Director of Credit Risk

Relay is a digital banking platform that gives self-made business owners the tools and know-how to be great with money—bringing clarity, confidence, and control to every dollar earned, so they can turn hard work into lasting success. We do this by replacing financial guesswork with real visibility, transforming cash flow from a constant source of stress into a clear signal owners can use to run stronger, more resilient businesses.

We're looking for a Director of Credit Risk to lead our Credit & Spend Management team. This team owns every credit and spend product Relay offers to small businesses—from charge cards and lending to the underlying credit infrastructure and the surrounding user experience.

Today, credit represents the largest game changing opportunity for Relay. We own our users’ core banking and deposits through a powerful suite of checking, saving, and debit offers presented with a software layer that enables granular compartmentalization and provides precise financial clarity to the business owners. Your mandate is to build on that strength, and ‘make Relay the first choice for SMB credit’. This opportunity will not only help us serve our clients’ needs fully, but also deepen monetization and drive new growth for Relay.

We are deeply committed to this mission, and have built a cross functional tribe with embedded core product resources to see it through. You’ll lead this tribe, reporting to our CEO with full P&L accountability. The team spans risk, product, engineering, data, and design across four squads: Charge Card, Lending, Spend Management, and Credit Infrastructure.

This is not a strategy-only role. You’ll define the roadmap, build the credit engine, own underwriting direction, and drive outcomes across the full lifecycle—from acquisition through app flows and risk and portfolio management.

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead the Credit & Spend Management tribe as a cross-functional GM, managing 6 to 8 direct reports and guiding embedded product, engineering, data, and design teams

• Build Relay’s in-house credit engine, including monitoring infrastructure and decisioning systems, reducing reliance on third-party underwriting over time

• Own credit policy and underwriting strategy, including exception handling, manual reviews, and escalations

• Expand the lending portfolio from a single product to a multi-product suite, owning performance from origination through charge-off

• Evolve the charge card proposition through structured experimentation and data-driven iteration

• Own the credit and debit P&L, driving sustainable growth while managing to risk and capital appetite

• Partner closely with banking partners, capital providers, and internal stakeholders to align on strategy, performance, and compliance

Who you are

• Min 5 to 7 years of hands-on experience in credit strategy and analytics, with direct ownership of underwriting policies and models. Deep experience in SMB underwriting – you’ve made or approved real lending decisions based on business fundamentals – is a plus.

• Experience building or scaling credit products in a fintech or similarly fast-paced environment, including 0→1 or early-stage systems

• Strong grasp of credit infrastructure and data—comfortable working with APIs, vendor models, and translating risk-sharing agreements into financial outcomes

• Familiarity with alternative data sources (e.g., Plaid, accounting integrations, commercial bureaus) and how to incorporate them into underwriting

• Experience working with bank partners, regulators, or examiners in a credit context

• Strong operator with a bias toward ownership—you’re comfortable being accountable for both strategy and execution

The Interview Process

• Stage 1: A 60-minute Google Meet video call with a member of our Talent team

• Stage 2: A 60-minute Google Meet video call with the hiring manager

• Stage 3: A 60-minute Google Meet panel interview based on a take-home case study

• Stage 4: A 60-minute Google Meet video call with a member of our leadership team

Why Relay Might Be the Perfect Fit For You

• You push relentlessly for reinvention: You're always asking "how can this be better?" -- in your work, in your craft, in yourself. Comfort is a signal to push harder, not coast. You'd rather build something better than defend something familiar.

• You crave autonomy: We trust our team with big challenges and the freedom to solve them. If you’re someone who takes initiative, is comfortable taking risks, and seeks input when needed, you’ll find the freedom here empowering.

• You own your work: You take pride in your work, follow through on commitments, and feel a deep sense of responsibility for outcomes, not just tasks.

• You build with AI, not just use it: You're actively embedding AI into how you work, pushing what's possible, and bringing your team along with you.

• You care about impact, not noise: You care deeply about the substance of your work. You measure success by results, not recognition, and you let your work speak for itself. 

• You’re energized by complexity and ambiguity: You enjoy tackling problems that don’t come with a playbook. You’re comfortable building from scratch, iterating as you go, and collaborating to shape the best path forward.

• You seek out feedback: You see directness as respect, not criticism. You actively seek input, sit with hard truths, and use feedback as fuel for improvement.

• Small businesses are why we're here: Relay exists to help them thrive -- and that mission has to resonate with you.

Join Us

We're looking for people who are relentless, curious, and care deeply about the work. You're encouraged to apply even if your experience doesn't perfectly match the job description -- your perspective and drive matter more. We welcome diverse backgrounds and people who think critically, challenge the status quo, and want to help small businesses thrive.

If you require accommodations at any stage of the hiring process, please reach out to your Talent Partner.

Disclaimer: For compliance reasons, all offers of employment at Relay are conditional upon a successful background check and employment verification through Certn.