site; AUD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Career development

Impact on customer outcomes

Award-winning culture

Health & wellbeing initiatives

Fully stocked kitchen

Job summary

OnDeck Australia is seeking an experienced Underwriting Team Leader to guide a small team while staying hands-on on complex SME lending decisions.

You’ll lead, coach and step in when needed, balancing opportunity with responsible risk management and close collaboration with Sales, Operations and Risk teams.

This role offers career development within a growing fintech, a collaborative culture, and health & wellbeing initiatives, with a fully stocked kitchen and regular team events.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., Economics, Actuarial Studies, Finance, Business, Mathematics, Statistics).
• Strong commercial, SME or business lending experience.
• Hands-on experience assessing complex credit applications.
• Strong financial analysis skills and commercial judgement.
• A balanced and solutions-focused approach to credit risk.
• Experience coaching, mentoring or supporting other credit professionals.
• The confidence to manage challenging decisions and stakeholder conversations.
• Experience establishing and managing internal KPIs, using data and insights to drive performance and meaningful conversations across Risk, Sales and senior leadership.
• Strong analytical and Excel capability.
• An interest in reporting, process improvement and operational performance.
• A collaborative leadership style with the energy to develop and motivate a team.

Responsibilities

• Lead a small team of Underwriters, manage day-to-day workflow and provide coaching.
• Remain hands-on with underwriting for complex and higher-value SME applications.
• Build a commercial, solutions-focused approach to credit while balancing risk and opportunity.
• Improve reporting and visibility across the underwriting queue and identify process improvements.
• Collaborate with Sales, Operations and Risk and articulate credit decisions to stakeholders.

Skills

Senior SME lending

Credit decisioning

Coaching/mentoring

Stakeholder management

Analytical thinking

Excel

Risk awareness

Communication

Leadership

Data-driven reporting

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Economics/Finance/Banking

Tools

Excel

Job description

OnDeck Australia is seeking an experienced Underwriting Team Leader to guide a small team while staying hands-on on complex SME lending decisions.

You’ll lead, coach and step in when needed, balancing opportunity with responsible risk management and close collaboration with Sales, Operations and Risk teams.

This role offers career development within a growing fintech, a collaborative culture, and health & wellbeing initiatives, with a fully stocked kitchen and regular team events.