Payroll Lending Manager – Private Sector at Strivo Labs

Role Overview

• We are seeking an experienced Payroll Lending Manager – Private Sector to drive the growth and performance of the private-sector payroll lending portfolio.
• The successful candidate will be responsible for developing employer partnerships, driving sales and loan origination, managing portfolio performance, and ensuring effective underwriting, remittance, risk management, and compliance.
• This role requires strong business development and relationship management skills, as well as the willingness to travel extensively across Nigeria.

Key Responsibilities
Employer Partnerships, Business Growth & Sales:

• Identify, onboard, and manage relationships with private-sector employers, including corporates and SMEs, to establish salary deduction or check-off partnerships.
• Drive loan origination, disbursement volumes, and portfolio growth in line with approved targets and risk appetite.
• Develop and improve the end-to-end payroll lending sales process, from employer prospecting and partnership development to employee acquisition, conversion, and loan disbursement.
• Own sales execution, ensuring agreed sales activities, pipeline targets, conversion rates, and growth objectives are achieved.
• Build and maintain a strong pipeline of prospective employer partnerships across target industries and locations.
• Collaborate with Sales, Business Development, Credit, Risk, and other relevant teams to drive business growth.
• Travel extensively across Nigeria to develop employer relationships, pursue business opportunities, support sales activities, and strengthen existing partnerships.

Underwriting & Deduction Management:

• Develop and continuously improve underwriting criteria for private-sector employees, considering employer credit standing, industry risk, employment tenure, income verification, and other relevant credit parameters.
• Work closely with employer HR and payroll teams to verify employment status, salary, deduction consent, and remittance compliance.
• Manage accounts where employees resign, are terminated, or change employers, including transitioning affected accounts from payroll deduction to direct collection where required.
• Risk, Compliance & Portfolio ManagementMonitor employer-level risk indicators, including restructuring, layoffs, delayed salary payments, financial distress, and other factors that may affect repayment performance.
• Take appropriate actions to manage employer exposure and maintain portfolio quality.Own portfolio performance, including PAR and NPL, and drive appropriate remedial and recovery actions on delinquent accounts.
• Work with Legal, Compliance, Credit, and Risk teams to ensure payroll lending activities and employer partnerships comply with regulatory and internal requirements.
• Balance portfolio growth with appropriate credit quality, risk management, and compliance controls.

Reporting & Performance Management:

• Prepare regular reports covering sales pipeline, employer acquisition, loan origination, disbursement volumes, conversion rates, PAR, NPL, employer partnerships, and remittance compliance.
• Track performance against agreed sales, growth, portfolio quality, and operational targets.
• Identify performance gaps and implement appropriate corrective actions.
• Monitor loan approval and disbursement turnaround times and drive improvements against agreed service targets.
• Provide management with insights on sales performance, portfolio trends, emerging risks, and new growth opportunities.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field.6–10 years of experience in consumer or retail lending, with demonstrable exposure to payroll, public-sector, check-off, or similar lending.
• Proven experience managing a lending portfolio and driving portfolio growth and performance.
• Strong understanding of private-sector payroll/check-off lending and deduction structures.
• Strong credit risk judgement and portfolio analytics skills.
• Experience with loan management systems and reporting tools.
• Experience in fintech, consumer lending, or digital credit operations is highly preferred.
• Strong stakeholder management, negotiation, and relationship management skills.
• Relevant professional certification in credit, risk, banking, finance, or a related discipline is an advantage.CIBN, RIMAN, ICAN, or equivalent certification is an added advantage.
• Experience driving lending growth, portfolio improvement, or operational transformation initiatives is desirable.
• Strong ownership, judgement, resilience, and follow-through.
• Good understanding of regulatory and business environments.
• Willingness and ability to travel extensively across Nigeria.

What We’re Looking For

• The ideal candidate should be commercially driven, relationship-focused, and comfortable managing both business growth and portfolio risk.
• You should be able to build strong employer partnerships, drive lending performance, analyse portfolio trends, and make sound credit and business decisions.