Gresham Hunt
Interim Head of Credit Risk (Retail and SME) - 6 month contract
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Gresham Hunt have partnered with a large UK lender who are looking to appoint an Interim Head of Credit Risk covering their Retail and Commercial SME lending portfolios. The role is based in Central London with a high degree of flexible working.
The Role
This is a senior, hands-on leadership position with end-to-end accountability for credit strategy from acquisition and underwriting through to portfolio performance and decisioning architecture. You'll be central to delivering sustainable growth, strong risk-adjusted returns, and regulatory compliance across the lending book.
Responsibilities
- Defining and owning the first-line credit risk strategy across SME and Consumer lending, balancing risk appetite with growth, capital efficiency, and profitability
- Leading the roadmap for credit decisioning transformation including next-generation decision engines, credit risk models, customer journeys, and data capabilities
- Owning and optimising credit decisioning frameworks: policy, scorecards, affordability models, and manual underwriting approaches across acquisition and servicing
- Acting as Senior Relationship Owner for key third-party credit data and decisioning providers, covering performance, commercials, and strategic alignment
- Maintaining scalable, resilient, and future-proof credit architecture and platforms
- Providing clear leadership across underwriting, portfolio management, modelling, and decisioning strategy
- Holding accountability for credit performance across the full lifecycle: originations, account management, line management, collections, and recoveries
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Experience Required
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
- Senior leadership experience owning credit decisioning and lending portfolio strategy
- A track record of accountability for credit performance at scale
- Experience leading large-scale credit decisioning transformation projects
- Proven ability leading multi-disciplinary teams within regulated financial services environments
- Comfort delivering transformational change alongside day-to-day BAU performance
- Degree or equivalent professional qualification; advanced credit/risk qualifications advantageous
Contract Details
- 6-month interim engagement
- Line management responsibility
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills
Location