DIGITAL LENDING SPECIALIST
Job Title: Digital Lending Specialist
Reports To: Head, Retail Credit
Supervises: None
Interacts/Interfaces With
Direct:
- Credit Teams
- Sector Heads
- Product Management
- Data Analytics
- Product Development & Innovation
- Risk & Compliance
Indirect:
- Fintech Partners
- Credit Reference Bureaus
- Data Providers
- Regulatory Bodies
Job Purpose
The Digital Lending Specialist will be responsible for providing end-to-end credit risk oversight and portfolio management for the Bank’s digital lending products across Retail, Commercial and Enterprise segments. The role ensures prudent growth, strong asset quality, regulatory compliance and data-driven credit decision-making through robust credit policies, scorecards, monitoring frameworks and risk analytics for unsecured and micro digital lending products.
Responsibilities/Key Deliverables
1. Digital Lending Portfolio Management
- Monitor and manage the performance of digital lending portfolios, including personal microloans, overdrafts and unsecured digital SME products.
- Track key portfolio metrics, including PAR, NPL, roll rates, vintage curves, early warning signals and write-offs.
- Recommend and implement portfolio optimisation strategies to maintain asset quality within the Bank’s risk appetite.
- Conduct periodic portfolio reviews and in-depth analyses by segment, channel and product.
- Drive risk-based limit management and exposure controls.
2. Credit Policy & Underwriting Framework
- Develop, review and continuously enhance digital lending credit policies and risk acceptance criteria.
- Design and maintain decision rules and scorecard cut-offs.
- Ensure alignment between risk appetite, pricing and underwriting standards.
- Approve exceptions within delegated authority and recommend higher-level approvals where required.
- Support new product approvals through robust credit risk assessments.
3. Credit Analytics & Scorecard Management
- Oversee the validation and recalibration of credit scoring models for digital products.
- Use data analytics to improve approval rates while maintaining portfolio quality.
- Drive the use of alternative data, including telecommunications, mobile money and behavioural data, where permissible.
4. Risk Monitoring & Early Warning
- Establish and maintain early warning indicators for digital portfolios.
- Monitor first payment default (FPD), early delinquency and forward-roll trends.
- Trigger and coordinate remedial actions for deteriorating portfolio segments.
- Work closely with Collections to optimise cure rates and recovery strategies.
- Prepare monthly portfolio risk reports for senior management and risk committees.
5. Regulatory & Compliance Oversight
- Ensure full compliance with Bank of Uganda (BoU) credit guidelines, IFRS 9 impairment requirements, consumer protection standards, data privacy requirements and digital lending regulations.
- Support internal and external audits relating to digital credit.
- Ensure proper documentation and audit trails for automated credit decisions.
- Monitor adherence to responsible digital lending practices.
6. Stakeholder Management
- Partner with Personal, Enterprise and Commercial Banking, Business Solutions, Innovation Teams, BT and Data Analytics Teams, and Collections & Recoveries.
- Provide risk input during product design and digital journey development.
- Act as the primary credit risk advisor for digital lending initiatives.
7. Systems & Process Governance
- Ensure proper configuration and ongoing optimisation of Loan Origination Systems (LOS), decision engines, Credit Bureau integrations and fraud controls.
- Drive automation of credit processes while maintaining strong controls.
- Identify and close process gaps and control weaknesses.
8. Reporting & Management Information
- Produce high-quality dashboards and risk reports covering portfolio quality, approval trends, scorecard performance and vintage analysis.
- Present insights and recommendations to the Credit Review Committee.
- Maintain data integrity for digital lending reporting.
Financial Responsibility
- Recommend policy changes to Credit Risk Committees.
- Escalate material risk issues promptly.
Person Specification
Education & Training
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Statistics, Economics, Actuarial Science, Data Science, Business or a related field. Relevant certifications are an added advantage.
- Deep, 360-degree knowledge of financial technology and banking products.
Skills & Experience
- At least 5 years’ experience in digital lending, financial services or a related field involving the development of credit or lending services.
- Proven experience in retail micro-lending, digital/instant credit, unsecured SME lending and portfolio analytics.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to assess credit risk, interpret complex data and make data-driven decisions.
- Proficiency in digital lending platforms, financial software and data analysis tools, such as SQL, advanced Excel, Power BI/Tableau and Python, which is an advantage.
- Good understanding of financial regulations and compliance requirements relating to credit in general and digital lending in particular.
Business Behaviours
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey complex information to different stakeholders clearly and concisely.
- Strong attention to detail.
- A mindset that balances commercial objectives with risk management.
How to Apply
Interested applicants should submit their cover letter and CV to exechire@truenorthafrica.com.
Email subject: Digital Lending Specialist
Application deadline: 23 October 2026
All application documents must be submitted in either PDF or Microsoft Word format.
