Head of Recovery Strategy

Upstart•San Mateo, CA

31d•Remote

About The Position

About Upstart Upstart is the leading AI lending marketplace partnering with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit. By leveraging Upstart's AI marketplace, Upstart-powered banks and credit unions can have higher approval rates and lower loss rates across races, ages, and genders, while simultaneously delivering the exceptional digital-first lending experience their customers demand. More than 80% of borrowers are approved instantly, with zero documentation to upload. Upstart is a digital-first company, which means that most Upstarters live and work anywhere in the United States. However, we also have offices in San Mateo, California; Columbus, Ohio; and Austin, Texas. Most Upstarters join us because they connect with our mission of enabling access to effortless credit based on true risk. If you are energized by the impact you can make at Upstart, we’d love to hear from you! The Team: The Recovery team at Upstart is responsible for maximizing post-default recoveries while ensuring compliant, borrower-centric engagement across a diverse and growing vendor ecosystem. As our Recovery operations mature, we are investing in building smarter, more scalable systems that reduce manual risk, improve data-driven decisions, and align our vendor network with long-term strategic outcomes. We are seeking a Head of Recovery Strategy to lead our transformation roadmap across vendor integration, automation, compliance infrastructure, and intelligent placement logic. This individual will work cross-functionally across Product, Engineering, Compliance, Legal, Data Analytics, and Operations to architect the next evolution of Recovery operations at Upstart.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in product strategy, operations, or transformation program leadership in a regulated or financial services environment
Proven success leading analytically rigorous initiatives involving ROI modeling, hypothesis-driven testing, and cost-benefit analysis while leading complex, cross-functional initiatives involving vendors, risk/compliance, and technology teams
Demonstrated ability to estimate financial impact at the unit and portfolio level (e.g., revenue per transaction, net present value over time)
Demonstrated experience applying process design, automation, or analytics to solve operational problems
Excellent project management skills and the ability to organize and drive multiple workstreams
Demonstrated ability to structure ambiguous problems, develop hypotheses, and present recommendations
Excellent communicator: able to synthesize complex analyses into clear, actionable roadmaps
Proven analytical skills, with the ability to monitor performance metrics and make data-driven decisions
Familiarity with compliance and operational risk frameworks in regulated financial operations
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth environment with a strong sense of urgency

Nice To Haves

Comfort building and interpreting unit economics models , breakeven analysis, and performance scenarios
Experience leading or collaborating on ML- or rule-based segmentation strategies for operational decisioning
Strong fluency with quantitative tools (SQL, Excel modeling, Looker, or scripting languages)
MBA from a top-tier business school
3+ years of People management experience
Strong familiarity with regulated financial services operations or collections/recovery environments
Experience in legal collections, recovery optimization, debt sale analytics, or servicing vendor strategy
Immense curiosity about root causes—thinks critically from first principles and never stops asking questions
A natural thought-partner: open-minded, collaborative, and able to co-create new ideas with cross-functional teams
Experience working in fintech, financial services, or consulting (e.g. strategy, risk, vendor management)
Familiarity with tools like Convoke, Salesforce, AppScript, or vendor audit and control software
Experience with compliance, vendor due diligence, or regulatory exam preparation

Responsibilities

Lead Recovery’s transformation roadmap: Design and deliver high-impact initiatives that reduce manual risk, automate vendor workflows, and scale internal process efficiency across legal recovery, bankruptcy, affidavits, DSC, debt sales, and probate.
Architect scalable vendor infrastructure: Enhance frameworks for vendor onboarding, integration, compliance scorecards, and audit-readiness, ensuring Recovery is built to scale intelligently across a growing multi-vendor ecosystem.
Enhance and operationalize Recovery KPIs: Collaborate with Ops and Analytics to define, implement, and monitor a comprehensive suite of performance and risk metrics across Recovery verticals—ensuring every vendor strategy and system enhancement is grounded in measurable success criteria.
Quantify and optimize placement strategy: Partner with data analytics, ML, and operations to improve liquidation and cost-to-collect through segmentation logic, hypothesis-driven testing, and performance-based routing.
Drive analytical and cross-functional execution: Lead strategic programs from concept to implementation—including the rollout of tools like Convoke, legal collections testing, and compliance health models—grounded in measurable ROI and portfolio-level impact.
Own Recovery’s strategic alignment layer: Serve as the connective tissue between Product, Engineering, Legal, ML, and Ops to ensure programs are modeled, implemented, and monitored with discipline.
Enable performance & quality execution: You'll complement operational leadership by enabling managers with scalable tools, systems, and decision frameworks—not by running day-to-day vendor performance.
Lead and scale a small strategic enablement team: May manage 1–2 ICs (project or program managers) focused on executing recovery transformation initiatives—including automation, issues management, vendor enhancements, compliance workflows, and metric monitoring. You’ll guide executional velocity while staying deeply involved in program strategy and prioritization.

Benefits

Competitive Compensation (base + bonus & equity)
Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart
401(k) with 100% company match up to $4,500 and immediate vesting and after-tax savings
Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
Life and disability insurance
Generous holiday, vacation, sick and safety leave
Supportive parental, family care, and military leave programs
Annual wellness, technology & ergonomic reimbursement programs
Social activities including team events and onsites, all-company updates, employee resource groups (ERGs), and other interest groups such as book clubs, fitness, investing, and volunteering
Catered lunches + snacks & drinks when working in offices