Openings at Lulalend

Overall Purpose:

• We are seeking an experienced Manager: Banking Operations with a strong background in fintech or digital banking environments. This role is pivotal to driving operational efficiency, ensuring compliance, and delivering an exceptional customer experience delivered through a well defined and seamless customer journey.
• The ideal candidate will have a deep understanding of banking processes, payments, compliance, and risk management, combined with the agility and innovation mindset of a fintech professional.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide oversight and guidance on end-to-end banking operations, ensuring seamless coordination between internal teams and external service providers to deliver a frictionless customer experience at all times.
• Evaluate, design, and continuously refine banking operational processes in line with fintech best practice, focusing on automation, scalability, and efficiency.
• Manage day-to-day operations across various payment rails (EFT, card networks, instant payments, and merchant services), working closely with internal and external stakeholders to monitor and maintain uptime and integrity across all payment systems.
• Act as the business operations lead for integration and management of third-party vendors, banking partners, and the core banking system partner, ensuring service-level agreements (SLAs) are met, and that incidents are resolved promptly with minimal disruption.
• Use data dashboards and reports to track key operational metrics, including activation rates, transaction success rates, customer onboarding speed, compliance indicators, and turnaround times.
• Collaborate cross functionally with the customer support, sales, product and compliance teams to design and refine customer journeys from onboarding to transaction fulfillment, ensuring each touchpoint reflects operational excellence.
• Support strategic initiatives such as launching new financial products or enhancing operational risk frameworks.
• Act as a key stakeholder in operational readiness assessments and go-to-market execution plans.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business Administration, Banking, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in banking operations, with at least 2 years in a fintech or digital banking environment.
• Strong understanding of digital payment ecosystems (EFT, card networks, instant payments, and merchant services)
• Proven ability to manage risk and ensure compliance in a fast-paced regulatory landscape.
• Hands-on experience with KYC/AML processes, transaction monitoring, and dispute resolution.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and leadership skills.
• Experience with operations automation, CRM platforms, and BI reporting is a plus.

Preferred Attributes:

• Experience launching or scaling operations in a startup or high-growth fintech.
• Familiarity with South African fintech ecosystems and regulators (e.g., SARB, FSCA).
• Strong analytical and problem solving capabilities.
• Strong Strategic and critical thinking ability
• Agile project management experience.
• Ability to manage ambiguity in a fast paced environment
• Collaborative approach to solving problems with various stakeholders

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RESPONSIBILITIES WILL INCLUDE:
Credit & Collateral Assessment:

• Develop and implement frameworks for assessing and analysing various types of collateral, including but not limited to trade receivables, inventory, property and fixed assets.
• Establish robust methodologies for collateral valuation and ongoing monitoring.
• Assess credit risk specifically within the secured lending landscape, identifying potential vulnerabilities and mitigation strategies.
• Formulate and implement credit policies tailored to secured lending.

Collateral Management:

• Design and oversee processes for the effective management and monitoring of collateral throughout the credit lifecycle.
• Ensure compliance with all collateral-related legal and regulatory requirements.
• Develop strategies for managing distressed secured assets.

Legal & Compliance:

• Work closely with the legal team to draft and review secured lending agreements and related documentation.
• Ensure all product development and operational processes adhere to relevant legal and regulatory frameworks.
• Advise on legal implications related to collateral enforcement and recovery.

Process Enhancement & Innovation:

• Identify and implement best practices in secured lending, credit assessment and collateral management.
• Continuously look for better ways to do things, driving innovation and efficiency in secured funding processes.
• Develop and enhance internal training materials related to secured lending.

Reporting & Analysis:

• Develop key performance indicators (KPIs) and reporting structures for the secured lending portfolio.
• Work with credit leadership and portfolio management team to provide regular reporting and insights on the performance of the secured book, collateral coverage and credit risk.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Act as a subject matter expert for secured lending across Lula.
• Build strong working relationships within credit, legal, business operations and sales teams to ensure alignment and shared understanding.

