Senior Credit Leader

Our client is an expanding Fintech Credit business built for consumer brands who are looking to bring on board a Senior Credit Leader to own credit strategy, underwriting standards, and portfolio quality across their trade finance business. This role is responsible not only for making strong credit decisions, but for building the overall credit framework that supports scalable growth. You will work closely with the founders and wider leadership team to shape risk appetite, approve larger and more complex facilities, oversee portfolio performance, and ensure the business grows with discipline and control.

This is a hands-on role at the centre of lending decisions, responsible for underwriting new facilities, maintaining credit discipline, and helping to scale a growing loan book with strong control and consistency.

Responsibilities

• Lead the credit underwriting process for trade finance facilities, from initial assessment through to approval and documentation.
• Analyse financial statements, management accounts, cash flow, customer concentration, payment patterns, and transaction data to determine creditworthiness.
• Assess borrower structures, facility purpose, repayment sources, and security packages where relevant.
• Develop and maintain underwriting standards, credit policies, and decision frameworks as the business scales.
• Support deal structuring to balance risk, commercial return, and operational practicality.
• Monitor portfolio performance, watchlist cases, and emerging credit risk, delinquency, and early warning indicators.
• Contribute to portfolio reporting, risk analysis, and management information for the leadership team.
• Set and maintain the credit strategy, risk appetite, and underwriting standards for the trade finance portfolio.
• Review and challenge underwriting recommendations, ensuring decisions are consistent, commercial, and well documented.
• Build and refine credit policy, scorecards, decision frameworks, and exception processes.