Interim Head of Credit Risk (Retail and SME) - 6 month contract

Gresham Hunt have partnered with a large UK lender who are looking to appoint an Interim Head of Credit Risk covering their Retail and Commercial SME lending portfolios. The role is based in Central London with a high degree of flexible working.

The Role

This is a senior, hands-on leadership position with end-to-end accountability for credit strategy from acquisition and underwriting through to portfolio performance and decisioning architecture. You'll be central to delivering sustainable growth, strong risk-adjusted returns, and regulatory compliance across the lending book.

Responsibilities:

• Defining and owning the first-line credit risk strategy across SME and Consumer lending, balancing risk appetite with growth, capital efficiency, and profitability
• Leading the roadmap for credit decisioning transformation including next-generation decision engines, credit risk models, customer journeys, and data capabilities
• Owning and optimising credit decisioning frameworks: policy, scorecards, affordability models, and manual underwriting approaches across acquisition and servicing
• Acting as Senior Relationship Owner for key third-party credit data and decisioning providers, covering performance, commercials, and strategic alignment
• Maintaining scalable, resilient, and future-proof credit architecture and platforms
• Providing clear leadership across underwriting, portfolio management, modelling, and decisioning strategy
• Holding accountability for credit performance across the full lifecycle: originations, account management, line management, collections, and recoveries

Experience Required:

• Senior leadership experience owning credit decisioning and lending portfolio strategy
• A track record of accountability for credit performance at scale
• Experience leading large-scale credit decisioning transformation projects
• Proven ability leading multi-disciplinary teams within regulated financial services environments
• Comfort delivering transformational change alongside day-to-day BAU performance
• Degree or equivalent professional qualification; advanced credit/risk qualifications advantageous

Contract Details:

• 6-month interim engagement
• Line management responsibility