Credit & Risk Analyst

Credit & Risk Analyst

This role focuses on building and maintaining quantitative credit risk models across the credit lifecycle within a fast-growing financial services environment, supporting responsible lending, regulatory compliance, and risk-based decision-making.

ABOUT THE ROLE

This position establishes and expands the organisation’s credit risk modelling, provisioning, and pricing capability, working with extensive customer and portfolio data to enable sound, data-driven decisions.

Key responsibilities include

• Develop, validate, and monitor credit-granting and account management models and strategies, including application scorecards, behavioural scorecards, and cut-off strategies
• Build and implement quantitative models to support affordability assessments, ensuring alignment with the National Credit Act (NCA)
• Develop, validate, and maintain IFRS 9 Expected Credit Loss (ECL) models, including Probability of Default (PD), Loss Given Default (LGD), and Exposure at Default (EAD)
• Define and monitor Significant Increase in Credit Risk (SICR) criteria to support accurate staging of assets (Stage 1, 2, and 3)
• Integrate forward-looking information and macroeconomic scenarios into the IFRS 9 provisioning framework
• Design, implement, and monitor risk-based pricing models for new credit products to ensure risk-adjusted profitability
• Perform portfolio credit profitability analysis to identify trends, risks, and opportunities
• Support budgeting and forecasting processes for credit-related items, including bad debt provisions and risk-based revenue
• Prepare analytics and monitoring packs for senior management and regulatory stakeholders
• Contribute to model governance practices, documentation, and validation to meet Prudential Authority, South African Reserve Bank (SARB), and external audit expectations

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Actuarial Science, Economics, Engineering, or a related quantitative discipline
• At least 5 years’ experience in a Credit Risk, Quantitative Analyst, or Data Science role, preferably within the financial services or banking sector, with experience leading a team or workstream
• Strong programming skills in SAS, SQL, Python or R for statistical analysis and modelling, with SAS experience preferred
• Advanced SQL skills for data extraction, manipulation, and optimisation
• Proven experience building and validating predictive models in one or more of the following areas:
• Credit decisioning models, such as application scorecards, affordability models, and behavioural scorecards
• IFRS 9 model development (PD, LGD, EAD)
• Risk-based pricing models for credit products
• Experience using data visualisation tools such as Power BI, Looker, or Tableau
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities, with the capacity to translate complex analytics into clear, practical insights for stakeholders
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, to present technical concepts in a structured and accessible way
• High level of ownership, initiative, and accountability, with the ability to operate effectively in fast-paced and ambiguous environments

NICE TO HAVE

• Postgraduate degree in a quantitative field
• Experience within retail credit or unsecured lending environments
• Exposure to start-up or high-growth contexts where structures and processes are still being developed
• Familiarity with model risk management frameworks and internal model validation processes

WHY JOIN US

The role provides the opportunity to shape a modern credit risk function within a financial services organisation focusing on accessible, responsible credit solutions in a highly regulated environment. The successful candidate will:

• Work across the full credit lifecycle, from origination to collections, on portfolios serving a broad customer base
• Influence strategic credit decision-making through robust quantitative models and analytics
• Build foundational models, frameworks, and governance structures that will scale with the organisation’s growth
• Engage directly with senior stakeholders, contributing to both risk management and commercial outcomes

To be considered, please submit your CV outlining your relevant credit risk, modelling, and programming experience.