Senior Credit Analyst / Underwriting Team Leader – SME Lending

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

Are you an experienced commercial credit professional who thrives in leading a team – without stepping away from the deals?

We’re looking to appoint an 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

• 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 is 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.