Credit Risk Manager

Mission:

To build and lead Skip’s second-line Credit Risk function – the independent check that keeps our credit quality, portfolio performance and regulatory standing strong as we scale the loan book many times over. This role exists to turn credit risk from something that lives in one or two people’s heads into a real, evidenced, scalable function: clear risk appetite, sharp policy, robust assurance and QA, and reporting that our board, funders and regulators can trust.

You will be the person who owns how Skip thinks about and controls credit risk day to day – working closely with our Head of Credit & Underwriting, a 30-year credit and LMI veteran, who will act as your mentor and advisor as you grow into the full breadth of the function over time.

About the role:

Skip has deep credit seniority at an advisory level, but we have not yet built out the operating engine of a modern credit risk function – the frameworks, assurance, QA, monitoring and reporting that let a small team hold the line on quality while the business grows fast. That is what you will own and build.

You will sit in the second line of defence, independent of day-to-day credit operations (the first line). Where the Credit Operations team owns getting applications assessed and decisions made, you own the framework those decisions are made within, and the independent assurance that they are sound: risk appetite, credit policy, delegated authority calibration, QA and assurance, portfolio monitoring, and credit risk reporting.

You will report to the Head of Operations, with a dotted line to our Head of Credit & Underwriting as your mentor and to the Credit Committee, to whom the second-line function ultimately provides independent assurance.

Most importantly, this is a role with real room to grow. We are deliberately hiring someone earlier in their leadership journey who has genuine credit depth and the ambition to build. You will start by standing up the core of the function, and as you prove yourself, your mandate, authority and scope will expand – with a path to owning the function over time. We want someone who sees the gap between where our credit risk function is today and where it needs to be at 10x and is energised by closing it.

This is a role for someone with sound credit judgment, the structure and discipline to build a function from first principles, and the ownership mindset to treat Skip’s credit quality as their own.

Key responsibilities:

Credit Risk Framework & Policy

• Own and continuously improve Skip’s credit risk framework – risk appetite, credit policy, lending standards and the delegated lending authority (DLA) framework – working with the Head of Credit & Underwriting to translate his policy intent into clear, usable, well-governed documents.

• Keep policy fit-for-stage and defendable: aligned to responsible lending obligations, our funder and warehouse requirements, and Skip’s risk appetite – neither gold-plated nor loose.

• Own policy governance — the end-to-end framework for how credit policy is proposed, reviewed, approved, and version-controlled.

• Own policy change rollout — drive implementation of approved changes end-to-end, including communication, calibration, and ongoing monitoring post-launch

• Own second-line oversight of fraud, AML/CTF, and KYC controls - including PEP and sanctions screening - acting as the escalation point for suspicious matches, high-risk cases, and control breaches, and ensuring timely, well-documented resolution in line with Skip's AML/CTF Program and reporting obligations to AUSTRAC.

Assurance, QA & Decision Quality

• Build and run Skip’s second-line credit assurance and QA program – independent review of credit decisions and DLA usage to test that the first line is decisioning within policy and appetite.

• Calibrate and monitor DLA decisioning across the team, surfacing inconsistency, drift or emerging risk early and feeding it back into policy, training and process.

• Establish the evidence base and audit-readiness that lets Skip pass funder, auditor and regulator diligence with confidence.

Building the Function

• Stand up the operating rhythms, tooling and documentation of a modern second-line credit risk function – designing it to scale with leverage, not headcount, as the loan book grows.

• Partner with Credit Operations to make the well-controlled path the easy path – strong guardrails that enable speed rather than slowing it down.

• Work with product, engineering and operations to embed credit risk controls into our AI-enabled credit process by design, and to keep improving how risk is monitored and managed through better tooling.

• Grow the function and, over time, the team around it as the business scales.

Portfolio Risk & Monitoring

• Own credit risk monitoring of the portfolio – early warning indicators, arrears and delinquency trends, concentration and exception trends – and translate them into clear, actionable insight.

• Identify emerging risks in the book and credit process before they become problems, and recommend changes to policy, appetite or process to address them.

Credit Risk Reporting & Committee

• Own second-line credit risk reporting to the Credit Committee, board and funding partners – reporting that is accurate, insightful and trusted by the people who rely on it.

• Prepare and present credit risk papers, portfolio reviews and policy recommendations to the Credit Committee, building the rhythm and discipline of strong credit governance.

What you will bring:

• Deep, current residential mortgage credit experience – typically built over several years in credit assessment, credit risk or credit policy, with real exposure to higher-risk and non-standard files. We care far more about the depth and quality of your credit judgment than about years on a CV.

• A builder’s instinct – shown by building or materially improving a framework, policy, QA process, reporting suite or control from the ground up, rather than only operating within one someone else built.

• Strong understanding of responsible lending and the regulatory environment for Australian mortgage lending, and ideally exposure to how credit risk is viewed by funders, warehouses, auditors or regulators.

• The ambition and ownership mindset of someone who wants to grow into leading a credit function – you are looking for a platform to build on, not just a job to hold.

• Clear, structured communication – you can turn a messy portfolio question into a crisp recommendation and write credit and committee papers that decision-makers trust.

• A “curious, tech-first” mindset - you see AI and automation as leverage for a lean risk function, and you are an active contributor to building credit risk that increasingly runs itself within guardrails you define.

• Relevant qualifications from a University in Finance / Commerce, Credit Management, Mortgage Broking, Risk or a closely related field.

Why Join us?

• Build the function, don't inherit one. The first dedicated second-line credit risk hire - you design Skip's risk appetite, policy, assurance and reporting from first principles, not maintain someone else's.

• Real governance, real independence. A true second-line role with a dotted line to the Credit Committee. Your job is to hold the line on credit quality, not be overruled on it.

• A clear path to grow. Start by standing up the function; as you prove yourself, your mandate and scope expand - with a clear path to owning Skip's entire credit function over time.

• Strong credit risk is the moat, not a constraint. Skip is a profitable, fast-growing lender backed by leading US and Australian investors. The work you do to keep the book clean is what lets us scale safely - and it's valued accordingly.

• Competitive comp and meaningful ESOP. We pay competitively and back it with equity, so you share in the upside of the function and business you help build and protect.