VP, Underwriting (Payments & Banking)

Priority Technology Holdings, LLC•Alpharetta, GA

About The Position

The Vice President of Underwriting will lead the strategy, design, and execution of underwriting across a modern payments and banking platform, including merchant acquiring, card issuing, ACH, embedded banking services, and large enterprise client programs. This leader will be responsible for building a scalable, data-driven underwriting function that enables growth across SMB, mid-market, and large enterprise segments while protecting the company from credit, fraud, and compliance risk. You will oversee underwriting policies, risk frameworks, and decisioning systems across multiple product lines and partner ecosystems, including sponsor banks, networks, and third-party vendors. This role requires a strategic operator who can balance risk discipline with commercial enablement—supporting complex enterprise deals, new product launches, and expansion into new markets.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.
10–15+ years of experience in underwriting, credit risk, or payments risk within fintech, payments, banking, or financial services.
Proven leadership experience managing underwriting or risk teams in high-growth environments.

Nice To Haves

Deep expertise across payment ecosystems, including: Merchant acquiring (card-present and card-not-present) Card issuing programs ACH and alternative payment rails Embedded finance / banking-as-a-service
Experience supporting large enterprise or platform-based deals with complex risk structures.
Strong understanding of KYC/KYB, fraud prevention, and transaction monitoring frameworks.
Familiarity with sponsor bank relationships and regulatory expectations.
Highly analytical with strong business judgment and decision-making capabilities.
Excellent communicator with the ability to influence executive stakeholders and external partners.
Experience building underwriting systems, workflows, and automation at scale.

Responsibilities

Own and evolve underwriting strategy across acquiring, issuing, ACH, and banking-as-a-service (BaaS) products.
Develop and maintain risk frameworks that support diverse customer types, including SMBs, platforms, ISVs, and large enterprise clients.
Establish risk appetite, segmentation strategies, and approval thresholds aligned with company growth objectives.
Lead underwriting for large, complex, and strategic enterprise opportunities, including bespoke risk structures and contract negotiation support.
Partner with Sales, Partnerships, and Product teams to structure deals that balance growth, risk, and customer experience.
Provide risk advisory on new verticals, geographies, and product expansions.
Design and implement underwriting policies covering credit, fraud, KYC/KYB, and transaction risk across all payment flows.
Ensure alignment with regulatory requirements, including NACHA, card network rules, sponsor bank requirements, and applicable banking regulations.
Partner closely with Legal, Compliance, and bank partners to maintain strong governance and audit readiness.
Oversee ongoing monitoring of the merchant and client portfolio across acquiring, issuing, and ACH products.
Identify and mitigate emerging risks, including credit exposure, fraud trends, chargebacks, returns, and operational risks.
Develop early warning systems and escalation protocols.
Collaborate with Engineering and Data teams to build automated underwriting and decisioning tools.
Drive the use of data, analytics, and machine learning to improve approval rates, speed, and risk outcomes.
Lead vendor strategy for third-party data providers, identity verification, and risk scoring tools.
Partner with Product to embed risk considerations into new product development (e.g., issuing programs, embedded finance, lending adjacencies).
Work with Sales and Customer Success to optimize onboarding and lifecycle risk management.
Serve as a key stakeholder with sponsor banks, networks, and external partners.
Build, lead, and scale a high-performing underwriting and risk team.
Establish KPIs, reporting frameworks, and executive-level dashboards.
Foster a culture of accountability, curiosity, and continuous improvement.