Strategy Associate

About the role

As a Strategy Associate, you’ll own high-impact initiatives across growth, operations, and partnerships. You’ll sit at the intersection of data, strategy, and execution, identifying opportunities, solving complex business problems, and driving projects that improve how YouLend acquires, converts, and funds SMEs. You’ll work closely with teams across Product, Risk, Operations, Capital Markets, and Partnerships to improve funnel performance, launch new initiatives, optimize processes, and support commercial growth. You’ll also engage directly with strategic partners, using data and commercial insight to influence decisions and deliver results.

Responsibilities

• Own and improve performance across the end-to-end merchant funnel, from application through funding, identifying bottlenecks, drop-offs, and opportunities to improve conversion, efficiency, and customer experience.
• Lead high-impact strategic initiatives across partner performance, pricing, market expansion, operational optimisation, and new product launches.
• Design, execute, and evaluate experiments and pilots, using data-driven insights to optimise growth, operational efficiency, and commercial outcomes.
• Build and monitor key operational and commercial KPIs, dashboards, forecasts, and business cases that inform decision-making across the organisation.
• Use data to diagnose problems, identify opportunities, and develop actionable recommendations that balance growth, risk, customer experience, and profitability.
• Represent YouLend in discussions with strategic partners, contributing to business reviews, pricing discussions, RFPs, commercial negotiations, and growth initiatives.
• Drive cross-functional execution by aligning Product, Risk, Credit, Operations, Capital Markets, and Partnerships teams around shared objectives and ensuring initiatives are delivered effectively.
• Identify opportunities to automate processes, improve tooling, reduce manual effort, and scale operations while maintaining quality and compliance standards.
• Act as a change leader, embedding new processes and ways of working across teams with strong stakeholder buy-in and minimal disruption.
• Take ownership of ambiguous, high-priority business challenges, stepping in wherever necessary to drive progress and deliver results.

Requirements

• Experience: 2–3 years of experience in consulting, fintech, technology, banking, strategy, operations, or another highly analytical and commercially focused role.
• Experience: Managing cross-functional projects and driving initiatives from idea through execution.
• Experience: In fintech, lending, underwriting, partnerships, or operations strategy is advantageous but not required.
• Skills: Strong analytical skills with experience using SQL, Excel, Python, or similar tools to extract insights, build models, and support decision-making.
• Skills: Comfortable working with large datasets, identifying patterns, and translating findings into actionable recommendations.
• Skills: Ability to make sound decisions using data and judgement, even when information is incomplete or ambiguous.
• Skills: Strong commercial acumen with an understanding of how businesses balance growth, risk, customer experience, and profitability.
• Skills: Ability to identify opportunities, evaluate trade-offs, and develop practical solutions to complex business challenges.
• Skills: Interest in fintech, lending, and the dynamics of scaling a high-growth business.
• Skills: Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence both senior internal stakeholders and external partners.
• Skills: Comfortable representing YouLend in partner discussions and communicating complex ideas in a clear and compelling way.
• Skills: Proven ability to build alignment and drive outcomes without relying on formal authority.
• Skills: Ownership mindset, bias for action, and a willingness to operate in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment.
• Skills: Naturally curious, adaptable, and eager to learn new concepts, products, and markets.
• Skills: Comfortable challenging the status quo and driving change when better solutions exist.

Job Benefits

• Health Care Coverage: YouLend covers 80%; employee contribution is 20% of the premium.
• Medical Plan: Choice of 5 different plans through United Healthcare.
• Dental plan coverage.
• Vision plan coverage.
• Retirement: 401K match. Employee match $1 for $1 up to 5% of salary.
• Basic Life & AD&D Insurance.
• International travel insurance covered if traveling abroad for work purposes.
• Paid Time Off (PTO): 20 working days (4 weeks) + US public holidays.
• Paid Office Parking.