Commercial Strategy Manager / Senior Associate

Department: Commercial

Employment Type: Permanent

Location: London

Reporting To: Eoin O'Kane

Description

About the Role:

Commercial Strategy Managers are YouLend's commercial problem solvers.

You will work on the growth problems that matter most: scaling major partners, turning around underperformance, building business cases for investment into new products or markets, shaping commercial proposals, and driving cross-functional initiatives that could materially change YouLend's growth trajectory.

You will have real autonomy to define your own roadmap. Some initiatives will be obvious and urgent; others you will be expected to find yourself. You will spot the problem / opportunity, get into the data, work out what is happening, decide what should happen next, align the right teams and drive the work through to impact

Key Responsibilities

What you'll be doing

• Identifying, prioritising and driving high-value growth opportunities across partners, products and markets.
• Owning performance deep-dives for strategic partners and turning the findings into action.
• Building business cases for new product, market and partner initiatives.
• Structuring commercial proposals, pilots and partner growth plans.
• Building the operating rhythms, tools and processes that help YouLend scale.
• Working across Partnerships, Product, Risk, Data, Operations and Capital Markets to get things done.

Example Problems

• YouLend is considering a major new product, market or partner investment. How big could it be, what would need to be true for it to work, and should we go after it?
• A pricing, risk or eligibility change could unlock significant growth, but could also create downside risk if we get it wrong. How do we size the opportunity, make the trade-offs clear and drive the decision?
• One of our largest global partnerships isn't growing as fast as we want. What is holding it back, what would materially change the trajectory, and how do we get their senior stakeholders aligned behind the plan?

Skills, Knowledge & Expertise

What you'll need

• 3-6 years in a role that combines analytical problem-solving, commercial judgement and stakeholder management, such as consulting, strategy & ops, founder's associate, chief of staff, fintech or another high-ownership commercial role.
• Strong SQL skills and excellent Excel / Google Sheets ability. You should be comfortable pulling, structuring and analysing data yourself.
• Strong commercial modelling skills, including opportunity sizing, business cases, unit economics and trade-off analysis.
• Excellent commercial judgement, including the ability to balance growth, risk, pricing, partner incentives and customer experience.
• Confidence working with senior external stakeholders, including C-Suite, Director, or VP-level contacts.
• Clear communication: you can turn complex analysis into crisp recommendations and senior stakeholder-ready materials.
• A self-directed, scrappy working style. You are comfortable with imperfect information, messy data and fast-moving priorities.
• Persuasive: You can convince people without formal authority and take other teams "on the journey".

Helpful but not required

• Experience in fintech, lending, payments or embedded finance.
• Understanding of lending or MCA unit economics, including pricing, repayment behaviour, losses, opex and capital constraints.

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.

It's just getting fun

• We have developed powerful solutions, secured significant partnerships, and are growing rapidly.
• The global opportunity is still massive, and YouLend is a raw organisation where we are only just getting started.

Lots of upsides

• 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.

Motivating work environment

• 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:

• Stock options
• 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.