Lending Transformation Manager - St. Canice's Credit Union

Credit Union; Ireland; Remote; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

St Canice’s Kilkenny Credit Union Limited is seeking a Lending Transformation Manager to lead governance, policy development and continuous improvement across lending activities in Kilkenny. You will oversee regulatory changes, drive digital transformation, and coordinate with Compliance, Risk and IT to optimize service delivery for members.

The role requires extensive experience in lending, policy management and first-line monitoring, with strong leadership and stakeholder management skills to

Qualifications

• 6+ years in lending, governance, compliance, risk, QA, or process improvement
• QFA or APA Loans designation essential
• Ability to interpret complex information and identify credit risk drivers
• Experience developing or maintaining lending policies and controlled documentation
• Experience in first-line monitoring, QA, change delivery, and third-party management
• Strong verbal and written communication, analysis, organisation and stakeholder management
• Proven leadership skills with ability to influence and collaborate across teams

Responsibilities

• Act as first-line owner and custodian of lending governance and documentation frameworks
• Coordinate review and maintenance of lending policies, procedures and process maps
• Maintain oversight of lending documentation and disclosures across lending activities
• Lead process improvement, digitalisation and automation initiatives
• Translate business requirements into controlled processes, procedures and training
• Provide leadership and coaching to deliver targets and transformation priorities
• Monitor lending operations for resilience, risks and outsourcing dependencies
• Provide reporting on governance, monitoring, outsourcing and change activities
• Collaborate with Lending, Operations, IT, Finance, Risk and Compliance

Skills

Lending governance

Compliance monitoring

Process improvement

Stakeholder management

Leadership

Regulatory change

Outsourcing management

Education

QFA or APA Loans designation

Finance/business degree desirable

Job description

St Canice’s Credit Union has an exciting opportunity to be part of an ambitious, forward looking and strategic thinking management team.

St. Canice’s Credit Union is a not-for-profit organisation and the largest community Credit Union in the country. With almost 80,000 members, a loan book of over €150 million and a diverse loan products range including personal lending, mortgages, business and Agri lending. St. Canice’s Credit Union has an ambitious strategic plan to significantly develop and grow its lending and is currently seeking a new Lending Transformation Manager to help achieve this.

The Lending Transformation Manager will lead the continuous improvement, governance and transformation of the Credit Union’s lending function. Reporting to the Head of Lending, the role will act as the first-line business owner and custodian of the lending governance framework while driving operational excellence, process improvement, digital transformation and outsourcing oversight across lending activities. The role will coordinate the development and maintenance of lending policies, procedures, controlled documentation, regulatory-change implementation, compliance monitoring, staff guidance and operational improvement initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:

Lending governance and documentation

Act as first-line business owner and custodian of the lending governance and controlled-documentation frameworks.

Coordinate the review and maintenance of lending policies, procedures, process maps, standards, registers and approval records.

Maintain oversight of lending documentation, including credit agreements, mortgage documentation, suitability statements, consumer disclosures, application forms, approval and decline communications, arrears communications, outsourced-provider documentation and digital lending content.

Ensure proposed changes are reviewed and submitted to the appropriate approval authority before implementation.

Compliance monitoring & Change Management

Operate a risk-based first-line lending monitoring and quality assurance programme.

Track findings and remedial actions and elevate material or recurring issues through established governance channels.

Monitor and coordinate the implementation of regulatory, legal and industry changes affecting lending activities in collaboration with Compliance, Risk, Internal Audit and/or legal advisors.

Maintain lending regulatory-change plans and implementation trackers.

Support regulatory readiness, supervisory engagement, inspections and thematic reviews.

Transformation and Operational Excellence

Lead approved process improvement, digitalisation and automation initiatives.

Translate business requirements into controlled processes, procedures, documentation and training.

Measure implementation outcomes, including turnaround, rework, exception rates and manual processing.

Promote consistent, accessible and member-focused lending journeys.

Develop lending guidance, process manuals, training materials and technical updates.

Identify knowledge gaps arising from monitoring, policy changes, audit findings, new products and systems.

Support onboarding and consistent application of approved lending and documentation standards.

Support business continuity and operational-resilience planning for lending operations.

Monitor critical lending processes, systems, supplier dependencies and contingency arrangements.

Coordinate resilience activities and coordinate resilience activities and elevate material service, concentration or dependency risks

Contracts and outsourcing management

Manage designated operational relationships with lending service providers.

Monitor service levels, contractual deliverables, incidents, dependencies and agreed actions.

Support due diligence, periodic reviews, contract change, contingency and exit planning.

Support the Head of Lending in developing and delivering lending strategy, business cases and transformation priorities.

Provide clear management reporting on governance, documentation, monitoring, outsourcing and change activities.

Collaborate across Lending, Operations, IT, Finance, Risk and Compliance.

Manage the key objectives and performance of each team member through agreed KPI’s, half yearly performance reviews and provide support and training to staff to ensure the successful implementation of targets, goals and objectives from the strategic plan.

Provide leadership, coaching and performance management to ensure delivery of team and organisational objectives.

The above list is not exhaustive and may be subject to change in line with the needs of the business.

The successful candidate should have the following:

• Minimum of 6 years relevant experience in lending, financial services, governance, compliance, risk, quality assurance, operational management or process improvement.
• Minimum of a QFA or equivalent qualification (or APA Loans designation) essential, a business or finance related degree (desirable)
• Ability to assess, critically evaluate and interpret complex information and to identify key credit risk drivers
• Experience developing or maintaining policies, procedures and controlled documentation.
• Experience in first-line monitoring, quality assurance, change delivery and third-party relationship management.
• Strong verbal & written communication, analysis, organisation and stakeholder management
• Demonstrated leadership skills with the ability to influence, collaborate and build effective working relationships across teams.
• Proven ability to plan, coordinate, and execute projects through to completion and measurable results desirable
• Third party vendor management experience desirable
• Proactive and self-motivated with the ability to adapt to new situations
• A strong knowledge of financial compliance regulations
• An appreciation and an awareness of the credit union ethos

Lending Transformation Manager in Kilkenny | Metamo DAC

St Canice’s Kilkenny Credit Union Limited is an Equal Opportunities Employer

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