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For Companies At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the underwriting team, making confident credit decisions and ensuring smooth deal processes.
- Company: Ultimate Finance, a specialist lender focused on flexibility and real-world problem solving.
- Benefits: Hybrid work options, supportive culture, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Why this job: Join a growing team where your decisions make a real impact on businesses.
- Qualifications: Experience in asset finance underwriting and strong leadership skills.
- Other info: Dynamic environment with a focus on collaboration and continuous improvement.
The predicted salary is between 48000 - 72000 £ per year.
Overview
Ultimate Finance is a specialist lender built for pace, flexibility and real-world problem solving, helping businesses access funding that fits how they work. You’ll join a team of approachable experts who move quickly, speak clearly and take pride in doing the right thing for customers and partners. With 20+ years’ experience and over £17bn funded, we’re growing - and we’re looking for people who want to do work that matters.
About the team
Asset Finance at Ultimate Finance is built to keep deals moving. We provide tailored funding for hard assets such as vehicles, equipment and machinery – quickly, clearly and with support that stays close. Working side-by-side with brokers, customers and internal teams, we shape the right solution, deliver a strong customer experience, and apply smart risk controls and operational discipline to get deals completed smoothly and responsibly.
About the role
As Head of Underwriting in our Asset Finance division, you’ll lead the team that makes confident, commercial credit decisions - keeping deals moving while protecting the quality of our portfolio. You’ll set clear underwriting standards, develop a high-performing team, and stay close to day-to-day decisioning to ensure consistency, pace and great outcomes.
Key responsibilities
- Provide strategic leadership and oversight to the underwriting team, ensuring all activities align with the company’s commercial objectives and risk appetite.
- Manage, mentor, and develop team members, fostering a high-performance culture that encourages professional growth, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Drive the implementation of best-in-class underwriting practices, proactively identifying opportunities to enhance efficiency, profitability, and client satisfaction in a dynamic market environment.
- Take day-to-day ownership and management of your own underwriting case load, ensuring timely, accurate and commercially balanced decisions.
- Act as a senior point of escalation for complex or high-value cases, making informed decisions that balance risk management with commercial awareness.
- Lead regular reviews of team performance, set clear objectives, and deliver constructive feedback to ensure personal and departmental targets are achieved.
- Champion cross-functional collaboration with Sales and Operations, ensuring seamless client journeys and robust transfer processes between teams.
- Represent the company as a senior ambassador at key industry events, building and strengthening relationships with strategic partners and stakeholders.
- Monitor emerging trends, regulatory developments, and competitor activity, providing insight and recommendations to shape the Group’s underwriting strategy.
Key skills and knowledge
- Proven experience in asset finance underwriting / credit decisioning.
- Strong relationship-builder, with a track record of working well with brokers, clients and internal teams.
- Confident people leader - able to coach, motivate and set clear expectations.
- Skilled in managing and organising a team, including performance, workload and priorities.
- Strong planning and delivery mindset - keeps activity on track and outcomes consistent.
- Able to engage and influence stakeholders across Sales, Operations, Risk and the wider business.
- Excellent time management in a fast-paced environment, balancing urgency with accuracy.
- Comfortable analysing financial information and producing clear, practical credit summaries.
- Commercial judgement - able to weigh risk and return and sense-check proposals quickly.
- Strong understanding of security and collateral in asset finance deals.
- Ability to structure proposals into workable deals that meet credit requirements and support customer needs.
- Professional, personable and reliable - makes confident, well-informed decisions and stands by them.
- Consistently delivers high service standards, keeping brokers and clients supported from start to finish (and ongoing).
Please note that if you are successful in receiving an offer of employment from Ultimate Finance, your employment will be conditional upon satisfactory completion of a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. We use a third party provider to conduct the check on our behalf.
We kindly ask not to be contacted by recruitment agencies, thank you.
Head of Underwriting employer: Ultimate Finance
Contact Detail:
Ultimate Finance Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Head of Underwriting
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections in the asset finance industry and let them know you're on the lookout for opportunities. A friendly chat can lead to insider info about openings that might not even be advertised yet.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for interviews by researching Ultimate Finance and its values. Understand their approach to underwriting and think of examples from your experience that align with their mission. This will show you’re genuinely interested and ready to contribute.
✨Tip Number 3
Practice your pitch! Be ready to explain how your skills in asset finance underwriting can help Ultimate Finance achieve its goals. Keep it concise, confident, and focused on how you can add value to their team.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, it shows you’re serious about joining the Ultimate Finance family.
We think you need these skills to ace Head of Underwriting
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your Application: Make sure to customise your CV and cover letter to highlight your experience in asset finance underwriting. We want to see how your skills align with our values of Decency, Enterprise, and Brilliance.
Showcase Leadership Skills: As the Head of Underwriting, you'll be leading a team. So, don’t forget to mention your experience in managing and mentoring teams. We love seeing examples of how you've fostered a high-performance culture!
Be Clear and Concise: When writing your application, keep it straightforward. We appreciate clarity and directness, just like we do in our communication with customers and partners. Make your points stand out!
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to submit your application through our website. It’s the best way for us to receive your details and ensures you’re considered for this exciting opportunity at Ultimate Finance!
How to prepare for a job interview at Ultimate Finance
✨Know Your Underwriting Inside Out
Make sure you brush up on your asset finance underwriting knowledge. Understand the key principles of credit decisioning and be ready to discuss how you've applied these in past roles. This will show that you're not just familiar with the theory, but that you can also implement it effectively.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Skills
As a Head of Underwriting, you'll need to demonstrate your ability to lead and develop a team. Prepare examples of how you've successfully managed teams in the past, focusing on mentoring, performance management, and fostering a high-performance culture. This will highlight your capability to drive results through others.
✨Prepare for Scenario-Based Questions
Expect to face scenario-based questions that assess your commercial judgement and risk management skills. Think about past experiences where you had to balance risk and return, and be ready to explain your thought process and the outcomes of your decisions.
✨Understand the Company’s Values
Ultimate Finance values Decency, Enterprise, and Brilliance. Familiarise yourself with these values and think about how they align with your own work ethic. Be prepared to discuss how you embody these values in your professional life, as this will resonate well with the interviewers.
