Head of Credit Risk (Consumer/SME), London/Hybrid, 6 months, £800 - £850/day (Inside IR35)

Purpose of the role

To lead the first-line credit risk function across SME and Consumer lending, ensuring end-to-end ownership of credit strategy including; acquisition, underwriting, portfolio performance, and decisioning architecture to deliver sustainable growth, strong risk-adjusted returns, and regulatory compliance.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the first-line credit risk strategy across SME and Consumer lending, aligning risk appetite with growth ambitions, capital efficiency, and profitability targets
• Own the roadmap for credit decisioning transformation, including next-generation decision engines, credit risk models customer journeys and data capabilities
• Drive innovation in decisioning through advanced analytics, automation, and digital capabilities
• Own and optimise credit decisioning frameworks, including policy, scorecards, affordability models and manual underwriting approaches for acquisition and on-going customer servicing
• Act as Senior Relationship Owner for key third-party credit data and decisioning providers (eg Experian), including performance, commercials, and strategic alignment
• Maintain scalable, resilient, and future-proof credit architecture and platforms
• Act as a senior leader, shaping enterprise-wide credit strategy, product design, and customer propositions as required
• Provide clear leadership across underwriting, portfolio management, modelling, and credit decisioning/strategy functions
• Hold accountability for credit performance across the life cycle: originations, account management, line management, collections, and recoveries

Skills

• Strategic Credit Decisioning Risk Leadership
• End-to-End Credit Lifecycle Management
• Large scale Credit Decisioning transformation
• Portfolio Management & Performance Optimisation
• Deep lending product management
• Executive Leadership & Stakeholder Influence

Knowledge

• Strategic Credit Strategy, Decisioning & Transformation
• Advanced Data, Modelling & Analytics
• Portfolio Management & Performance
• Operational Delivery & Process Ownership
• Senior Vendor & External Relationship Management