Credit Risk Manager

Role Purpose and Strategic Importance

The Credit Risk Manager at Trivers in Riyadh plays a pivotal role in establishing and overseeing the company's enterprise risk and credit management frameworks. This unique dual role, authorized by SAMA for emerging finance firms, requires developing the entire risk management structure while crafting the credit underwriting system fundamental to the business. The manager ensures balance between comprehensive risk controls—including credit, operational, market, liquidity, strategic, reputational, and technology risks—and credit policy development to enable responsible lending while safeguarding capital. This position holds decisive authority and accountability for all loan quality and risk-related decisions, impacting product design, pricing, and customer segmentation strategies.

Key Responsibilities and Expectations

• Develop, implement, and maintain a full Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework aligning with SAMA standards, including taxonomy, risk appetite, registers, KPIs, and escalation procedures across all risk types.
• Create and oversee the company’s Credit Policy from the ground up, specifying borrower eligibility, exposure limits, collateral needs, loan terms, pricing, and exception processes compliant with SAMA responsible lending and Consumer Finance Regulations.
• Design, validate, and manage credit scoring models (application, behavioral, collection) and decision engine criteria for loan approvals, manual referrals, and declines, ensuring portfolio quality within risk appetite.
• Conduct scheduled and event-driven risk assessments in line with CRFR 3.1.6, reporting findings to the Board Risk Committee quarterly.
• Evaluate every new product, service, or channel request from a risk standpoint before SAMA submission, confirming risk assessments and control measures.
• Build and maintain real-time portfolio monitoring dashboards tracking delinquency, vintage, roll rates, risk concentrations, and provisions, enabling timely escalations and monthly and quarterly reporting to leadership.
• Lead stress testing and scenario analysis across economic and operational conditions to adjust risk appetite, capital buffers, and contingency planning.
• Collaborate with the finance team on IFRS 9 ECL provisioning processes, modeling probability of default, loss given default, and exposure at default, ensuring monthly provision adequacy reviews.
• Integrate fraud risk considerations with the Anti-Fraud Manager to incorporate fraud loss analysis into risk management and provisioning decisions.
• Monitor compliance with all SAMA prudential limits, including exposure caps, concentration limits, related party lending, capital adequacy, and leverage ratios, reporting any breaches immediately.

Deliverables and Success Metrics

• Submit a Board-approved Enterprise Risk Management Policy to SAMA within 2 months covering all risk categories with defined ownership and escalation channels.
• Develop and secure approval for a comprehensive Credit Policy within 3 months, addressing underwriting criteria and scoring model documentation.
• Establish and receive Board endorsement for a quantified Risk Appetite Statement within 2 months, linking thresholds to capital planning.
• Deploy validated credit scoring models in the decision engine within 6 months, complete with methodological and performance documentation.
• Implement an automated risk dashboard within 4 months, providing real-time KPIs accessible to top leadership and risk committees.
• Complete the first comprehensive CRFR 3.1.6 risk assessment within 3 months and establish a yearly review cycle.

Qualifications and Certifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Risk Management, Statistics, or related quantitative fields; Master’s preferred.
• Required certification: FRM or PRM; CFA designation is a significant advantage.
• Strong quantitative skills including statistical modeling and data analysis expertise.
• Comprehensive knowledge of SAMA regulations, IFRS 9 standards, and Basel frameworks as applicable to financial institutions.
• Fluent in both Arabic and English, in spoken and written form.

Experience Requirements

• At least 10 years in risk or credit management within financial institutions, including banks, finance companies, or fintech lenders.
• A minimum of 5 years in senior positions with portfolio accountability.
• Practical experience building credit scoring systems and decision rules for consumer or SME lending.
• Preferred experience with SAMA-regulated entities and familiarity with their inspection processes.
• Demonstrated ability to establish risk frameworks from the ground up in startups or new financial ventures.

Core Competencies and Skills

• Analytical rigor to convert complex quantitative data into actionable insights for varied stakeholders.
• Commercial sensibility to align risk management goals with business growth objectives.
• Regulatory expertise, especially regarding SAMA best practices.
• Decisiveness in making and defending risk-related decisions while escalating critical issues appropriately.
• Excellent communication skills for presenting complex topics clearly to executives and operational teams.

SAMA Regulatory Compliance Responsibilities

• Candidate must pass a Fit & Proper assessment approved by SAMA, with mandatory notifications of any changes.
• Review and authorize all CRC Service Requests for risk compliance before SAMA submission.
• Fulfill CRFR 3.1.6 risk assessment documentation and reporting duties, coordinating with IT security leadership.
• Maintain up-to-date Risk Management Policy per SAMA Governance Principles, reviewed annually and approved by the Board.
• Continuously monitor and report any breaches of prudential limits to CEO and SAMA promptly.