About the role
The Role
We're building our second charge mortgage product from the ground up. We're looking for a Credit & Commercial Manager to own credit strategy for this product — someone who understands the mechanics of secured lending end-to-end, from quote through to completion.
This is a foundational hire. You'll shape how we assess risk, price loans, and structure our credit policy, working closely with a small, senior cross-functional team spanning product, engineering, legal, and commercial. If you've spent years working in secured lending and want to help build something new rather than maintain something old, this is the role.
What You'll Do
Define credit policy and underwriting strategy for second charge mortgages, including affordability, eligibility, and decisioning frameworks
Own risk scoring and pricing — develop and refine scorecards, risk segmentation, and pricing models that balance volume with portfolio quality
Drive growth whilst balancing risk — use analytic and credit judgment to drive growth through credit policy, work with the commercial team team to hit volume targets, and all whilst maintaining portfolio quality
Own the IRR/NPV/cashflow models - ensure we understand the economics of the asset we’re booking, and drive changes where needed
Design automated decisioning logic — translate credit policy into executable rules and decision trees that can be embedded in the platform, working with engineering to build the quickest, most automated secured product on the market
Help shape funding strategy — collaborate with the Capital Markets team to inform investor parameters around LTV limits, property valuations, and portfolio concentration, translating these into practical credit policy
Inform the property valuation and security process — ensure credit policy accounts for valuation methodology, panel management considerations, and charge registration requirements
Monitor portfolio performance — track early indicators, refine strategy based on outcomes, and report to senior stakeholders
Collaborate cross-functionally — work daily with product and engineering to embed credit decisioning into the platform, and with legal and compliance to ensure regulatory alignment (MCOB, Consumer Duty)
Get stuck in — this is a small team building something from scratch. You'll be hands-on across the full credit lifecycle, not managing from a distance
What We're Looking For
Deep experience in secured lending credit risk — you've worked on second charge mortgages or similar secured products (bridging, BTL, specialist residential) and understand the product inside out
Strong knowledge of risk scoring and pricing — you've built or materially contributed to scorecards, pricing frameworks, or credit policy in a secured lending environment
Understanding of funding and capital constraints — you know how LTV covenants, property valuations, and investor criteria shape what you can lend and to whom
Commercial awareness and growth mindset — you understand that credit policy exists to enable lending, not prevent it. You think about accept rates, broker conversion, and competitive positioning alongside risk metrics
Familiarity with the end-to-end secured lending process — from quote through to completion, including how valuation, legal, and land registry processes interact with credit decisions
Analytical rigour — you're comfortable with data. SQL is required and Python experience is a plus, but what matters is that you think in numbers and can interrogate MI to drive decisions that lead to more good quality lending
Regulatory awareness — working knowledge of MCOB and FCA requirements for second charge lending
Experience designing for scale and automation — you understand how to structure underwriting policy as decision logic, scorecards, and rules that can be executed programmatically. You think in terms of tens of thousands of applications, not manual case-by-case review
Nice to Have
Experience with loan servicing — settlements, collections, arrears management, and recoveries in a secured lending context
Exposure to broker distribution models and how credit policy interacts with intermediary channels
Experience working in a startup or scale-up environment, or a desire to move from a large organisation into one
Experience with decisioning platforms or rules engines
