Risk Manager, Collections

Kafene is revolutionizing the lease-to-own space. We're the point-of-sale powerhouse making flexible lease-to-own accessible to everyone—prime and non-prime customers alike. Our secret weapon? Cutting-edge AI and machine learning that analyzes 20,000+ data inputs in real-time, empowering retailers across furniture, appliances, electronics, tires, and durable goods to say "yes" to more customers.

The numbers tell our story:
over $500 million in origination
s and counting. But we're just getting started.

Our 150-person team spans NYC headquarters, Wilmington, and remote talent across the globe—all united by a culture that thrives on collaboration, innovation, and genuine support. We don't just talk about great workplace culture; we deliver it. That's why Built In named us a Startup to Watch and Forbes recognized us as one of the Best Startup Employers.

Ready to be part of the fintech revolution? Join us.

Kafene’s Risk team is a key driver of growth for the business. As a Risk Manager, you will report to the VP of Risk and help build Kafene’s profit-driven consumer underwriting strategies. You will harness complex data sources and machine learning, and you will partner across technology and senior leadership to develop strategies that optimize credit risk, fraud risk, and other factors across underwriting, portfolio management, and collections.

• Leverage multiple and complex data sources such as credit bureau information, alternative data, consumer behavior, the macro environment, and portfolio performance metrics to perform quantitative analyses, classification/decision-tree analyses and/or machine learning modeling to understand root causes and/or potential business opportunities.
• Translate data into meaningful insights, and design, implement and iterate on strategies to drive profitable business growth. Review findings with senior management, including our CRO and CEO.
• Design and manage A/B tests, pilot programs, and controlled experiments to evaluate new strategies, including defining test populations, randomization logic, and success criteria.
• Build and maintain dashboards and reporting infrastructure to enable real-time monitoring of strategy performance across key metrics.
• Monitor our acquisition and portfolio performance related to consumer or merchant credit risk, fraud risk, lease amount, term, channel, and other important metrics across the account lifecycle.
• Monitor both internal and macroeconomic performance to define risk appetite and keep the business healthy across economic environments.
• Partner with technology, product, and cross-functional teams to ensure timely and quality implementation with diligent test validation. Track the performance to ensure that it meets expectations.

• Master’s degree in a quantitative discipline such as Statistics, Operations Research, Economics, Engineering, Data Science, or other STEM majors.
• Minimum 2 years in the financial industry in an analytical function. Experience in credit risk strategy/collections areas is a plus.

• High proficiency in business reporting and analytical tools such as Power BI and Tableau is required.
• High-level proficiency in Python, SQL, SAS or other data mining and analytical tools. Familiarity with any decision-tree analysis tool, like Enterprise Miner, is a plus.
• Experience extracting business insights from data analysis and turning them into clear recommendations in the financial services/consumer lending industry.

• Base Salary:
  Earn a competitive base salary of $95,000-$130,000.
• Healthcare:
  We prioritize your well-being by covering 80% of medical, dental, and vision insurance costs, including coverage for your spouse, children, and other…