Head of Lending / Chief Risk Officer

Updraft. Helping you make changes that pay off.

Updraft is an award winning, FCA-authorised, high-growth fintech based in London. Our vision is to revolutionise the way people spend and think about money, by automating the day to day decisions involved in managing money and mainstream borrowings like credit cards, overdrafts and other loans.

• A 360 degree spending view across all your financial accounts (using Open banking)
• A free credit report with tips and guidance to help improve your credit score
• Native AI led personalised financial planning to help users manage money, pay off their debts and improve their credit scores.
• Intelligent lending products to help reduce cost of credit

We have built scale and are getting well recognised in the UK fintech ecosystem.

• 800k+ users of the mobile app that has helped users swap c £500 m of costly credit-card debt for smarter credit, putting hundreds of thousands on a path to better financial health
• The product is highly rated by our customers. We are rated 4.8 on Trustpilot, 4.8 on the Play Store, and 4.4 on the iOS Store.
• We are selected for  Technation Future Fifty 2025– a program that recognizes and supports successful and innovative scaleups to IPOs - 30% of UK unicorns have come out of this program.
• Updraft once again featured on the Sifted 100 UK startups - among only 25 companies to have made the list over both years 2024 and 2025.

We are looking for exceptional talent to join us on our next stage of growth with a compelling proposition - purpose you can feel, impact you can measure, and ownership you’ll actually hold. Expect a hybrid, London-hub culture where cross-functional squads tackle real-world problems with cutting-edge tech; generous learning budgets and wellness benefits; and the freedom to experiment, ship, and see your work reflected in customers’ financial freedom. At Updraft, you’ll help build a fairer credit system.

Role

The  Head of Lending  will play a key role in shaping and executing the company’s lending strategy. This role will oversee the end-to-end lending lifecycle, from product design to risk management and customer acquisition. The ideal candidate is a seasoned professional with a strong background in consumer lending, credit risk management, and regulatory compliance, combined with a passion for leveraging technology to transform the lending experience.

This is a P&L ownership role that optimises credit risk, acquisition strategy, portfolio management strategy and overall P&L and unit economics. This role reports directly to the CEO. You will be a part of the exco.

Responsibilities

You are responsible for underwriting strategy - segmentation, credit risk models, approval decline criteria, pricing and line assignment as well as portfolio strategy - segmentation, models and strategy development.

You are responsible for the unit economics of the business and will work to constantly improve the NPV of the lending being originated.

You are responsible for building a top tier lending team with credit risk and commercial staff.

You will be responsible for creating credit strategy and execution for new channels - e.g. aggregator, partnerships etc

You will be responsible for creating credit strategy and execution for new lending products

We do not believe in silos and departments that are typically found in banks and other lenders. As part of the executive team you will work and be responsible across multiple disciplines to drive high impact and great customer outcomes.

Requirements

The best candidates will have experience of working in a digital lender and have a passion for delivering high-quality consumer outcomes and impact to improve the lives of millions of people. Added bonus if you have worked in a lending fintech and managed to scale that up.

The perfect addition to our team will have:
* an independent and self-driven approach;
* 10+ years' experience with P&L experience leading a product or risk team within a credit card, monoline lender or a bank (originations or portfolio management)
* a passion for data and analytics, a grandmaster with excel pivots, being able to hack around in python and build response, risk, collections and portfolio management models a plus.

* Will know how to build both horizontal and vertical P&Ls and would have personally done it multiple times.

* Develop customer segmentation and build relevant lending products to drive the right customer outcomes.

* Strong awareness of compliance and financial regulation

We are a small team so it is important that the successful candidate is not only technically highly competent, but also a great cultural fit with shared ambition with the rest of the team.

Benefits

• Share options in a potentially high value business with an amazing platform in place
• Being one of our first 50 employees and engaging in a key leadership position, you will help shape the future and culture of this company for the long term.
• Mentorship & support from an experienced board of directors.

We welcome applications from all and are fully committed to diversity and equality as an equal opportunities employer.

We also support flexible working.

Further enquires and applications (CV and covering letter) should be sent to View email address on apply.workable.com