Senior Credit Risk Analyst | Manchester, UK

Starling Bank; Manchester; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A modern bank in Manchester seeks a Senior Credit Risk Analyst to shape lending portfolios through data-driven insights and credit decision optimisation. The ideal candidate will have strong analytical skills, expertise in SQL, and experience in credit analytics. This role offers competitive benefits, including generous holiday and family-friendly policies.

Benefits

25 days holiday plus public holidays

An extra day's holiday for your birthday

Annual leave increases with length of service

Private Medical Insurance

Generous family-friendly policies

Qualifications

• Solid experience in an analytical role within unsecured lending.
• Proficiency in SQL and knowledge of Python/SAS.
• Strong background in credit analytics, decisioning systems, and rule optimisation.

Responsibilities

• Develop expert understanding of credit risk management.
• Optimise credit underwriting to improve accuracy and control.
• Monitor strategy performance for lending decisions.

Skills

Analytical skills

SQL proficiency

Credit analytics

Interpersonal skills

Problem-solving

Tools

SQL

Python

SAS

Job description

Senior Credit Risk Analyst

Starling Bank Manchester, United Kingdom

Starling Bank Manchester, United Kingdom

Hello, we're Starling. We built a new kind of bank because we knew technology had the power to help people save, spend and manage their money in a new and transformative way. We're a fully licensed UK bank with the culture and spirit of a fast-moving, disruptive tech company. We're a bank, but better: fairer, easier to use and designed to demystify money for everyone. We employ more than 3,000 people across our London, Southampton, Cardiff and Manchester offices.

As a Senior Credit Risk Analyst, you'll play a key role in shaping the future of our lending portfolios. You'll be at the forefront of credit decision optimisation, using data-driven insights to refine our strategies across the credit risk lifecycle.

You'll help ensure lending decisions remain accurate, responsible, and aligned with our risk appetite and business goals, while supporting growth, customer outcomes and regulatory expectations. This is a high-impact role where your analytical expertise and curiosity will directly influence our ability to lend safely and fairly.
Key Responsibilities

- Develop expert understanding of new business originations and in-life credit risk management, including all aspects of credit decisioning and customer journeys

- Optimise our credit underwriting - both automated and manual - to improve accuracy, efficiency, and control

- Monitor and evaluate strategy performance, including underwriting, limit changes to drive performance improvements.

- Investigate and develop new data sources to enhance insight and decision capability

- Build and maintain datasets, dashboards and MI to support data-driven strategy decisions

- Support business growth and profitability while balancing risk, reward and responsible lending

- Work closely with 2LoD Credit Risk and Compliance to ensure strategies align with risk appetite and regulatory expectations

- Collaborate with Product, Data and Engineering teams to deliver rapid, safe implementation of credit rules and enhancements

- Produce thoughtful, actionable analysis and clear recommendations for decision-makers

Requirements

We're looking for someone who has:

- Solid experience in an analytical role within unsecured lending (retail or SME)

- Proficiency in SQL (essential), with working knowledge of Python, SAS or similar

- Strong background in credit analytics. Experience with decisioning systems and rule optimisation is a plus

- A deep understanding of credit reference agency data and how to leverage it effectively

- Experience working with credit MI and KPIs (e.g. loss rates, delinquency, vintage curves)

- A track record of using data to inform business decisions and improve lending outcomes

- Exposure to regulatory standards relevant to credit risk (e.g. CONC) is a plus
Behaviours & Competencies

- Strong interpersonal and stakeholder communication skills

- Strong desire to solve problems - using regulation and data to drive business decisions

- Ability to analyse and interpret complex information and translate into practical action

- Hands-on, resilient and adaptable in a fast-moving and evolving environment

- Naturally curious, proactive, and biased towards action

- Strong commercial awareness and understanding of portfolio dynamics

- A true team player with a collaborative approach to stakeholder engagement

Benefits

• 25 days holiday (plus take your public holiday allowance whenever works best for you)
• An extra day's holiday for your birthday
• Annual leave is increased with length of service, and you can choose to buy or sell up to five extra days off
• 16 hours paid volunteering time a year
• Salary sacrifice, company enhanced pension scheme
• Life insurance at 4x your salary & group income protection
• Private Medical Insurance with VitalityHealth including mental health support and cancer care. Partner benefits include discounts with Waitrose, Mr&Mrs Smith and Peloton
• Generous family-friendly policies
• Incentivised refer a friend scheme
• Perkbox membership giving access to retail discounts, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, and weekly free and boosted perks
• Access to initiatives like Cycle to Work, Salary Sacrificed Gym partnerships and Electric Vehicle (EV) leasing

About Us

You may be put off applying for a role because you don't tick every box. Forget that! While we can't accommodate every flexible working request, we're always open to discussion. So, if you're excited about working with us, but aren't sure if you're 100% there yet, get in touch anyway.

We're on a mission to radically reshape banking - and that starts with our brilliant team. Whatever came before, we're proud to bring together people of all backgrounds and experiences who love working together to solve problems.

Starling Bank is an equal opportunity employer, and we're proud of our ongoing efforts to foster diversity & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Starling Bank are considered without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

By submitting your application, you agree that Starling Bank may collect your personal data for recruiting and related purposes. Our Privacy Notice explains what personal information we may process, where we may process your personal information, its purposes for processing your personal information, and the rights you can exercise over our use of your personal information.

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