Senior Manager, Loan Operations

Koalafi•Arlington, VA

10d

About The Position

Koalafi is launching a new non-prime installment loan product and is seeking an experienced Operations Manager to establish and scale the operational infrastructure for this product. This role is designed for a hands-on operational leader who excels in "0 to 1" environments. The successful candidate will collaborate closely with the Principal Product Manager and other operational leaders to define day-to-day execution processes. Key responsibilities include leading the development of servicing operations, collections & recoveries, and back-office processing, ensuring the product is compliant, scalable, and provides a high-quality customer experience from its inception. A critical aspect of this role will be determining which existing functions can be extended to the loan product and which require unique, dedicated solutions. This is a high-impact, mid-level leadership position for an individual with a strong understanding of consumer lending operations who is eager to build and own a new initiative from the ground up.

Requirements

5–8 years of experience in consumer lending operations, servicing, collections, or related functions.
Experience with installment loans, personal loans, or other regulated consumer credit products strongly preferred.
Direct experience managing customer service and/or collections teams (internal or outsourced).
Familiarity with loan servicing platforms, dialers, CRM systems, and payment processing tools.
Working knowledge of consumer lending regulatory frameworks (FDCPA, UDAAP, FCRA, state lending regulations).
Strong analytical skills with experience building and managing operational KPIs.
Excellent cross-functional collaboration skills and comfort working with Product, Risk, Legal, and Engineering partners.

Nice To Haves

Experience in consumer lending, fintech, or financial services.
Experience launching or scaling servicing functions for installment loans, personal loans, or similar credit products.
Comfortable building processes from scratch and bringing structure to ambiguity.
Understanding of how customer experience, risk management, and compliance intersect in lending operations.
Hands-on ability to build the playbook and strategic thinking to improve it over time.

Responsibilities

Design and implement operational workflows for functions such as customer service, delinquency management, and account maintenance, leveraging existing capabilities or building from scratch.
Lead the documentation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) across all operational functions.
Collaborate with functional leaders to establish service and monitor performance standards, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and Quality Assurance (QA) frameworks.
Collaborate with the Head of Collections & Recoveries to build and launch a delinquency management strategy, including designing early-stage and late-stage collections strategies aligned with risk and compliance guidelines.
Work with Operational Leaders and external vendors to develop compliant outreach strategies (dialer, SMS, email, mail).
Partner with Risk to monitor roll rates, delinquency curves, and recovery performance.
Monitor third-party agencies and recovery vendors.
Oversee Back-Office & Compliance Operations, including monitoring complaint handling and regulatory response processes.
Build, document, and oversee exception account handling (e.g., deceased, bankruptcy, credit bureau disputes).
Prepare operational reporting to support audits, compliance reviews, and executive oversight.