Lead Credit Ops

Pennylane; Paris; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Vacation days 25

Equity

Home workspace budget

Gym access

Apple equipment

Remote-friendly in Europe

Company events

Job summary

Pennylanes is seeking a Credit Operations Lead to build and launch our first-line credit operations for the future financing activity. You will translate the credit policy into executable decisions, implement controlled workflows, and establish auditable outcomes, initially covering origination, manual reviews, and portfolio monitoring.

Based in Paris with partial remote options, you will scale the operating model, tooling and team as volumes grow, collaborating closely with Risk, Product and

Qualifications

• Significant experience in credit or underwriting operations within a regulated financial-services environment.
• Experience managing operational quality, SLAs and capacity, with direct team leadership or a strong player-coach track record.
• Strong understanding of first-line credit operations and the respective responsibilities of Operations and Risk.
• Fluent French and English are mandatory.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end execution of credit origination, including manual reviews, decisions within the delegated first-line mandate, exception handling and escalation to Risk.
• Build the credit operating model, including procedures, decision trees, delegated authorities, first-line controls, operational KPIs and escalation paths.
• Own first-line operational monitoring of the active book, including repayment incidents, early-warning signals and the follow-up actions required by the credit policy.
• Build the operational relationship with the financing partner, with clear responsibilities, service levels and escalation processes for servicing, disbursement and collection incidents.

Job description

• Build the first-line credit operations function for Pennylanes future société de financement from the ground up.

Are you looking to have an impact on the daily life of millions of entrepreneurs in France (and tomorrow in Europe)?

Are you looking for a work environment that values trust, proactivity, and autonomy?

Then Pennylanes is the right place for you !

Our vision

We aim to become the most beloved financial Operating System of French SMEs and Accounting Firms (and soon, European ones).

We help entrepreneurs rid themselves of time-consuming tasks related to accounting and finance while providing them with access to key financial information to assist in making the best decisions for their business.

About Us

Pennylanes is one of the fastest growing Fintechs in France (and soon to be in Europe!)

In 5 years of existence, we’ve managed to :

• Make ourselves known as a groundbreaking accounting and financial software for small businesses and their accountants
• Raise a total of €400 millions, including from Sequoia, the famous fund from the Silicon Valley who invested early in companies like Google, Facebook, Airbnb, Stripe, Paypal and much more...
• Grow from 7 cofounders to 1000 happy Pennylaners : we’re now recognized as one of the greatest places to work in France (and also remotely), with a 4.6/5 rating on Glassdoor.
• Build an international environment with more than 25 nationalities, with a strong remote-friendly culture, where 30% of the employees are already working from all parts of Europe
• Earn the trust of thousands of customers and accounting firms and obtain outstanding ratings
• Already more than 1 300 000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and over 6000 accounting firms use Pennylanes in France!

Role context

Pennylanes currently serves around 50,000 business accounts through a BaaS model and distributes short-term financing to a subset of those customers through specialised financing partners.

As Financial Services becomes a larger part of Pennylanes strategy, we are applying for Etablissement de paiement and Sociéte de financement licences.

Our ambition is to start onboarding new customers under our own licensed entity by early 2027 and to scale our own financing activity. We will outsource part of the technology stack—including the origination platform, disbursement and repayment orchestration, and the collections engine. Your focus will be on applying the credit policy, running controls and turning that policy into day-to-day operations, in close collaboration with our Product and Business teams.

As Credit Operations Lead, you will build and launch the first-line credit operations function for Pennylanes own-book financing activity. Reporting to the Managing Director, you will translate Risks credit policy into executable decisions, controlled workflows and auditable outcomes.

You will initially remain hands-on across origination, manual reviews, exception handling and portfolio monitoring. As volumes grow, you will scale the operating model, tooling and team in close collaboration with Risk, Product and our financing partner.

This is a high-autonomy, greenfield role at the heart of Pennylanes future licensed operations.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end execution of credit origination, including manual reviews, decisions within the delegated first-line mandate, exception handling and escalation to Risk. Ensure that outcomes meet agreed SLAs and are supported by a complete audit trail.
• Build the credit operating model, including procedures, decision trees, delegated authorities, first-line controls, operational KPIs and escalation paths.
• Own first-line operational monitoring of the active book, including repayment incidents, early-warning signals and the follow-up actions required by the credit policy.
• Build the operational relationship with the financing partner, with clear responsibilities, service levels and escalation processes for servicing, disbursement and collection incidents.
• Provide Risk with structured feedback on policy effectiveness, operational impact and emerging portfolio signals. Risk remains accountable for risk appetite, policy approval and independent oversight.
• Partner with Product, Tech, Risk and Data to design origination workflows, analyst tools and scoring processes, translate operational needs into product requirements, and determine what to automate or retain for human review.
• Remain hands-on during the launch phase, then recruit and lead the first credit analysts as volumes grow, establishing clear quality standards and a culture of rigour, accountability and customer clarity.

First 6-12 months

• Before the first own-book exposure, deliver an approved end-to-end operating model covering procedures, decision trees, delegated authorities, evidence requirements and escalation paths to Risk.
• Ensure that the origination workflow is operationally ready for launch by testing the main decision paths and failure scenarios with Product and Tech.
• Establish the initial management framework, including SLAs, quality controls, operational KPIs, portfolio-monitoring indicators and reporting to the second-line Risk function.
• Ensure that every credit decision can be reconstructed from the underlying data, evidence, applicable policy and recorded approvals.
• Define the initial capacity model, team coverage and hiring plan based on expected volumes, handling times and observed performance.
• By go-live, have trained operational coverage, named escalation owners and documented procedures for manual reviews, exceptions and partner incidents.

