Team Lead, SME Credit Initiation

Job Summary As the Team Lead for SME Credit Initiation at Standard Chartered, you will play a pivotal role in managing and guiding the SME credit underwriting team. Your responsibilities will encompass overseeing underwriting activities related to a diverse range of SME products, ensuring robust support for sustained business growth. This role demands a strategic mindset and a hands‑on approach in driving team productivity, enhancing operational efficiency, and enriching client experience. Your leadership will extend to streamlining processes that simplify workflows and meet key performance indicators. You will be instrumental in nurturing talent within your team, identifying and addressing skills gaps to foster a versatile team capable of adapting to evolving business needs. In addition, you will maintain vigilant oversight of risk management practices, ensuring adherence to all policies and regulatory requirements. Governance of outsourcing functions related to SME credit monitoring will also fall under your purview, guaranteeing that controls and necessary measures are rigorously implemented. Exemplary conduct aligned with our Group's Values and Code of Conduct is expected, alongside the responsibility to embed the highest standards of ethics across all operations. Collaboration with key stakeholders including Risk, Product, Compliance, and GBS teams will be essential in proactively managing and mitigating risk, conduct, and compliance matters. Our Ideal Candidate Our ideal candidate holds a degree with 8+ years of experience complemented by specialized training in credit underwriting with a focus on SME products. You bring a blend of technical proficiency and leadership experience, capable of mentoring and developing team members to build a high‑performing unit. You demonstrate a strategic approach to managing business growth, with the agility to adapt processes and foster innovation. Your commitment to compliance and risk management is unwavering, ensuring all activities adhere to regulatory standards and internal policies. Driven by a passion for continuous improvement, you are adept at identifying automation opportunities and implementing solutions that scale efficiently. Your interpersonal skills enable collaboration across diverse teams, promoting a culture of trust, inclusivity, and respect. Role Specific Technical Competencies A deep understanding of SME product portfolios will enable you to make informed decisions and provide expertise to your team. Strong organizational capabilities combined with proven people management skills are critical in leading a cohesive and motivated team. Experience in process improvement and automation initiatives is highly valued, as is the ability to drive efficiencies within a dynamic business environment. Exceptional communication skills will support your interactions with cross‑functional teams and stakeholders, ensuring alignment and transparency. To excel in this role, proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel and PowerPoint, is essential for managing data analysis, reporting, and presentations. A solid background in credit underwriting, particularly within the SME sector, is necessary to effectively evaluate risk and support business objectives. About Standard Chartered We're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us. Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion. Together we: Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term What we offer In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing. Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations. Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum. Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns. Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market‑leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first‑aiders and all sorts of self‑help toolkits A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning. Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential. Recruitment Assessments Some of our roles use assessments to help us understand how suitable you are for the role you've applied to. If you are invited to take an assessment, this is great news. It means your application has progressed to an important stage of our recruitment process. Visit our careers website #J-18808-Ljbffr