Strategy Lead

YouLend is building the leading embedded finance platform for small businesses. We work with partners including Amazon, eBay, Shopify, Stripe and Square to give merchants fast, flexible access to funding. We are growing quickly across the UK, Europe and the US. Our next stage of growth will come from scaling our largest partnerships, improving our lending products and investing in the right new products and markets.

About the role

The Strategy Lead will own a portfolio of YouLend’s most important growth priorities. The work will span commercial strategy, partner performance and lending product strategy, depending on where the biggest opportunities are. You will be expected to identify and structure problems yourself, lead the analysis and decide how YouLend should respond. You will then work across Product, Risk, Data, Operations, Capital Markets and Partnerships to ensure the recommendation is delivered. This is initially a senior individual contributor role. You will work directly with YouLend’s leadership team and senior stakeholders at our largest partners, with the opportunity to build a team as the function grows.

Key Responsibilities

• Setting priorities across a portfolio of high-value growth opportunities.
• Leading growth plans and performance turnarounds for major partners.
• Shaping lending initiatives across renewals, eligibility, offers, pricing and customer journeys.
• Building business cases for new products, markets and partnerships.
• Working through the trade-offs between growth, risk, margin, capital and customer experience.
• Leading initiatives from initial analysis through to implementation and measured impact.
• Presenting clear recommendations to YouLend’s leadership team and senior partner stakeholders.
• Improving how YouLend identifies, evaluates and delivers strategic initiatives.

Example problems

• A major global partnership is growing more slowly than expected. What is holding it back, what could materially change its trajectory and how do we get both organisations behind the plan?
• A change to renewal timing, eligibility, pricing or repayment structure could unlock significant growth. How large is the opportunity, what are the risks and how should we test it?
• YouLend is considering investing in a new product or market. How attractive is the opportunity, what would need to be true for it to succeed and should we proceed?

Skills, Knowledge & Expertise

What we’re looking for:

• Experience solving difficult commercial or strategic problems, likely gained in consulting, strategy and operations, fintech, a founder’s office or another high-ownership role.
• Strong analytical skills, including SQL, Excel and commercial modelling. You should be comfortable getting into the data yourself.
• Good judgement across growth, pricing, risk, unit economics and customer experience.
• A track record of taking ambiguous problems from initial analysis through to implementation.
• Confidence working with senior leaders and external stakeholders.
• The ability to bring different teams together, challenge constructively and maintain pace through delivery.
• A self-directed working style and a willingness to take responsibility for outcomes.
• Experience in fintech, lending, payments or embedded finance is helpful, but not required.

What success looks like

Within your first year, you will have led several initiatives with a material impact on growth, partner performance or YouLend’s lending proposition. You will be trusted by senior leadership to take on difficult, loosely defined problems and by teams across YouLend to provide clear direction and help get the work delivered. As the strategy function grows, you will have the opportunity to build a team around the highest-value areas of work.

Job Benefits

Why join YouLend?

• Award-Winning Workplace: YouLend has been recognised as one of the "Best Places to Work in 2024, 2025 and 2026" by the Sunday Times for being a supportive, diverse, and rewarding workplace.
• Award-Winning Fintech: YouLend has been recognised as a "Top 250 Fintech Worldwide" company by CNBC.
• High-growth (> 100% growth during 2022 and 2023), so clear outlook to compensation (bonus or share option appreciation) and career growth (through growth with the business).
• Well-capitalised with supportive private equity backing.
• Part of Banking Circle Group with a fully licensed Luxembourg bank, which can provide a balance sheet and support European expansion in otherwise complex regulated markets.
• A high-quality team that pushes each other to succeed through direct feedback and aligned incentives.
• Strong, transparent team culture: we have each other’s backs.
• Independent work environment where results matter.
• Data-driven culture and emphasis on speed (anti-red tape).

We offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes:

• Private Medical Insurance (via Vitality)
• EAP with Health Assured
• Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Leave
• Great office space (including a gym!) in Central London
• Subsidised lunch (via Feedr)
• Deliveroo allowance if working late in the office
• Monthly in-office masseuse
• Team and Company socials
• Sports clubs

At YouLend, we champion diversity and embrace equal opportunity employment practices. Our hiring, transfer, and promotion decisions are exclusively based on qualifications, merit, and business requirements, free from any discrimination based on race, gender, age, disability, religion, nationality, or any other protected basis under applicable law.