Senior Credit Analyst / Underwriting Team Leader – SME Lending

OnDeck Australia; Sydney; On-site; AUD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health & wellbeing initiatives

Regular team events

Fully stocked kitchen

Job summary

OnDeck Australia in Sydney is seeking an experienced Senior Credit Analyst to lead a small underwriting team while staying hands-on across complex SME lending decisions.

In this player-coach role you’ll coach, balance risk and opportunity, and drive improvements in reporting, workflow, and performance across Risk, Sales and Operations. You’ll bring strong credit judgement and collaborative leadership to the business.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Finance or a related field.
• Strong commercial, SME or business lending experience.
• Hands-on experience assessing complex credit applications.
• Analytical and commercial judgement with risk-awareness.
• Experience coaching or mentoring credit professionals.

Responsibilities

• Lead a small team of Underwriters and manage day-to-day application flow.
• Provide coaching and guidance; step in on complex deals.
• Remain hands-on with underwriting for higher-value applications.
• Improve reporting, visibility and process improvements across the function.
• Collaborate with Sales, Operations and Risk to support credit decisions.

Skills

Credit analysis

SME lending

Stakeholder management

Excel

Coaching

Leadership potential

Data reporting

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Economics or Finance

Tools

Excel

Credit risk systems

Job description

Are you an experienced commercial credit professional ready to take the next step into leadership – without stepping away from the deals?

We’re partnering with an established fintech lender to appoint an Senior Credit Analyst / Underwriting Team Leader to lead a small team while remaining hands‑on across complex SME lending decisions.

This is a genuine player‑coach opportunity. You’ll be close to the work, trusted to make sound credit decisions and given the opportunity to develop a team and improve the way the underwriting function operates.

The opportunity

Leading a small team of Underwriters, you’ll manage the day‑to‑day flow of applications, provide coaching and guidance, and step in when a deal requires greater experience or judgement.

You’ll remain hands‑on with underwriting, particularly across more complex and higher‑value applications where the answer isn’t always black and white.

We’re looking for someone who can look beyond the numbers, understand the business behind an application and take a commercial, solutions‑focused approach to credit – balancing opportunity with responsible risk management.

You’ll also play an important role in strengthening the function. This will include improving reporting and visibility across the underwriting queue, identifying process improvements and using data to understand where the team can operate more effectively.

Working closely with Sales, Operations and Risk, you’ll need to be comfortable explaining and standing behind a credit decision while maintaining strong, collaborative relationships.

What you’ll bring

You may already be leading a credit or underwriting team, or you could be an experienced Senior Credit Analyst, Senior Underwriter or Credit Manager ready to step into leadership.

• 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

Formal people‑management experience would be advantageous, but it’s not essential. What matters is your credibility as a credit professional and your ability to help others make better decisions.

Why consider it?

This is an opportunity to build rather than simply maintain.

You’ll inherit an established team, remain close to interesting credit decisions and have genuine scope to improve how the function operates – from coaching and capability through to reporting, workflow and process.

When you join OnDeck, you’ll enjoy:

• Career development within a growing fintech organisation
• The opportunity to make a genuine impact on customer outcomes
• Award winning culture with a collaborative, supportive team
• Health & wellbeing initiatives, regular team events and a fully stocked kitchen
• Recognition for your contribution and the opportunity to grow your leadership career.

If you’re looking to combine your commercial credit experience with your next step in leadership, we’d love to hear from you.