Senior Manager, Credit Underwriting

About Us at GoCardless

GoCardless is a global bank payment company. Over 100,000 businesses, from start-ups to household names, use GoCardless to collect and send payments through direct debit, real-time payments and open banking. 

GoCardless processes US$130bn+ of payments annually, across 30+ countries; helping customers collect and send both recurring and one-off payments, without the chasing, stress or expensive fees. We use AI-powered solutions to improve payment success and reduce fraud. And, with open banking connectivity to over 2,500 banks, we help our customers make faster, more informed decisions.

We are headquartered in the UK, with additional offices in Australia, France, Ireland, Latvia, Portugal and the United States.

At GoCardless, we're all about supporting you! We’re committed to making our hiring process inclusive and accessible. If you need extra support or adjustments, reach out to your Talent Partner — we’re here to help! 

And remember: we don’t expect you to meet every single requirement. If you’re excited by this role, we encourage you to apply!

Merchant Operations at GoCardless

This role will sit in the Merchant Operations Group. We’re responsible for a large number of GoCardless’ highest-throughput processes and systems, such as KYC and onboarding, customer support, payment operations, billing and more. We need to ensure these run efficiently so that GoCardless can scale effectively & drive healthy margins. Everything we do is in service to our customers - both external and internal, wherever their location, and we strive for ambitious service and satisfaction levels.

The role

This role will lead a small operational team of credit risk underwriters, safeguarding our financial health by ensuring robust credit evaluation and proactive risk management. This role will suit someone who is hands-on, comfortable with a high degree of autonomy, and can manage a team through change.

What excites you  

Core Responsibilities

• Oversee credit risk reviews and high risk onboarding processes that evaluate creditworthiness of prospective customers and risks associated with sales deals. Advise sales leadership on risk-adjusted pricing as needed.
• Review complex credit decisions and escalations, making final determinations on approvals or conditions, escalating to senior management as needed.
• Oversee processes that manage existing customer risk, including requests for limit increases or new product access.
• Continuously monitor existing portfolios, adapting limits, holding periods, cash covers or other mitigation tools as appropriate.
• Drive proactive risk mitigation by leading the team in quickly actioning risk alerts to prevent or minimize company losses.
• Participate in Exec. level deal reviews as needed.

Leadership

• Develop and lead a high performing team of underwriters and provide guidance, support and mentorship, including through periods of disruption and change.
• Set clear goals and objectives for the team and individuals, monitor performance and provide regular feedback and coaching.
• Build the ‘bench strength’ of the team through cross-skilling and training, to eliminate single points of failure and enhance performance.
• Instil a culture of ownership and accountability over decision making, leading by example.

Operational Excellence

• Develop and implement a vision for excellence and improving performance against defined and agreed KPIs and regular reporting.
• Actively participate in strategy definition, roadmapping and deployment.
• Work closely with engineering and PD teams to define future product direction, agree desired business outcomes / requirements and influence prioritisation.
• Drive operational efficiency and continuous process improvement, identifying bottlenecks, developing SOPs, and implementing scalable solutions.
• Operate required controls to maintain standards for SOC1 and financial audits.
• Build and implement QA frameworks to maintain quality and provide feedback.

What excites us  

Experience

• You’ve had previous experience in a role where you were directly accountable for credit underwriting, working in a B2B environment of comparable scale.
• You have a good understanding of risks inherent to a bank-to-bank payments business, such as chargebacks.
• You have expertise in financial statement analysis, risk modeling, and credit policy adherence.
• You are proficient in leveraging data analytics and BI tools.
• You have a track record of building, growing and retaining a high performing team.

Skills

• You can act as an advocate for effective and balanced risk management; you are able to support the commercial needs of the business while maintaining clear standards and thresholds for unacceptable risk tolerance.
• Your stakeholder management is excellent, and you are able to build strong working relationships with commercial teams.
• You are a problem solver with excellent operational and commercial acumen, and the analytical skills to understand root causes deeply.

We don’t expect you to meet every requirement. If you’re excited by this role, we encourage you to apply. 

Base salary range: £76,000 - £114,000

Base salary ranges are based on role, job level, location, and market data.  Please note that whilst we strive to offer competitive compensation, our approach is to pay between the minimum and the mid-point (£76,000 - £95,000) of the pay range until performance can be assessed in role. Offers will take into account level of experience, interview assessment, budgets and parity between you and fellow employees at GoCardless doing similar work.

The Good Stuff!

• Wellbeing: Dedicated support and medical cover to keep you healthy.
• Work Away Scheme: Work from anywhere for up to 90 days in any 12-month period.
• Hybrid Working: Our hybrid model offers flexibility, with in-office days determined by your team.
• Equity: All permanently employed GeeCees get equity to share in our success.
• Parental leave: Tailored leave to support your life's great adventure.
• Time Off: Generous holidays, 3 volunteer days, and 4 wellness days annually.

Life at GoCardless

We're an organisation defined by our values; We start with why before we begin any project, to ensure it’s aligned with our mission. We make it happen, working with urgency and taking personal accountability for getting things done. We act with integrity, always. We care deeply about what we do and we know it's essential that we be humble whilst we do it. Our Values form part of the GoCardless DNA, and are used to not only help us nurture and develop our culture, but to deliver impactful work that will help us to achieve our vision.

Diversity & Inclusion

We’re building the payment network of the future, and to achieve our goal, we need a diverse team with a range of perspectives and experiences. As of July 2024, here’s where we stand:

• 45% identify as women 
• 23% identify as Black, Asian, Mixed, or Other 
• 10% identify as LGBTQIA+ 
• 9% identify as neurodiverse 
• 2% identify as disabled 

If you want to learn more, you can read about our Employee Resource Groups and objectives here as well as our latest D&I Report 

Sustainability at GoCardless

We’re committed to reducing our environmental impact and leaving a sustainable world for future generations. As co-founders of the Tech Zero coalition, we’re working towards a climate-positive future. Check out our sustainability action plan here. 

Find out more about Life at GoCardless via X, Instagram and LinkedIn.