Secured Lending Manager

About Bridgement

Bridgement is a leading South African fintech breaking down the barriers for SMEs to access the funding needed to grow their businesses. Traditional loans from banks and other lenders have a slow application process, have strict criteria, require a lot of documentation, and inflexible terms. In contrast, we use cutting-edge technology and AI to offer flexible finance online, with a 2-minute application, no documentation required, and a decision in a matter of hours. Since launching in 2016, we've funded billions of Rands to thousands of businesses and built a team of passionate, entrepreneurial people who care deeply about helping South African businesses succeed. We’re proudly backed by Opus18 (previously Capricorn Capital Partners) and the greater Yellowwoods group, best known for their investments in and ownership of Nandos, Hollard, Clientèle, Direct Axis, and Budget Group. Having won several awards recently, including Xero’s App of the Year award, we are proud to be recognised by worldwide brands as a trusted and valued business.

We are now expanding our product offering into secured business lending. Much of the technology and operational infrastructure is already in place. We are looking for an experienced, entrepreneurial lending professional to take this new proposition from concept to launch - and then build it into a meaningful, sustainable part of Bridgement.

The Role

You will own the development, launch and ongoing performance of Bridgement’s secured lending proposition.

This is a hands-on role combining product development, credit expertise and commercial judgement. You will determine where Bridgement should compete, design the product and credit framework, and lead implementation across the business. You will also play a central, hands-on role in credit decisioning: assessing and structuring applications and participating in approval, decline, pricing and lending-term decisions alongside Bridgement’s Credit team.

You will work directly with Exco and collaborate closely with Credit, Technology, Data, Legal, Operations, Finance, Sales and Marketing. While Bridgement’s existing platform can support most of the required functionality, you will need to translate the requirements of secured lending into clear product, process and technology changes.

This role is suited to someone who understands secured business lending deeply, enjoys building from first principles and is equally comfortable developing a strategy, assessing a transaction and working through the operational detail required to launch.

Key Responsibilities

Build the secured lending proposition

• Develop Bridgement’s secured lending strategy, including target customers, use cases, facility structures, security types, pricing, tenors and limits.
• Assess market opportunities and prioritise the secured products and customer segments Bridgement should pursue.
• Develop the business case, product economics and implementation roadmap.
• Design a proposition that combines sound credit fundamentals with the speed, simplicity and transparency customers expect from Bridgement.
• Establish and monitor clear measures of product-market fit, growth, and profitability.
• Work closely with Product, Technology and Data teams to complete the adaptation of Bridgement’s existing platform and decisioning capabilities.

Design the credit and security framework

• Develop the credit policy, decision rules and delegated authority framework for secured lending.
• Define appropriate security packages, advance rates, loan-to-value parameters and monitoring requirements.
• Establish standards for collateral valuation, due diligence, documentation, registration, perfection and ongoing monitoring.

Manage the secured credit offering

• Play an active role in secured-lending credit decisions, working with the Credit team to assess, structure, price, approve or decline applications.
• Personally assess and structure more complex applications, particularly during the product’s early stages.
• Prepare and present recommendations to the relevant credit approval forum.
• Work with Legal, Risk and Collections to define early-warning, remediation, enforcement and recovery processes.
• Take accountability for the quality and commercial performance of the secured lending portfolio.
• Recommend changes to appetite, policy, pricing and product design based on data and market feedback.
• Provide Exco with clear, regular reporting on delivery progress and portfolio performance.

Develop strategic relationships

• Where valuable, develop relationships with introducers, asset specialists, valuers, legal advisers, insurers and other secured-lending ecosystem partners.
• Assess potential distribution, origination and product partnerships.
• Represent Bridgement credibly with prospective partners and other external stakeholders.
• Existing relationships in the secured-credit ecosystem would be valuable, but are not a prerequisite for the role.

Requirements

You will need:

• Significant experience in secured business lending, asset-backed finance, commercial credit, specialised finance or a closely related field.
• Hands-on experience assessing, structuring and making recommendations on business-credit transactions.
• Demonstrated experience exercising credit judgement and participating in credit committees or other formal credit approval processes.
• Deep understanding of credit analysis, evaluating collateral, security structures, and pricing.
• Working knowledge of the end-to-end secured lending lifecycle, including origination, underwriting, documentation, fulfilment, portfolio monitoring, collections and recoveries.
• Sound understanding of the South African SME market and the legal and regulatory considerations relevant to business lending and security.
• The confidence and judgement to work directly with Exco and challenge constructively when required.
• An entrepreneurial, hands-on approach.
• A relevant degree or professional qualification in finance, accounting, economics, law, actuarial science or a related discipline.

Candidates will typically have at least 5 years of relevant lending or credit experience, although the depth and relevance of experience will matter more than a specific number of years.

Why Join Bridgement?

You’ll join a diverse team of smart, passionate and humble people, who are all passionate about helping grow SMEs across South Africa. In addition to a competitive salary, you’ll also get to:

• Be a part of a leading SA fintech on an exciting growth trajectory
• Work directly with founders and senior leadership
• Influence culture, leadership and organisational growth
• Join a high-performance, entrepreneurial team
• Work in a lovely, modern office in Melrose Arch
• Access to employee benefits including life insurance, disability + critical illness, income protection and gap cover, as well as other benefits like psychological, physical, financial wellbeing and legal support