What we’re looking for

• Significant experience in credit or underwriting operations within a regulated financial-services environment, including manual reviews, delegated decisions, exceptions and audit trails.
• Experience managing operational quality, SLAs and capacity, with direct team leadership or a strong player-coach track record.
• Strong understanding of first-line credit operations and the respective responsibilities of Operations and Risk.
• Experience collaborating with Product or Tech teams on workflows, tooling and automation.
• Ability to use operational and portfolio indicators to identify early-warning signals, manage performance and plan capacity.
• Sound judgement on what to automate, what requires human review and when a case should be escalated.
• Ability to make structured, well-documented decisions and communicate them clearly to customers, partners and internal stakeholders.
• Experience with SME financing products, such as invoice financing or short-term working-capital facilities, would be a strong advantage.

Languages, presence and location

• Fluent French and English are mandatory.
• Based in France, with a strong preference for Paris.
• Regular onsite presence in Paris is expected. Partial remote is possible. This is not a fully remote role.

Why join

• Build the first-line credit operations function for Pennylanes future société de financement from the ground up.
• Shape the operating model, tooling and team before the own-book financing activity reaches scale.
• Take ownership of a critical function with a direct impact on go-live readiness, customer experience and responsible growth.
• Work closely with Risk, Product, Tech and our financing partner on a strategic company project.
• Join a high-autonomy role with compensation that includes equity and reflects the level of responsibility.

Recruitment Process

• Interview with Simon (30-45 min), Senior Recruiter
• Interview with Maxime (1h), General Manager
• Case Study with Laurent and Hippolyte (1h)
• Team fit with two interviewers (30 min)
• Last round with Stanislas and Felix (45 min)

What do we do to make your work life easier

• Wherever you are based, you will get 25 vacations days paid by Pennylanes
• You’ll have a competitive compensation package
• You’ll get company shares to enjoy a piece of the success story you’re building with us
• You’ll have a budget to turn your home into a more comfortable workspace, as well as a monthly allowance to work from a coworking space whenever you feel like it
• Through our partner Gymlib, you’ll have access to 8000 fitness spaces in Europe and more than 300 activities related to wellness
• You’ll get the latest Apple equipment
• Depending on the teams and the requirements of the position - you'll be able to work remotely from your country of residence, as long as it is in Europe and within a maximum time difference of two hours from the CET time zone
• We are committed to regularly coming together for company events such as Tech Days (which bring remote Pennylaners together every 3 months) or our annual company seminar, fostering significant moments of cohesion for everyone.
• If you are based in France, you will have a French contract following French regulation on top of the additional perks : 6 to 12 RTT, 5 weeks PTOs, lunch credits (Swile), Alan Blue healthcare cover and regular events in cities where Pennylaners are mostly presents (Lyon, Bordeaux, Nantes…)
• We’re working on providing those last advantages to our people based outside of France as well, but it can be quite more complex depending on different countries.

Who are we looking for

• To speak English (level is assessed and appreciated according to the department you’re applying to)
• To be energized by an ever-shifting work environment
• To be highly collaborative (within your team or other stakeholders)
• Sufficiently experienced to prioritize business-led actions on your day to day activity

We know that some people are less likely to apply than others, if they don’t feel like they meet the full list of criteria.

Important information for candidates

We also want to emphasize that we fully embrace diversity, equity and inclusion and that we’re doing our best to create a safe and inclusive environment.

We are committed to providing an equal employment opportunity regardless of gender, sexual orientation, origin, disabilities, or any other traits that make you who you are. If anything, diversity makes us a more fun place to work at.

Données personnelles

Pennylanes traite vos données pour gérer votre candidature et évaluer votre adéquation au poste. Si votre candidature n’aboutit pas, vos données peuvent être conservées 2 ans à compter de notre dernier échange ou de la clôture du recrutement afin de constituer & gérer un vivier de candidats. Vous pouvez vous opposer à tout moment et demander la suppression de vos données en écrivant à : [e-mail].

Personal Data

Pennylanes processes your data to manage your application and assess your suitability for the position. If your application is unsuccessful, your data may be retained for 2 years from our last exchange or the closing of the recruitment process, in order to build and manage a candidate pool. You may object at any time and request the deletion of your data by writing to [e-mail]. Learn more

Personenbezogene Daten

Pennylanes verarbeitet Ihre Daten, um Ihre Bewerbung zu bearbeiten und Ihre Eignung für die Stelle zu beurteilen. Sollte Ihre Bewerbung nicht erfolgreich sein, können Ihre Daten bis zu 2 Jahre ab unserem letzten Austausch oder dem Abschluss des Rekrutierungsverfahrens gespeichert werden, um einen Kandidatenpool aufzubauen und zu verwalten. Sie können jederzeit Widerspruch einlegen und die Löschung Ihrer Daten beantragen, indem Sie an [e-mail] schreiben. Mehr erfahren

Datos personales

Pennylanes trata sus datos para gestionar su candidatura y evaluar su idoneidad para el puesto. En caso de que su candidatura no sea seleccionada, sus datos podrán conservarse hasta 2 años a partir de nuestro último contacto o de la finalización del proceso de selección, con el fin de constituir y gestionar una reserva de candidatos. Puede oponerse en cualquier momento y solicitar la eliminación de sus datos escribiendo a [e-mail]. Más información