THE SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

• Education: A Bachelor's degree in Finance, Law, Business, or a related field is essential. A postgraduate qualification would be highly advantageous.
• Secured Lending Expertise: Proven experience (minimum of 5-7 years) in secured business lending, including a deep understanding of various collateral types (trade receivables, inventory, fixed assets, property) and their assessment.
• Credit Risk Management: Extensive experience in credit risk assessment and management, specifically in the secured lending space, including developing and implementing credit policies.
• Collateral Management: Demonstrated experience in the operational aspects of collateral management, monitoring, and enforcement.
• Legal/Contractual Background: A strong understanding of relevant legal frameworks pertaining to secured transactions, contract law and debt recovery. Experience with drafting or reviewing legal agreements is highly desirable.
• Product Development: Experience in developing or launching financial products, particularly within a fintech or lending environment, would be a significant plus.
• Financial Acumen: Strong numerical ability and financial modeling skills.
• Communication & Interpersonal Skills: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to build rapport and influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Adaptability: Ability to thrive in an ever-changing, fast-paced environment with multiple priorities

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As a Junior Credit Analyst at Lulalend, your role will involve:

• Evaluating Existing Client Data: Evaluating clients’ credit data and financial data in order to determine the degree of risk involved in lending money to them and using the data to recommend outcomes for existing clients to access their available capital facilities
• Credit Ticketing: Preparing basic notes about the degree of risk in lending money to clients
• Collaboration and continuous improvement: Work closely with the credit management team to maintain and enhance high-quality decision-making processes, with a focus on improving overall portfolio performance
• Idea Generation: Using ideas and solutions to meet customer needs ensuring that their expressed and underlying needs are satisfied
• Multitasking: Exhibit the ability to handle various ad-hoc tasks on a daily basis while maintaining a high level of accuracy
• Customer-Centric: Limited involvement with customers to streamline their in-progress credit applications. Contacting clients to do any credit underwriting overrides when needed
• Credit Lifecycle Expertise: Demonstrate a solid understanding of the credit lifecycle, including collection processes
• Platform Proficiency: Develop a deep understanding of our lending platform to ensure effective decision-making
• Ad-Hoc Projects: Be prepared to engage in other ad-hoc projects as needed to support the team's objectives

THE COMPETENCIES WE’RE AFTER

As a Commercial Credit Analyst, you should possess the following competencies:

• Problem-Solving: Exhibit exceptional problem-solving skills, with the ability to think outside the box and make quick decisions.
• Resilience: Show resilience in the face of challenges and adapt to evolving situations.
• Team Player: Embrace a fun-loving, team-player mindset, always ready to support your colleagues and go the extra mile for the team and Lula.
• Start-up Mentality: Understand that we're all in this together and be eager to roll up your sleeves and actively contribute to our mission.

THE SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE WE’RE LOOKING FOR

• Degree in Administration, Operations or Finance
• 0-1 years Experience working in an Operations environment (preferably for a financial institution) would be advantageous
• Familiar with working on CRM tools (such as Zendesk) would be advantageous
• Experience in being able to handle multiple tasks concurrently
• Passionate about delivering customer experience above and beyond customer expectations

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OVERALL PURPOSE

• The Lead Credit Strategy Analyst is responsible for the analytical execution of the definition of credit risk policies, credit risk strategies and credit risk optimisation. This role is the analytical lead defining Lula’s risk appetite, return hurdles, credit risk policies, affordability assessment, strategy design, test frameworks, offer terms and ultimately profit optimisation across the credit lifecycle.
• The successful candidate will work closely with cross-functional teams, including the Credit Modelling Lead, Credit Underwriting, Portfolio Management, Collections, Business Development, Finance, and Data Engineering, to ensure that credit policies and strategies are optimised for both performance and compliance.

