---
title: 'Credit, Director - C&I at OakNorth'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/credit-director-c-i-oaknorth-new-york-ge8b82wfwp4z'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-03'
---

# Credit, Director - C&I at OakNorth

- **Company:** OakNorth
- **Location:** New York, NY
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-08-11
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-03
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/oaknorth/a928f2aa-b1ed-4656-a3ca-79a8294e5764

## Job description

## ABOUT US

At OakNorth, we're on a mission to empower ambitious businesses and the communities they serve. Since 2015, we've lent over $21 billion across the UK and US, helped create more than 58,000 new homes and 36,000 new jobs, and supported hundreds of thousands of personal savers — all while driving economic growth in the markets we serve.

## About the Role

At OakNorth, we’re on a mission to empower the Missing Middle the growth businesses who are the backbone of the economy yet remain underserved by traditional lenders. As we scale our presence in the US, we’re building a credit function that combines deep expertise with the speed, clarity, and commercial focus our customers value.

As a Director in our Credit team, you’ll play a central role in delivering that mission. You’ll evaluate and challenge new lending opportunities across a wide range of trading businesses, helping shape well-structured deals that support sustainable growth while protecting the resilience of our portfolio. Your judgement will directly influence the decisions we make and the economic impact we create.

This is a highly visible, high-impact role you’ll be centrally involved with Credit Committees, engage directly with borrowers, partner closely with deal teams, and contribute to decisions that truly move the needle. If you enjoy applying rigorous thinking to real-world commercial opportunities, this role puts you at the heart of where OakNorth delivers value.

## WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Key involvement in shaping loan proposals through sighting new lending opportunities with deal teams at an early stage, assessing structure, appetite and key risks from the outset.
- Work with and professionally challenge our Debt Finance Origination team and Credit Analytics team to achieve high quality Credit papers and deliver high-quality Credit recommendations to Credit Committee(s) including suggestions to improve the deal structure to facilitate positive outcomes for our customers while remaining within the Banks Credit appetite
- Cut through complexity, distilling transactions into clear, concise insights that support effective decision-making.
- Communicate Credit Committee outcomes, ensuring clarity on decisions and timely execution of follow-up actions.
- Review and input on term sheets to ensure the risk profile is appropriately balanced with customer outcomes.
- Partner with Legal and Loan Execution through closing, ensuring our documentation, security, and conditions reflect approved structures.
- Join borrower meetings with Origination, offering early guidance on appetite and deal design.
- Support Portfolio Management across in-life activity — including increases, extensions, restructures, and covenant resets.
- Review key due-diligence materials (financials, covenant models, financial diligence) and articulate the rationale behind covenant packages.
- Ensure data integrity, supporting high-quality risk assessment across the portfolio.
- Contribute to strategic initiatives led by the Head of Credit as we scale our US business.

YOU'LL BE A GREAT FIT IF YOU HAVE…

- Strong experience in US C&I lower mid-market cash-flow lending, ideally across sectors such as healthcare, hospitality, leisure, financial intermediaries, and manufacturing. Experience in structured/leveraged finance including M&A activity and private equity is essential. A strong grasp of working capital mechanics is also required.
- 10+ years in credit risk or a closely related discipline, or the ability to demonstrate clear transferable expertise.
- Familiarity with credit risk concepts such as RWA, PD, and LGD.
- A commercial mindset focused on delivering the right outcomes for customers and the bank.
- A deep understanding of the SME credit lifecycle — from origination to management, collections, and recoveries.
- Practical experience with risk and control techniques, including covenant setting.
- Strong stakeholder and negotiation skills — able to challenge constructively and build trusted partnerships.
- Ability to handle multiple deliverables in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.
- Ideally (but not essential), knowledge of operational Real Estate lending (hotels, care homes) with experience of residential property development, investment and commercial property being a plus

## WHAT WE OFFER

- 401k plan with Principal (OakNorth match up to 4%)
- Medical Care (managed through Insperity) — employees can add their family to their plan if needed
- Dental & Vision bundle
- Insperity Health Savings Account Programme — a tax-advantaged employee benefit which can help manage health care costs by allowing employees to set aside some of their current earnings on a pretax basis for reimbursement of qualified health care expenses during the plan year
- Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
- 20 days Holiday
- Compensation - $200,000 - 240,000 / annum based on experience

