Head of Underwriting

Overview

Why choose Ultimate Finance?

At Ultimate Finance, we back ambition – properly. We’re a specialist lender built for pace, flexibility and real-world problem solving, helping businesses access funding that fits how they work. You’ll join a team of approachable experts who move quickly, speak clearly and take pride in doing the right thing for customers and partners. We trust people to take ownership, with supportive leaders and experienced teammates on hand. With 20+ years’ experience and over £17bn funded, we’re growing – and we’re looking for people who want to do work that matters.

About the team

Asset Finance at Ultimate Finance is built to keep deals moving. We provide tailored funding for hard assets such as vehicles, equipment and machinery – quickly, clearly and with support that stays close. Working side-by-side with brokers, customers and internal teams, we shape the right solution, deliver a strong customer experience, and apply smart risk controls and operational discipline to get deals completed smoothly and responsibly.

About the role

As Head of Underwriting in our Asset Finance division, you’ll lead the team that makes confident, commercial credit decisions – keeping deals moving while protecting the quality of our portfolio. You’ll set clear underwriting standards, develop a high-performing team, and stay close to day-to-day decisioning to ensure consistency, pace and great outcomes.

Working in partnership with senior leaders across Sales, Operations and the wider Ultimate business, you’ll help shape and evolve credit policy, embed best practice, and improve how we assess and deliver deals from approval through to completion. It’s a hands-on leadership role in a growing business, where you’ll balance strong customer and broker service with disciplined risk management – always living our values of Decency, Enterprise and Brilliance.

Key responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and oversight to the underwriting team, ensuring all activities align with the company’s commercial objectives and risk appetite.
• Manage, mentor, and develop team members, fostering a high-performance culture that encourages professional growth, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Drive the implementation of best-in-class underwriting practices, proactively identifying opportunities to enhance efficiency, profitability, and client satisfaction in a dynamic market environment.
• Take day-to-day ownership and management of your own underwriting case load, ensuring timely, accurate and commercially balanced decisions.
• Act as a senior point of escalation for complex or high-value cases, making informed decisions that balance risk management with commercial awareness.
• Lead regular reviews of team performance, set clear objectives, and deliver constructive feedback to ensure personal and departmental targets are achieved.
• Champion cross-functional collaboration with Sales and Operations, ensuring seamless client journeys and robust transfer processes between teams.
• Represent the company as a senior ambassador at key industry events, building and strengthening relationships with strategic partners and stakeholders.
• Monitor emerging trends, regulatory developments, and competitor activity, providing insight and recommendations to shape the Group’s underwriting strategy.

Key skills and knowledge

• Proven experience in asset finance underwriting / credit decisioning
• Strong relationship-builder, with a track record of working well with brokers, clients and internal teams
• Confident people leader – able to coach, motivate and set clear expectations
• Skilled in managing and organising a team, including performance, workload and priorities
• Strong planning and delivery mindset – keeps activity on track and outcomes consistent
• Able to engage and influence stakeholders across Sales, Operations, Risk and the wider business
• Excellent time management in a fast-paced environment, balancing urgency with accuracy
• Comfortable analysing financial information and producing clear, practical credit summaries
• Commercial judgement – able to weigh risk and return and sense-check proposals quickly
• Strong understanding of security and collateral in asset finance deals
• Ability to structure proposals into workable deals that meet credit requirements and support customer needs
• Professional, personable and reliable – makes confident, well-informed decisions and stands by them
• Consistently delivers high service standards, keeping brokers and clients supported from start to finish (and ongoing)