Director of Merchant Risk and Analytics

At Thrive Financial, Merchant Risk Managers sit at the intersection of dealer relationships, credit risk, pricing, and operations. This role is for someone who is able to apply analytics in an environment of ambiguity and incomplete ownership and loves working cross functionally.  You are a data nerd who is passionate about leveraging AI and automation for analytics, a relationship builder, and you know how to weigh risk against opportunity.  This role will be foundational in continuing to build the Thrive Merchant Risk playbook.

• Have five or more years working in a lending analytics roles with at least two years spent working in a risk environment where the consumer credit risk isn’t the whole story
• Have earned increased responsibility or promotions through performance, not tenure
• Have worked in an early-stage company (or equivalent environment) where structure was minimal and initiative mattered, or can clearly demonstrate that you’ve succeeded without heavy process or support
• Are comfortable wearing multiple hats today, with an eye toward building and leading a team in the future
• Love to teach and develop new talent and have a history of leadership
• Are passionate about leveraging AI and automation to build lean and scalable risk analytics programs

• You are hands-on by default - excited to work directly with our contractor partners, solve real problems, and deliver tangible value
• You naturally look for patterns and gaps, and feel compelled to create structure where none exists
• You balance empathy and accountability, building trust while driving outcomes
• You are energized by growth (both personal and organizational) and want to level up into people leadership over time

• Oversee Thrive’s merchant underwriting policy and execution
• Refine and add to Thrive’s merchant risk mitigation program
• Build out analytics and procedures to help the merchant risk team become the merchant reward team - you’ll help us proactively identify opportunities for our partners in sales 
• Leverage automation and AI to drive more insights with less overhead
• Manage and build Thrive’s merchant risk analytics team

• High-impact opportunity to shape risk strategy and merchant management processes at an early stage - you are here to take us from 10 to 100 
• You are excited about building and managing a world class team
• Direct influence Thrive's loan performance and assist our sales and success teams in identifying growth opportunities or mitigating risk while keeping contractors on our platform
• Path to expanded scope and people leadership as the company scales
• Mission-driven fintech focused on enabling responsible, accessible financingFully remote, highly collaborative environment with room to grow

At Thrive, our best teammates embody GRIT:

Get things done You are self-directed, proactive, and biased toward action. You don’t wait for perfect conditions to move forward.

Respect each other You lead with humility and empathy — whether working with contractors, teammates, or leadership.

Intellectual curiosity You ask thoughtful questions, seek context, and enjoy learning new industries, products, and customer needs in order to make practical, informed decisions.

Teamwork You believe the best results come from shared ownership, open communication, and learning together.

As a Director of Merchant Risk, you also bring:

Trustworthiness You prioritize long-term relationships, follow through on commitments, and ensure alignment across stakeholders.

Collaboration You actively invite diverse perspectives and use them to arrive at better solutions — for customers and for the business.

Stewardship You approach your work with a servant mindset, focused on supporting contractors, teammates, and the broader mission of responsible financial access.