Product Manager - Lending & Credit

Job Summary

This role is perfect for someone who is passionate about product management, agile methodologies, and cross-functional collaboration.

As the Product Manager, you will play a crucial role in assisting the Product Manager(s) in defining and executing the product roadmap. Your biggest goal will be to establish Sycamore as the leader in digital credit and responsible lending. This role is crucial for leveraging credit as a powerful acquisition and retention tool, integrating users into the broader super app ecosystem.

You will be a key driver in shaping the strategy and roadmap for our lending products. You will be responsible for developing and executing a product vision that aligns with our company's goals and customer needs. This role requires a deep understanding of lending practices, fintech industry trends, and the unique challenges and opportunities present in the African market.

Key Responsibilities

• Achieve full loan automation, including advanced features like loan fines and flexible overdraft facilities
• Design and implement a proprietary credit scoring system and an intelligent, automated loan collection and efficient repayment system (leveraging automated trials)
• Build a scalable platform and operational flow for the efficient management and collection of large loans requiring collateral.
• Collaborate with the Payments team to ensure seamless FX capabilities for collecting loan repayments given in foreign currency.
• Strategize and execute product features that successfully drive credit users to engage with other super app features (e.g., Savings, Investments).
• Partner with Engineering, Credit/Risk, Operations, Marketing, and Finance to deliver scalable, compliant products. Align features with Nigeria's regulatory requirements and Sycamore's risk policies
• Define and track KPIs (e.g., loan approval rate, portfolio yield, repayment rates, customer acquisition cost). Use analytics to optimize products and report performance to stakeholders
• Continually finetune a clear and compelling product strategy for the lending side of the business that supports Sycamore's overall business objectives and aligns with the company's mission.
• Conduct thorough market research and customer analysis to gain valuable insights into customer behaviour, pain points, and preferences related to lending products
• Utilise data-driven insights to make informed product decisions, enhance user experiences, and drive customer satisfaction
• Oversee the end-to-end product development process, from concept to launch, ensuring that the lending products meet high standards of quality and complianceDevelop, prioritize and regularly review your roadmap ensuring your key metrics align with Sycamore's OKRs.Then, build consensus, and coordinate with a team of engineers, designers, and others to ship high-quality experiences.

Requirements

Academic Qualification & Work Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• >3 years experience in product management, preferably in the fintech industry..

Competences Required (Knowledge, Skills and Attributes)

• Fintech Industry Dynamics
• Basic understanding of Agile methodologies, Scrum framework, and principles of Lean product development.
• Basic prototyping skills
• Basic understanding of one of or all of Mixpanel, Netcore, Google analytics, Microsoft Clarity
• Basic understanding of using SQL to extract Information from our Database
• Deep experience with credit scoring models, risk assessment, and collections strategy.
• Proven experience implementing automated loan engines and decisioning systems
• Ability to work closely with data teams to build and tune proprietary credit models
• Strong commitment to responsible lending practices and regulatory compliance.
• Proven ability to work seamlessly with Sales, marketing, telesales and all other Product teams to align growth efforts.
• Good understanding of product metrics and how to use data to make product decisions
• Strong organisational, time management, and prioritisation skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills to effectively collaborate with diverse teams.
• Good understanding of using spreadsheet tools to analyse and clean data
• Good understanding of Microsoft Powerpoint and/or Google Slides
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with a proactive and adaptable attitude.
• Experience with project management and collaboration tools (e.g Jira, Trello, Asana) is desirable.
• Good presentation skills
• Exhibit knowledge of Software Engineering best practices
• Persistence
• Eagerness to Learn