Underwriting Manager, High Risk Merchants

Location: Miami, FL (Hybrid) •
Type: Full-time

Pay Note is scaling its merchant base in high-risk verticals, and we're hiring our first Underwriting Manager to own merchant underwriting end to end. This isn't a "follow the playbook" role — you'll write the playbook. You'll underwrite high-risk merchants hands‑on from day one while designing the underwriting process, risk policy, and systems that get built directly into the Pay Note platform.

As volume grows, you'll hire and lead a small underwriting team.

We're looking for a systems thinker: someone who doesn't just clear a queue, but asks "how should this decision be made every time, by anyone (or by software)?" and turns that answer into documented workflows, decision matrices, and automation requirements our product team can ship.

• Review and decision new merchant applications in high-risk verticals (e.g., CBD, nutraceuticals, debt services, telemedicine, subscription/continuity billing)
• Perform KYC/KYB, beneficial‑ownership, credit, processing‑history, and website/business‑model reviews
• Set reserves, processing limits, and pricing‑risk terms; run periodic re‑underwriting of the existing portfolio

• Design our underwriting policy from scratch: risk‑tier framework, vertical‑specific criteria, document requirements, approval matrices, and SLAs
• Translate that policy into product requirements — automated decisioning rules, data‑vendor integrations (KYB/KYC, MATCH, credit, fraud signals), and queue workflows inside Pay Note
• Partner with engineering and product to test, iterate, and ship underwriting tooling; define the metrics that prove it works (approval rate, time‑to‑decision, loss rate, false‑positive rate)
• Document everything so the process survives beyond any one person

• Hire, train, and manage underwriters as volume scales
• Own underwriting KPIs and report portfolio risk to leadership
• Act as escalation point for complex or borderline merchants
• Keep policy aligned with card‑brand rules, NACHA, sponsor‑bank requirements, and BSA/AML obligations

• 5+ years in merchant/payments underwriting, with meaningful experience in high-risk verticals (ISO, PSP, payfac, or acquiring bank)
• 1+ years leading people or owning an underwriting function
• Working knowledge of card‑brand high‑risk programs, MATCH/TMF, NACHA rules, KYC/KYB/AML requirements
• Proven track record of building or substantially improving an underwriting process — not just operating one
• Comfort working with product/engineering: writing requirements, defining decision logic, evaluating data vendors
• Analytical and data‑fluent (Excel/SQL a plus); structured, documentation‑first work style
• Sound judgment under ambiguity — able to make defensible calls without a complete rulebook (because at first, you're writing it)

• ACH/check‑based payments experience (we live in this world)
• Experience at an early‑stage fintech building a function from zero
• Familiarity with fraud/risk‑monitoring tooling and chargeback/return‑rate management

• Founding‑level ownership of a core function with direct CEO/leadership access
• Your decisions get built into the product — you shape software, not just policy
• Fast‑growing, profitable fintech in payments' most interesting (and hardest) segment

Pay Note is an equal opportunity employer.