United States onlyVaro is an entirely new kind of bank. All digital, mission-driven, FDIC insured and designed for the way our customers live their lives. A bank for all of us.
Varo Bank is on a mission to make financial inclusion and opportunity a reality for all. As the first consumer fintech granted a national bank charter in U.S. history (regulated by the OCC), we are redefining banking with a unique blend of mission-driven values, cutting-edge technology, and a commitment to helping hard-working Americans improve their financial health. Varo is built on the belief that money should work for everyone, not just some of us. We offer a full-service, digital banking experience, including high-yield savings, no-fee bank accounts, and innovative credit products designed to help customers save money and build credit responsibly.
About the Opportunity:
Varo is seeking a strategic, visionary, and execution-focused General Manager of Lending to lead and grow our lending portfolio. This is a critical executive leadership role responsible for the end-to-end P&L, credit policy, risk governance, and portfolio management of Varo's credit products, including Varo Advance and Varo Line of Credit.
Reporting directly to the CEO, this role is part of the Executive Leadership Team and will drive the lending strategy that underpins Varo’s customer growth, financial performance, and regulatory integrity.
Lending sits at the heart of Varo’s growth strategy — as both a customer engagement engine and a gateway for acquisition. The GM of Lending will drive expansion across our cash-flow–underwritten products, including upcoming modalities such as BNPL and Flex, while deepening customer relationships and lifetime value.
The ideal candidate is a seasoned leader with deep experience in consumer credit, fintech innovation, and regulatory affairs, who is passionate about delivering fair, transparent, and financially empowering products while operating within a robust bank risk framework. You will own the strategic growth and regulatory integrity of one of the most critical product lines for Varo and its mission.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
- P&L Management and Business Growth
- Credit Policy, Risk Governance, and Regulatory Oversight
- Active Portfolio and Performance Management
- Growth in active lending users and repeat engagement
- Expansion of lending’s contribution to deposit growth and new customer acquisition
- Improved credit performance (delinquencies, NCOs, vintage stability)
- Successful delivery of BNPL and Flex products
- Strength of internal controls and regulatory outcomes (no significant findings)
- Strength and cohesion of the cross-functional Lending team
Success in Year One Will Be Measured by:
P&L Management and Business Growth
- P&L Accountability: Drive the complete Lending P&L, overseeing forecasts, budget management, and capital deployment to ensure profitable and sustainable growth.
- Strategic Vision: Define the multi-year Lending Product Roadmap, identifying, championing, and launching new, compliant credit products (e.g., installment loans, secured products) that expand Varo’s market opportunity.
- Lead the evolution of Varo’s cash-flow–based lending ecosystem — connecting Varo Advance, Line of Credit, and future products like BNPL and Flex into a seamless, integrated customer experience.
- Partner with Finance and Treasury to optimize capital efficiency, portfolio funding, and return-on-equity performance, ensuring lending growth aligns with balance sheet strategy.
- Drive lending’s contribution to customer acquisition and engagement through cross-product metrics such as deposit activation, repeat usage, and retention lift.
- Product Roadmap Delivery: Oversee the successful execution and delivery of the Lending Product Roadmap, ensuring timely and impactful launches.
- Ensure early and holistic planning across all stakeholders, with clearly defined PRDs, robust dependency mapping, and disciplined execution from Day 1.
- Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner seamlessly with Product, Engineering, AI and Data, Marketing, and Operations teams to execute the lending strategy, ensuring speed to market while maintaining high standards of control and customer experience.
Credit Policy, Risk Governance, and Regulatory Oversight
- Credit Policy Framework Ownership: Own the development, documentation, and rigorous enforcement of the Credit Policy Framework for all lending products, ensuring it aligns directly with the bank's approved Risk Appetite Statement.
- Regulatory Engagement: Serve as a key subject matter expert for internal audit, compliance, and regulatory bodies (e.g., OCC) regarding the bank's lending practices, governance, and risk controls.
- Underwriting and Pricing Strategy Oversight: Provide active oversight and ultimate accountability for all underwriting strategies, pricing models, and eligibility criteria, ensuring products are both accessible to the target customer segment and deliver appropriate risk-adjusted returns.
- Financial Reporting & Modeling: Own the management of the portfolio performance in collaboration with Finance, including inputs for Current Expected Credit Losses (CECL), loan loss forecasting, and capital planning, actively exploring how advanced models can enhance accuracy and insights .using advanced analytical and machine learning models to continuously enhance predictiveness and portfolio insight.
Active Portfolio and Performance Management
- Credit Performance Management: Actively monitor and manage core credit metrics, including delinquencies, net charge-offs (NCOs), vintage performance, and collections efficiency. Implement corrective actions and policy adjustments as needed to maintain portfolio health, continuously seeking opportunities to improve loan performance through advanced analytical and machine learning models.
- Develop engagement-oriented dashboards that link lending activity to broader customer behavior (usage frequency, repayment patterns, retention, and lifetime value).
- Operational Risk Mitigation: Work with Operations and Risk to optimize fraud prevention and servicing processes, specifically for deposits and payments associated with lending products, ensuring compliance (e.g., Reg E, Reg CC).
- Team Leadership: Lead, manage, and mentor a high-performing team of Credit Strategists and Product leaders, fostering a culture of ownership, data-driven excellence, and ethical, responsible lending.
- Foster a culture that combines disciplined execution with entrepreneurial experimentation — balancing data-driven rigor with curiosity and speed.
REQUIRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCES:
- 12+ years of progressive leadership experience in consumer lending, with at least 5 years managing a significant P&L at a major financial institution or chartered fintech.
- Deep expertise in operating within a regulated banking environment (OCC, FDIC), including direct experience with credit policy approval processes, internal governance committees, and risk audits.
- Proven ownership of a Credit Policy Framework, demonstrating the ability to articulate, defend, and adjust policy based on data and regulatory feedback.
- Exceptional command of consumer credit risk management, including the use of traditional and alternative data, and expertise in managing key portfolio health indicators (delinquencies, NCOs, etc.).
- Strong understanding of CECL accounting standards and experience collaborating with Finance and Treasury teams on provisioning and capital decisions.
- Demonstrated ability to build, scale, and optimize credit products while balancing customer needs with robust risk controls.
- Exceptional collaboration, communication, and presentation skills, with proven experience influencing executive stakeholders and regulators.
- Comfort with supporting a vision for focused experimentation to enable growth and profitability in the rapidly evolving space of ML and AI.
- Proven ability to translate lending insights into customer engagement and product design improvements, reinforcing Varo’s “save, deposit, spend, lend” ecosystem.
We recognize not everyone will have all of these requirements. If you meet most of the criteria above and you’re excited about the opportunity and willing to learn, we’d love to hear from you!
About Varo
Varo launched in 2017 with the vision to bring the best of fintech into the regulated banking system. We’re a new kind of bank – all-digital, mission-driven, FDIC-insured, and designed around the modern American consumer.
As the first consumer fintech to be granted a national bank charter in 2020, we make financial inclusion and opportunity for all a reality by empowering everyone with the products, insights, and support they need to get ahead. Through our core product offerings and suite of customer-first features, we aim to address a broad range of consumer needs while profitably serving underserved communities that have been historically excluded from the traditional financial system.
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LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/varobank
Varo is an equal opportunity employer. Varo embraces diversity and we are committed to building teams that represent a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.
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