Senior Underwriter Lending & Credit Operations (SME Lending)

Our client is a fast-growing, disruptive private lending company transforming access to capital for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Australia. With a market-leading promise of approval and funding within two hours, an approval rate of approximately 90%, and significant business growth, the company is scaling rapidly. To support this expansion, they are seeking a high-caliber Senior Underwriter to take ownership of credit assessments and help maintain their reputation for speed, accuracy, and quality.

About the Role

We are seeking a senior, performance-driven Senior Underwriter to take accountability for credit underwriting quality, decision accuracy, and turnaround times.

This is a senior individual contributor position. You will remain hands-on with complex credit applications, establish high standards for assessment quality, and serve as a trusted technical reference point for the wider underwriting team.

While there is potential to progress into a lead capacity as the business grows, this is fundamentally an underwriting role—not a people management position.

Working closely with operations leadership, you will ensure applications are assessed efficiently, credit controls are consistently upheld, and lending decisions support the long-term health of the portfolio.

Your primary focus will be on application completeness, processing speed, underwriting accuracy, and effective credit risk mitigation.

Key Responsibilities

1. Credit Underwriting & Decision Quality

• Take ownership of complex and high-value credit assessments, applying expert judgment to financial statements, bank statements, and relevant credit risk factors.
• Ensure every complete application receives an initial decision within 24 hours.
• Ensure no application remains undecided for more than five business days.
• Maintain high assessment standards, minimize portfolio defaults, and consistently uphold credit policies.

2. Application Queue Management & Turnaround

• Own the end-to-end underwriting application queue, ensuring same-day funding coverage and rapid turnaround on complete applications.
• Maintain the pending application queue below 5% of monthly assessment volume.
• Ensure every pending application includes a clearly documented reason and defined next step.

3. Quality Control & Risk Mitigation

• Conduct regular quality checks on financial assessments, bank statement analyses, and final underwriting decisions.
• Identify potential credit risks, inconsistencies, and gaps in application information.
• Escalate operational and credit-related concerns to operations leadership where appropriate.

4. Reporting & Escalation

• Monitor and report key underwriting performance metrics, including decline ratios, assessment turnaround times, and file accuracy.
• Identify potential risks, processing delays, and operational bottlenecks.
• Escalate issues proactively, providing clear recommendations and practical solutions.

5. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with sales and front-office teams to ensure only complete and qualified applications that meet initial credit filters are submitted for underwriting.
• Act as a senior technical reference point for the wider underwriting team.
• Share expertise, review complex cases, and support consistent assessment standards across the team.

6. Process Improvement

• Identify inefficiencies and bottlenecks within underwriting workflows and recommend practical improvements.
• Contribute to standardized coverage arrangements and processing cut-off times to ensure the team can manage fluctuations in application volume effectively.

Requirements – Non-Negotiable

• Industry Experience: Proven senior-level underwriting or credit operations experience within commercial finance, FinTech, merchant cash advances (MCA), or business lending.
• Financial & Analytical Expertise: Expert-level proficiency in financial statement analysis, bank statement reviews, and credit risk assessment.
• Decision-Making Ability: Demonstrated ability to make sound, well-reasoned credit decisions quickly while maintaining underwriting quality.
• Operational Discipline: Comfortable working within structured Australian business hours and consistently meeting daily processing and quality targets.
• Senior Technical Presence: Ability to serve as a trusted senior reference point for colleagues, providing guidance on complex assessments without requiring a formal management title.
• Growth Potential: Interest and capability to potentially progress into a lead capacity as the underwriting team expands.

Preferred Qualifications & Experience

The following would provide a strong advantage:

• Experience in private lending, SME finance, or short-term business lending.
• Familiarity with Australian lending regulations and compliance standards.
• Experience managing high-volume, fast-turnaround credit applications.
• Background in quality assurance, underwriting standards, or credit policy development.
• Exposure to loan management software, CRMs, and specialized underwriting platforms.

The Ideal Candidate – Mindset & Attributes

Hands-On Expert: Takes pride in the technical aspects of underwriting, including financial analysis, risk assessment, and making sound credit decisions. Prefers remaining close to the work rather than moving into people management.

Decisive: Makes timely, well-supported underwriting decisions and takes accountability for the rationale behind them.

Detail-Oriented: Identifies inconsistencies, financial irregularities, and potential risks in financial statements and bank records that others may overlook.

Accountable: Takes ownership of the application queue and individual decisions. Ensures every outstanding matter has a clear explanation and next step.

Collaborative: Works effectively with sales, operations, and leadership teams, demonstrating influence through expertise and sound judgment rather than job title.

Resilient: Thrives in a fast-paced, high-volume lending environment where processing speed, accuracy, and quality are equally important.

What Success Looks Like

Performance in this position will be measured against clear underwriting and operational outcomes.

• Turnaround Targets: Every complete application receives an initial decision within 24 hours, with no file remaining undecided for more than five business days.
• Queue Management: The pending application queue remains below 5% of monthly assessment volume, with a documented reason and next step for every outstanding file.
• Decision Quality: Underwriting assessments demonstrate strong accuracy, credit policies are consistently upheld, and portfolio defaults are minimized.
• Timely Escalation: Potential risks, operational challenges, and processing bottlenecks are identified and escalated early, accompanied by practical recommendations.
• Efficient Cross-Functional Collaboration: Only complete and qualified applications reach underwriting, reducing unnecessary processing and delays.
• Technical Leadership: Colleagues recognize you as a trusted reference point for complex underwriting cases and rely on your expertise and judgment.
• Continuous Improvement: You identify and contribute to implementing practical improvements that strengthen underwriting workflows and operational efficiency.
• End-to-End Accountability: Your application queue is organized, decisions are clearly documented, and your overall output is consistent and reliable.

Why This Role Stands Out

Senior Individual Contributor Position

Remain focused on your underwriting expertise and technical contribution without the day-to-day responsibilities of people management.

Meaningful Business Impact

Your credit decisions directly influence how quickly Australian SMEs access funding and contribute to maintaining a healthy lending portfolio.

High-Growth FinTech Environment

Join a rapidly expanding private lending business where speed, sound judgment, and underwriting quality are central to its success.

Potential Career Progression

Demonstrate your expertise and grow into a lead capacity as the underwriting function and business continue to scale.

Remote Working Flexibility

Work remotely with structured Australian daytime hours, without the requirement to work overnight or graveyard shifts.

Competitive Compensation

• The company values exceptional underwriting talent and offers competitive compensation for candidates with the right level of expertise and experience.