Consumer Credit Lead - Cards

Mercury•Portland, OR

9d•$153,900 - $213,700

About The Position

Build and scale the underwriting foundation for our new consumer charge card (0→1). Mercury is building a banking stack for startups. We work hard to create the easiest and safest banking experience possible to simplify entrepreneurs' and business owners’ financial lives. We’re launching a premium consumer charge card and are looking for a senior credit risk leader to help build and scale the underwriting strategy from the ground up - and own its performance as the portfolio scales. Our goal is to build a consumer charge card that delivers a premium experience while maintaining disciplined, data-driven credit risk. This is a hands-on, senior individual contributor role. You’ll take an initial strategic direction and turn it into a scalable, data-driven underwriting program, then monitor, refine, and evolve that strategy post-launch. You’ll play a key role in shaping how risk decisions translate into customer experience, product growth, and long-term portfolio performance. As the portfolio grows, this role is expected to evolve into team leadership. Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC.

Requirements

6+ years of experience in consumer credit risk. Ideal candidates will have 8–12 years of experience across banking, fintech, or unsecured consumer lending
Experience launching or materially redesigning a consumer lending product
Experience implementing credit policy within a decisioning or underwriting platform is strongly preferred
Demonstrated experience owning risk strategy and monitoring portfolio performance
Deep familiarity with bureau data and core credit risk metrics (approval rate, loss rate, vintage curves, etc.)
Experience presenting risk insights and strategy recommendations to senior stakeholders
Experience translating policy into production decision logic
Strong SQL skills and comfort working directly with data
Comfortable building in ambiguity and operating in a 0→1 environment

Responsibilities

Build and operationalize the credit strategy
Translate underwriting vision into formal credit policy and decision frameworks
Define approval logic, segmentation strategy, and limit-setting methodology
Establish portfolio guardrails aligned to loss targets and unit economics
Design account management strategies across the customer lifecycle
Develop early portfolio management approaches including exposure adjustments, servicing strategies, and input into collections processes as the portfolio matures
Define portfolio monitoring frameworks and escalation triggers for emerging credit risk trends
Build the data-driven risk engine
Implement credit policy in our underwriting platform
Evaluate and integrate key data sources (bureau, income, debt signals)
Ensure decision logic is structured, testable, and scalable
Partner with Engineering and Data to build monitoring and feedback loops
Own portfolio performance post-launch
Define and track core KPIs (approval rate, early delinquency, loss rate, exposure, utilization, etc.)
Monitor vintage performance and segment behavior
Recommend and implement strategy adjustments based on observed risk trends
Present risk performance, insights, and recommendations to senior leadership
Drive data-informed risk and growth decisions
Use SQL to independently evaluate underwriting decisions and trade-offs
Analyze drivers of credit performance and portfolio outcomes
Partner with Finance on forecasting and risk-adjusted economics
Drive cross-functional execution
Partner with Compliance to ensure the underwriting program is well-documented and built to scale
Work with Partnerships, Procurement, and Legal on evaluating and onboarding credit data providers
Support broader risk initiatives across our business charge card portfolio during the build phase