---
title: 'Senior Director/Director, Debt Finance - Structured Finance at OakNorth'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-director-director-debt-finance-structured-finance-oaknorth-london-yg438ngx1na0'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-29'
---

# Senior Director/Director, Debt Finance - Structured Finance at OakNorth

- **Company:** OakNorth
- **Location:** London, United Kingdom
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-10-22
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-29
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/oaknorth/9b91380f-2609-4678-9341-fe8103ad314c

## 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 TEAM

Our Debt Finance team sits at the heart of OakNorth’s lending business. Sitting alongside our real estate finance team, leverage finance team, and fund finance team, this newly established role in structured products supports OakNorth’s mission of providing financing to specialist lenders and non-bank finance providers, including securitisations within specialty finance. We structure lending against underlying loan portfolios, working with colleagues across Credit, Legal and Transaction Management, and Portfolio Management.

## ABOUT THE ROLE

As a Senior Director or Director in Debt Finance, you will originate, structure and execute financing for specialist lenders and non-bank finance providers, with a focus on securitisations within specialty finance. You will lead deals from the initial client conversation through credit approval, documentation and completion. The role combines new business development with detailed credit and structuring work, drawing on your understanding of securitisation and the underlying loan portfolios.

## WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Build relationships with specialist lenders and advisers to identify and win new business.
- Lead the structuring and execution of lender finance transactions, with a focus on securitisations within specialty finance.
- Assess loan portfolios, deal structure, borrower financial strength, underwriting standards and servicing capabilities. Model cash flows and downside scenarios to assess repayment risk.
- Negotiate pricing, advance rates, eligibility criteria, concentration limits, cash waterfalls, covenants and performance triggers.
- Work with internal colleagues to prepare credit papers and present proposals for approval. Work with Legal and Transaction Management to ensure documentation reflects the approved terms.
- Stay close to clients and work with Portfolio Management on deal handovers, reporting, amendments and refinancing.
- Meet agreed lending and credit-quality objectives, working with Risk, Treasury, Finance and Operations on the requirements for new transactions.

YOU'LL BE A GREAT FIT IF YOU HAVE…

- A track record of originating, structuring and completing lender finance or structured finance transactions, with practical securitisation experience.
- A detailed understanding of asset-backed lending structures, including portfolio eligibility, advance rates, cash waterfalls, security and intercreditor arrangements.
- Experience analysing loan portfolios, stress-testing cash flows and assessing counterparty and servicing risk.
- An established network of specialist lenders, non-bank finance providers and advisers, and a record of winning business through those relationships.
- Experience writing credit papers, presenting to credit committees and negotiating financing documentation.
- Commercial judgement, a clear understanding of risk-adjusted returns and a willingness to work through the detail of a deal.
- Experience working within a bank or regulated lending environment, with exposure to credit policy, capital requirements and governance frameworks.
- Experience lending against different asset classes or developing new structured lending products.

## BENEFITS & PERKS

- Equity — we want everyone to have a stake in the business so our interests are aligned
- 25 days holiday plus personalised benefits — opt in to what matters to you
- Subsidised private medical insurance with Bupa
- Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
- Wellbeing and social events, plus in-house Barista Bar in the London office
- Volunteering time off to support causes that matter to you
- Salary sacrifice schemes — cycle to work, nursery, gym, and electric car scheme

## 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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