Senior Product Manager, Credit Risk & Strategy

Forward Financing is a financial technology company based in Boston, Massachusetts with team members throughout the United States, Dominican Republic, and Canada. The company is on a mission to unlock the capital that fuels small businesses across America. Recognized as a Best Place to Work by Built In Boston and certified as a Great Place To Work®, Forward is investing in its employees, technology, and customer experience – with long-term success in mind every step of the way.

We are a rapidly growing fintech company on a mission to revolutionize small business lending, and we believe the strategic use of data and models is the key to achieving this goal. Our proprietary platform leverages data and technology to provide fast and flexible financing to underserved businesses across the country. We are seeking an experienced and highly analytical Senior Product Manager to drive the optimization and integration of our third-party decision engine with our proprietary core applications. This role is central to our mission, directly impacting our ability to assess risk, streamline the offer drafting process, and increase funding velocity within the Revenue-Based Financing space.

You will act as the primary liaison between our pricing and strategy, underwriting, engineering, and third-party vendor teams. This role will own complex projects within the decisioning space, ensuring our capabilities are world-class, compliant, and seamlessly integrated into our business workflow. The role will report directly to the Group Product Manager of Decisioning.

In this role you will:

• Decision Engine Optimization: Own the product roadmap for the decision engine, focusing on maximizing approval rates and minimizing risk exposure, while also balancing this against improving the speed and accuracy of offer generation across multiple workstreams to drive funding volume.

• Integration & Workflow: Manage the API integrations and data exchange between the third-party decision engine and our internal core applications. Implement technical solutions to optimize data flow stability, scalability, and accuracy.

• Project Ownership: Own complex projects within the decisioning and offer drafting space, driving them from ideation through launch and post-release analysis.

• Liason Role: Act as the liason between engineers and business stakeholders (Pricing & Strategy, Underwriting, Sales). You must be able to explain technical concepts to non-technical team members and vice versa.

• Performance & Analysis: Define and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) and execute A/B tests to continuously refine decisioning parameters, communicating solutions and impacts to stakeholders.

• Mentorship/Coaching: Mentor newer team members within the product organization, raising issues, suggestions, and proposing new ideas to increase development and engagement of your team members.

• Business Knowledge: Educate and coach others on business processes related to financing and offer drafting. Participate actively in identifying and proposing business process improvements across the larger workstream.

• Market & Systems Knowledge: Expand product knowledge to include similar internal and competitive systems, leveraging this market intelligence to enable effective product decision-making.

Why you should apply:

• Critical role: We are rapidly growing and on a mission to revolutionize small business lending. This role is critical to continuing on that trajectory by leveraging data, models, and decision engines.

• Mission driven company: Forward is a trusted source of fast, flexible funding for small businesses that have often been underserved by traditional financing options. When you join the team, you will help ensure all small businesses have access to the financial support they need to succeed.

• Flexibility is a top priority: Our employees are empowered to choose where they want to work (whether that’s from home, in the office, or a combination of both) with flexible hours.

Role Requirements:

• 5+ years of product management experience, preferably in FinTech, lending, or a high-growth financial services environment.

• 2+ years of direct experience managing and optimizing a decision engine (e.g. Taktile, FICO Blaze, Zoot, Encino, Provenir, Lendflow, or similar complex rules/scoring engines) within a lending context (MCA, SMB, Credit Card, or related).

• Solid understanding of the Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) or Revenue Based Financing lifecycle.

• Demonstrated experience with API integrations and managing complex data flows between disparate systems.

• Strong analytical skills with a proven track record of using data (SQL, Python, or advanced Excel) to define product strategy and measure results.

• A proven ability to be coachable, open to receiving and implementing feedback and engaging in complex strategic evaluations throughout the product lifecycle.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Computer Science, or a related quantitative field.

• Professionalism & Judgment: Display exceptional professionalism (punctuality, attitude, teamwork) and demonstrate sound judgment in all product decisions, embodying all of the Forward core values.

Total Rewards:

Additionally, we offer a comprehensive total rewards package, including but not limited to: medical, dental, vision, commuter benefits, a flexible time-off policy, paid parental leave, 401k match for US employees, wellness reimbursement, volunteering days, annual professional development budget, and charitable donation match.

Forward is proud to be a remote-first company, keeping workplace flexibility a top priority for our employees. As a business, we are focused on impact; we are more concerned with your contributions to the success of the company than where you get your work done. To help facilitate in-person collaboration, employees are welcome to work from one of our premiere office locations.

When we aren’t collaborating to drive business and support our customers, we’re finding virtual and in-person ways to get to know our colleagues, celebrate team wins, and have fun together!

Forward Financing Core Values:

• Drive the Mission - We believe in financial opportunity for underserved small businesses. We say “yes” when others say “no.”

• Keep It Real - We value direct communication, candid feedback, and authenticity. We are an open book.

• Act with Kindness - We create an environment where caring is cool and helping is the norm. We do the right thing.

• Shoot for Extraordinary - We are inspired by innovative thinking and continuous improvement. We never settle for yesterday’s best.

About Us:

Forward Financing is a financial technology company based in Boston, Massachusetts with team members throughout the United States, Dominican Republic, and Canada. The company is on a mission to unlock the capital that fuels small businesses across America. Whether facing challenges accessing traditional financing or simply needing a convenient, flexible solution, Forward is committed to funding more of the millions of small businesses nationwide. Forward offers revenue-based financing – delivering an upfront sum of working capital in exchange for a set amount of the business’s future revenue. By simplifying the requirements, streamlining the process, and using advanced proprietary technology, Forward is often able to deliver funds same day – giving more businesses the financial opportunity they need to thrive. Plus, with their dedicated teams and award-winning service, customers get personalized support when they need it most.

Since 2012, Forward has expanded access to capital by providing over $4.1 billion in funding to more than 80,000 small businesses. The company is A+ rated by the Better Business Bureau with an Excellent / 4.7 stars rating on Trustpilot.com. Recognized as a Best Place to Work by Built In Boston and certified as a Great Place To Work®, Forward is dedicated to empowering both its team and the customers they serve, helping them succeed and thrive.

US Equal Opportunity Employment Information

Forward Financing is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and is committed to fostering a fair and inclusive culture built on a foundation of high performance and exceptional customer experience. With a laser focus on employee impact, we’re able to reduce biases and ensure the right people are in the right jobs to contribute to our mission. The varied perspectives of our people fuel innovation and make us a stronger team. By embracing what makes each of us unique, we create a supportive environment where people feel valued, accepted, and empowered to thrive.

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