Head of Credit Risk

About us

At Lenkie, we’re passionate about helping small businesses turn their big ambitions into reality. Through our innovative lending products and powerful cash flow management platform, we empower SMEs to succeed. We have supported hundreds of UK businesses with millions in funding.

We are a high-performing, collaborative team headquartered in London with a remote-first culture. Backed by world-class investors, we recently closed a £4M equity and £45M debt Series A investment round. We are now entering a pivotal scaling phase and are looking for a sharp, execution-focused Credit Analyst to join our mission.

About the job

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced professional to join our team as the Head of Credit Risk. This is a senior, hands‑on role with responsibility for how we evaluate, price and manage credit risk across the customer lifecycle. You’ll lead our credit risk team, own our credit policies and portfolio monitoring, and work closely with Product, Commercial, Data, Technology and Collections to continuously improve how we lend. Your expertise and strategic vision will drive the success of our credit operations and contribute to the long‑term growth of the organisation.

Previous experience managing credit risk within a lending fintech is essential for this role.

Key Responsibilities

Credit risk strategy

• Develop and evolve Lenkie’s credit risk strategy, policies and underwriting framework.
• Define credit risk appetite, lending criteria, portfolio limits and key risk indicators.
• Balance credit performance with growth, optimising risk‑adjusted returns.
• Assess new products, customer segments and opportunities to responsibly expand credit appetite.

Portfolio performance

• Monitor performance across cohorts, customer segments, products and acquisition channels.
• Identify emerging risks, trends and opportunities, translating insights into action.
• Maintain effective portfolio monitoring, early‑warning indicators and risk reporting.

Credit decisioning

• Continuously improve underwriting, credit models, scorecards and decisioning methodologies.
• Use internal and external data to improve credit selection and portfolio performance.
• Partner with Product, Data and Technology to improve the speed, accuracy and automation of credit decisions.

Credit team leadership

• Lead, develop and mentor a high‑performing team of credit risk professionals.
• Establish clear objectives and accountability across the team.
• Build a culture that combines strong credit judgement with analytical rigour, commercial thinking and intellectual curiosity.
• Remain close to the detail and be comfortable getting hands‑on with analysis and individual credit decisions when required.

Cross‑functional collaboration

• Partner with Commercial teams to understand customers, acquisition channels and growth opportunities.
• Work with Product and Technology to develop lending products and improve the customer experience.
• Use insights from Collections and Recoveries to strengthen underwriting and credit strategy.

Qualifications/Required Skills

• Extensive experience (7+ years) in credit risk management within the financial services industry, preferably in lending to small businesses. Previous experience at a lending fintech is essential for this role.
• Strong understanding of credit risk principles, methodologies and regulatory requirements.
• Proven track record of developing and implementing credit risk strategies in a fast‑paced environment.
• Experience in managing and leading a team of credit risk professionals.
• Solid analytical and problem‑solving skills, with the ability to interpret complex data and make informed decisions.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to convey complex concepts to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Comfortable working directly with data and with dashboarding / BI tools such as Power BI or Looker.
• Knowledge of credit risk modelling techniques and statistical analysis tools.
• A genuine interest in fintech, lending and using technology to help small businesses succeed.

How we reward performance

• Competitive salary, including equity.
• Hybrid work culture, with 3 days per week in our Holborn office.
• Opportunity to accelerate your career at a fast‑growing startup.
• The opportunity to make a significant impact on small businesses globally.
• Regular team and company socials.

We’re building a diverse, inclusive and supportive team where everyone can do their best work. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, and we do not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know.

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