Lending & Insurance Lead

About the Role
This position is focused on the development and execution of lending and embedded insurance strategies at the company Pay. The successful candidate will be responsible for defining the company's overall product strategy, portfolio, and partnerships, while ensuring compliance with regulatory and risk standards. The role requires a strong understanding of financial services, product management, and customer-centric design, as well as the ability to leverage data-driven insights to enhance lending capabilities and customer experiences.

Key Accountabilities

• Lending and Insurance Product Strategy

  • Define the company Pay's overall lending and embedded insurance strategy.
  • Develop a multi-year product vision and roadmap.
  • Identify high-value lending and insurance opportunities across diverse customer segments:
    • Blue-collar customers
    • Expatriates
    • UAE nationals
    • Existing the company Pay customers
    • New digitally acquired customers
    • Eligible SME and merchant customers
  • Explore embedding financial products into existing customer journeys.
  • Formulate strategies for build, buy, or partner approaches for each product.
  • Regularly monitor market trends, customer needs, technology advancements and competitive activities.

• Lending Product Portfolio

  • Oversee the development and evolution of the company Pay's lending portfolio, focusing on products such as:
    • Micro-lending
    • Short-term consumer credit
    • Personal lending
    • Salary-linked lending
    • Transaction-based lending
    • Cash-flow-based lending
    • Device financing
    • Embedded financing
    • Buy-now-pay-later and instalment propositions
    • Merchant and SME lending opportunities
  • Responsibilities include:
    • Creating product and value propositions.
    • Defining eligibility and customer segmentation strategies.
    • Developing product features and customer journeys.
    • Collaborating with licensed lending partners on loan amounts, tenors, pricing, and repayment mechanisms.
    • Crafting customer acquisition and cross-sell strategies.
    • Improving customer affordability and repayment outcomes.
    • Continuously optimizing products based on customer behavior and performance metrics.

• Embedded Insurance Strategy

  • Develop and refine the company Pay's embedded insurance product strategy.
  • Identify opportunities for integrating protection products across customer journeys, such as:
    • Remittances
    • Financial transactions
    • Lending
    • Device financing
    • Savings
    • Investments
  • Potential products may involve:
    • Device protection
    • Transaction-related protection
    • Loan-related protection
    • Micro-insurance products
    • Personal accident insurance
    • Travel-related protections
  • Key activities include:
    • Defining insurance use cases and customer journeys.
    • Collaborating with insurance providers to ensure transparent customer experiences.
    • Coordinating necessary regulatory, legal, and operational requirements.
    • Developing API-based insurance integrations.

• Data, Credit Scoring and Decisioning

  • Support the development of data-driven lending capabilities by:
    • Identifying relevant credit decisioning data sources.
    • Leveraging financial transaction behavior to improve lending propositions.
    • Exploring telecommunications and other data sources, ensuring regulatory compliance.
    • Developing strategies for alternative data assessments.
    • Partnering with analytics and credit scoring providers to enhance outcomes.
    • Innovating personalized product offers using predictive models.
    • Establishing data governance and model monitoring processes.

• Product Development and Delivery

  • Lead the product lifecycle from ideation to launch and optimization.
  • Translate requirements into product specifications, preparing necessary documentation.
  • Define Minimum Viable Products and phased delivery plans while managing the product backlog.
  • Collaborate with Technology, UX, Data, and Operations teams.
  • Facilitate product testing and acceptance processes, ensuring operational readiness prior to launch.
  • Monitor product performance for continuous improvement.

• Strategic Partnerships and Ecosystem Development

  • Build and manage a robust external ecosystem by:
    • Identifying and evaluating partnerships in both lending and insurance ecosystems.
    • Establishing partner selection criteria, conducting evaluations, and supporting negotiations.
    • Developing business cases for partnerships and defining revenue-sharing models.
    • Monitoring partner performance and service levels.

• Commercial Strategy and Product Economics

  • Develop business cases for new lending and insurance products by:
    • Defining commercial models and product economics.
    • Creating revenue and profitability models while assessing customer acquisition strategies.
    • Identifying opportunities for enhancing unit economics and cross-selling within the company Pay ecosystem.

• Regulatory, Risk and Responsible Product Design

  • Collaborate closely with Legal, Compliance, and Risk teams to embed regulatory requirements from the outset.
  • Understand key regulatory implications surrounding:
    • Customer affordability, creditworthiness, and responsible lending
    • Customer disclosures and data privacy
    • Credit risk management and collections
    • Governance and distribution of insurance products
  • Ensure transparent customer communications throughout product design and management.

• Customer Experience

  • Design simple, intuitive customer journeys that minimize complexity.
  • Create seamless digital application and onboarding experiences that resonate with customer contexts.
  • Ensure customers fully understand product features, costs, obligations, and risks, using insights for continuous optimization.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business, Technology, Engineering, or a related field.
• An MBA or relevant professional qualifications are advantageous.
• CFA, FRM, or relevant insurance qualifications are beneficial but not mandatory.

Experience

• Background in digital lending platforms, fintech, or embedded finance.
• Familiarity with alternative data and credit scoring methodologies.
• Experience in decision engines, machine-learning analytics, telecom data products, and embedded insurance frameworks.
• Knowledge of financial services in the UAE, GCC, or broader MENA region.

Skills

• Product Leadership: Strong capability to craft compelling product strategies and prioritize effectively.
• Lending and Financial Services Expertise: Deep understanding of lending product economics and customer journeys.
• Data and Analytics: Proficient in leveraging data for improvements in financial services and customer outcomes.
• Commercial Acumen: Ability to build business cases with a focus on profitability and partnership dynamics.
• Partnerships: Excellent relationship management and negotiation skills to engage senior executives.
• Technology: Knowledge of digital product development and proficiency with APIs and integration processes.
• Execution: Strong program management skills in fast-paced environments.
• Communication: Ability to convey complex financial concepts clearly to varied audiences.