## About OakNorth

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: OakNorth is a UK-based digital bank founded by entrepreneurs, providing fast, flexible business loans and competitive savings accounts to support ambitious businesses and savers.
- **Entity Type**: Private (fully-licensed digital bank, profitable; not publicly listed)
- **Headquarters**: London, United Kingdom
- **Founded**: 2015
- **Founders**: Rishi Khosla and Joel Perlman

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Digital banking, commercial lending, retail savings
- **Target customers**: Lower mid-market businesses (entrepreneur-led, scaling fast) seeking debt financing from £1m to tens of millions; retail savers in the UK.
- **Mission**: “Banking should be barrier-free” – inspired by the founders’ own frustrations with traditional lending, OakNorth aims to back proven businesses with fast, data-driven credit decisions.

## Products & Services
- **Business Loans**: Flexible, structured debt financing from £1m to tens of millions for growth capital, acquisitions, management buyouts, and property development/investment.
- **Business Banking**: Digital account with dedicated support, seamless payments and cash management for scaling businesses.
- **Personal Savings**: FSCS-protected savings accounts (up to £120,000) with competitive interest rates, offered via a digital platform.
- **OakNorth Credit Intelligence (OCI)**: Data-driven technology platform that gives lenders a forward-looking view for agile credit decisions (used internally and sold to other institutions).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metric**: Cumulative lending of over £15.1bn since inception (2025). Annual profit of £165.2m in 2025. Total capital ratio of 18.4%.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Founded and led by Rishi Khosla & Joel Perlman; backed by a range of institutional investors (details not fully public). Over 400,000 retail savers provide deposit funding. Partnered with LSE Generate for mentorship.
- **Growth Signals**: Named **Best Bank in the UK** at The Banker’s Bank of the Year Awards 2025. Recognised by CNBC/Statista as one of the UK’s Top 250 Fintechs. Expanded lending into the US in 2023. Built a diversified business including Business Banking capability. 61,000+ jobs and 36,000+ new homes created through lending. Offices in London, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Newcastle, Birmingham, New York (OCI), and India (Gurugram, Bengaluru, Hyderabad).

## Competitive Advantages
- **Data-driven credit underwriting**: Uses proprietary analytics (OCI) to assess future potential, not just past financials, enabling faster, more accurate lending decisions.
- **Founder-led, flat organisational structure**: Decision-making is fast, with less bureaucracy than traditional banks.
- **Disciplined profitability**: One of the few digital banks globally to be consistently profitable, with extremely low credit losses (4.5 basis points of cumulative facilities).
- **Customer obsession**: High NPS and a culture of “customer delight” rather than mere satisfaction.

## Strategic Focus
- **US expansion**: Scaling lending in the US lower mid-market where a similar structural gap exists.
- **Business Banking rollout**: Building a full business banking capability beyond loans to deepen customer relationships.
- **Technology and data**: Continuing to invest in the OakNorth Credit Intelligence platform and automation.
- **ESG and community**: Net zero target by 2045; 1+1% initiative (1% of profits and 1% of employee time to charity).
- **Talent and culture**: Expanding teams across UK, US, and India while maintaining a founder-led, high-autonomy culture.

## Why Work Here
- **Equity**: Employees receive equity in the business, sharing in growth.
- **Flat structure**: Opportunity to interact with senior leaders and have real impact regardless of tenure.
- **Autonomy**: Personal goal-setting with manager support; freedom to take on projects of interest.
- **Mission-driven**: Directly contribute to creating jobs, homes, and supporting ambitious entrepreneurs.
- **Culture**: Values include “Say it how it is” (honest communication), “10x” (set ambitious goals), “One team”, and “Momentum”.
- **Hybrid/Office**: Multiple office locations across UK (London, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Newcastle, Birmingham) plus New York and India. Specific remote policies not detailed but likely hybrid for most roles.
- **Recognition**: Work for a bank that has won “Best Bank in the UK” and is seen as a top fintech employer.

## Sources
1. [OakNorth.co.uk – Home](https://oaknorth.co.uk/)
2. [OakNorth.co.uk – About/Our Story](https://oaknorth.co.uk/about/)
3. [OakNorth.co.uk – Careers](https://oaknorth.co.uk/about/careers/)
4. [OakNorth.co.uk – Annual Report 2025 (PDF)](https://oaknorth.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Annual_Report_2025.pdf)
5. [OakNorth.co.uk – Jobs](https://oaknorth.co.uk/jobs/)

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