Credit Risk & Underwriting Manager

JSS; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

JSS is seeking a Credit Risk & Underwriting Manager UK to translate the group risk framework into a UK credit policy and oversee underwriting for UK partners and merchants. This hands-on role offers growth opportunities within FCA-aligned risk practices.

You'll collaborate with the European risk teams, UK partnerships, product, compliance and funding partners. The role combines policy work with practical underwriting and data-driven risk management in a fintech or scale-up setting.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in credit risk or underwriting in UK SME lending, revenue-based financing, merchant cash advance or embedded finance.
• Solid understanding of the UK lending landscape: credit bureaus, Open Banking data, insolvency and collections practice.
• Strong analytical skills; comfortable with BI tools and able to build visualisations and charts that turn data into insights and answer your own questions. SQL is a strong plus.
• Working knowledge of the FCA regulatory environment for business lending.
• Clear communicator who can explain risk decisions to partners, leadership and funders.
• Experience in a fintech or scale-up building a new market or lending book.
• Exposure to forward-flow, warehouse or other funding structures.
• Python or R for portfolio analysis and model monitoring.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain the UK credit policy and calibrate risk appetite and pricing.
• Create documentation for all processes.
• Calibrate models, scorecards and decision rules with Data Science and Risk Analytics.
• Assess new UK distribution partners and lending partners.
• Track book performance: approvals, arrears, defaults, losses by lender and partner.
• Prepare regular risk reporting for leadership and funding partners.
• Support due diligence and covenant reporting for partners.

Skills

5+ years in credit risk/underwriting

UK lending landscape knowledge

Analytical skills BI visuals SQL

FCA regulatory knowledge

Clear communicator with partners/lead/

Fintech/scale-up experience

Exposure to funding structures

Python or R for portfolio analysis

Tools

SQL

Python

R

BI tools (Tableau/Power BI)

Job description

As the Credit Risk & Underwriting Manager UK, you will turn my client's group risk framework into a UK credit policy, run underwriting for UK partners and merchants, and make sure the firm continues to grow responsibly within FCA expectations.

You will work closely with the wider European risk and data teams, UK partnerships, product, compliance and our funding partners. This is a hands-on role with room to build a team as the UK book grows.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and maintain the UK credit policy, understand our partner lenders risk appetite and lending limits, and fine-tune the allocations rules to optimize for approval rate and pricing
• Create the necessary documentation of all the related processes
• Work together with the Data Science and Risk Analytics team to calibrate models, scorecards and decision rules to the credit boxes of our lending partners
• Assess new UK distribution partners: their merchant base, data quality and risk profile
• Assess new UK lending partners: their credit boxes, acceptance rate, risk appetite and time to underwrite, compared with the data requirements
• Work with Data Science to calibrate automated loan application allocation based on collected data points
• Define, together with Data Science, the orchestration logic that matches applications to lenders' credit boxes
• Track book performance: approval rates, arrears, default and loss rates, by lender, vintage and partner
• Prepare regular risk reporting for leadership, the risk committee and funding partners
• Support forward-flow and funding partner due diligence, eligibility criteria and covenant reporting

Key Requirements

• 5+ years in credit risk or underwriting in UK SME lending, revenue-based financing, merchant cash advance or embedded finance
• Solid understanding of the UK lending landscape: credit bureaus, Open Banking data, insolvency and collections practice
• Strong analytical skills; comfortable with BI tools and able to build visualisations and charts that turn data into insights and answer your own questions. SQL is a strong plus.
• Working knowledge of the FCA regulatory environment for business lending
• Clear communicator who can explain risk decisions to partners, leadership and funders
• Experience in a fintech or scale-up building a new market or lending book
• Exposure to forward-flow, warehouse or other funding structures
• Python or R for portfolio analysis and model monitoring