Responsibilities will include:

• Identifying expansion opportunities to grow the portfolio profitably / profit optimisation opportunities.
• Leading analytical projects to define credit policies, strategies, affordability assessments, offers (terms of business) and test frameworks across the credit lifecycle.
• Executing data driven profit optimisation decisions across the credit lifecycle.
• Working with the Data Science, Credit Underwriting, Collections and Portfolio Management teams to execute data-driven insights / strategies.
• Accountability for the implementation and performance of automated credit decisioning strategies (across multiple products, including Merchant Cash Advance and revolving credit for SMEs) in line with KPIs and Business Strategy.
• Continuously evaluating and developing data driven strategies to support funding decisions (credit risk, affordability, pricing, delinquency, and fraud detection).
• Providing input to enhance existing processes, identifying new opportunities within credit and collections teams.
• Staying updated with AI/ML trends and methodologies to identify emerging credit risks and opportunities.
• Working closely with Data Engineering to ensure required data for credit modelling, data driven strategy development and reporting is available.
• Collaborating with the Product team to prioritise and implement strategy changes.
• Leading and mentoring analysts within the Credit Data Science team, for assigned projects.

THE COMPETENCIES WE’RE AFTER

• Strategic thinker with the ability to align model development to business goals.
• Strong analytical leadership and team-building capabilities.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to present complex data insights to non-technical stakeholders.
• High attention to detail.
• Passion for innovation and staying ahead of emerging trends in data science and credit risk strategy design.
• A self-starter, able to take initiative and drive analytical projects from concept to implementation while ensuring usability across teams.

THE SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE WE’RE LOOKING FOR

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Commerce, Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related quantitative field.
• 4+ years of experience in data science, credit risk strategy analytics, or related roles within financial services, ideally in lending or fintech.
• Proven experience leading credit risk strategy analytics projects to implementation in a data-driven environment.
• Proficiency in programming languages like Python, R, and SQL.
• Experience working with credit risk and decisioning platforms.
• Knowledge of cloud-based environments and large data systems (AWS, Azure, etc.).

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OVERALL PURPOSE

• We’re looking for a Team Lead to head up our DevOps team, playing a key role in enhancing our software development and delivery capabilities. This role is central to building scalable, secure, and efficient DevOps pipelines and infrastructure — leveraging Azure DevOps, GitHub, and Terraform.
• You’ll bring strong technical experience, a deep understanding of the SDLC, and a proven ability to lead a high-performing DevOps function. You'll work closely with product and engineering teams to ensure that automation, CI/CD, and infrastructure standards are upheld across the business, especially within the funding and business banking domain.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead a hybrid team of DevOps and Automation Engineers, providing mentorship, coaching, and day-to-day support
• Set clear OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and monitor performance and career development
• Partner with Team Leads and Engineering Managers to define and implement DevOps best practices across teams
• Own and evolve infrastructure strategy, with a strong focus on CI/CD, DevSecOps, and infrastructure as code
• Drive delivery of secure, scalable cloud architecture within Microsoft Azure, aligned with the Azure Well-Architected Framework
• Collaborate with Product Managers and Team Leads to scope and plan infrastructure-related work
• Identify and mitigate risks related to infrastructure and delivery operations
• Champion automation, innovation, and continuous improvement across engineering
• Ensure full coverage and adoption of CI/CD and automated testing pipelines across all engineering teams
• Play an active role in the hiring and onboarding of new DevOps team members

Skills & Experience Required

• Matric certificate or equivalent (required)
• 5+ years of experience with Azure cloud architecture, implementation, and operations
• Proven experience managing secure CI/CD pipelines with Azure DevOps and GitHub
• 2+ years in a Team Lead or similar role in an agile delivery environment
• Deep knowledge of Infrastructure as Code and hands-on experience with Terraform
• Proficient in scripting languages such as PowerShell, Python, or Bash
• Strong understanding of containerization using Docker and orchestration with Kubernetes
• Familiarity with Agile and DevOps methodologies
• Experience with orchestration/data tools like Airflow and Airbyte (beneficial)
• Understanding of secure mobile app delivery environments (advantageous)
• Working knowledge of C# (beneficial)
• Azure certifications (e.g., Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate, Azure DevOps Engineer Expert) are a strong plus
• Background in SecOps or related security-focused infrastructure work is preferred