Senior Risk Analyst

Get to Know Us

Kafene is revolutionizing the lease-to-own space. We're the point-of-sale powerhouse making flexible lease-to-own accessible to everyone—prime and non-prime customers alike. Our secret weapon? Cutting-edge AI and machine learning that analyzes 20,000+ data inputs in real-time, empowering retailers across furniture, appliances, electronics, tires, and durable goods to say "yes" to more customers.

The numbers tell our story: over $500 million in sales and counting. But we're just getting started.

Our 175-person team spans NYC headquarters, Wilmington DE, and remote talent across the globe—all united by a culture that thrives on collaboration, innovation, and genuine support. We don't just talk about great workplace culture; we deliver it. That's why Built In named us a Startup to Watch and Forbes recognized us as one of the Best Startup Employers.

Ready to be part of the fintech revolution? Join us.

We are hiring a Senior Risk Analyst to own the full merchant lifecycle, from underwriting and onboarding new merchants to monitoring portfolio performance and optimizing product offerings. In this role, you will leverage diverse data sources and structured decision frameworks to balance growth with risk discipline, translating insights into clear, actionable recommendations that drive healthy, quality growth across multiple industries. You will collaborate with a talented and innovative team and play a meaningful role in shaping how our company targets, underwrites, and manages merchant relationships at scale.

What You'll Do

• Evaluate new merchant applications using approved decision frameworks; assess profitability to identify the optimal deal that balances merchant demand with company margin requirements in a timely manner, and clearly document the rationale for decisions.

• Review special pricing or product requests from existing merchants and recommend the best offer based on performance history and approved profitability analysis; deploy treatments in a timely manner.

• Monitor portfolio performance against risk appetite and proactively recommend treatments, risk and pricing adjustments or termination to maintain a healthy merchant base.

• Build and maintain Sigma reports to track acquisition funnel, portfolio performance, credit risk, fraud risk, and other key metrics across the merchant lifecycle; translate insights into concise, executive-ready recommendations that enable leaders to act quickly and confidently.

• Partner closely with Sales to structure and deploy individual merchant treatments; track outcomes and report results.

• Collaborate with the Technology team to ensure timely, quality implementation of decisioning rules and system changes, including test validation.

What You'll Bring

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Statistics, Economics, Engineering, Data Science, Operations Research, or another quantitative STEM field.

• 3+ years of experience in credit risk, underwriting, pricing, or strategy analytics, preferably in fintech, payments, or lending.

• Familiarity with P&L concepts to balance revenue growth objectives with loss control discipline.

• Hands-on experience building dashboards and reports in Sigma, Tableau, or equivalent BI tools, with demonstrated ability to extract business insights from complex datasets and present them clearly to non-technical stakeholders.

• Strong analytical mindset with the ability to perform root cause analysis, recognize patterns, and attention to detail to ensure quality from analysis through deployment and outcome tracking.

• Strong sense of ownership; able to manage multiple priorities and respond to partner requests with urgency and a collaborative spirit.

• Proficiency in SQL and Excel; experience with Python, R, or decision tree analysis is a plus.

• Experience in merchant partnership management or B2B lending is a plus

• Experience working with complex relational databases and large transaction-level datasets.

Compensation and Benefits:

• Base Salary: Earn a competitive base salary $31,000-$58,000

• Healthcare Stipend: We prioritize your well-being by covering medical, dental, and vision insurance costs.

• Paid Time Off: We value work-life balance, which is why we offer flexible paid time off starting from your first day of employment.

We're building a team as diverse as the customers we serve. Kafene is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer, and we mean it. We welcome qualified applicants of every race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, veteran status, and all other legally protected characteristics.

Need accommodation during the application process? We've got you. If you're applying for a U.S. position and require reasonable accommodation at any stage, reach out to careers@kafene.com with details about your request and contact information. We're here to help make the process work for you.

Note: This email address is specifically for accommodation requests and will only respond to those inquiries.