VP, Underwriting (Payments & Banking)

Job Description

Job Description

Job title: VP, Underwriting (Payments & Banking)

Reports to: Sr VP of Operational Risk

Department: Business Resource Group

Location: Alpharetta, GA or Long Island, NY

Grade: 20

About Priority:

Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. is a leading financial technology company on a mission to deliver a personalized, easy-to-adopt financial toolset that accelerates cash flow and optimizes working capital for businesses. Our vision is to eliminate the barriers to unlocking revenue - empowering businesses to grow faster and operate smarter.

We achieve this through the Priority Commerce Engine, an innovative platform that combines payables, acquiring, and banking and treasury solutions. This unified approach allows businesses to streamline financial operations, reduce unnecessary costs, and uncover new revenue opportunities.

At Priority, we're driven by results. We expect our people to be known for results - bringing expertise, momentum, and relentless focus to every challenge, helping our clients and each other thrive.

About the Role:

The Vice President of Underwriting will lead the strategy, design, and execution of underwriting across a modern payments and banking platform, including merchant acquiring, card issuing, ACH, embedded banking services, and large enterprise client programs.

This leader will be responsible for building a scalable, data-driven underwriting function that enables growth across SMB, mid-market, and large enterprise segments while protecting the company from credit, fraud, and compliance risk. You will oversee underwriting policies, risk frameworks, and

decisioning systems across multiple product lines and partner ecosystems, including sponsor banks, networks, and third-party vendors.

This role requires a strategic operator who can balance risk discipline with commercial enablement—supporting complex enterprise deals, new product launches, and expansion into new markets.

Responsibilities:

Underwriting Strategy & Risk Framework

• Own and evolve underwriting strategy across acquiring, issuing, ACH, and banking-as-a-service (BaaS) products.

• Develop and maintain risk frameworks that support diverse customer types, including SMBs, platforms, ISVs, and large enterprise clients.

• Establish risk appetite, segmentation strategies, and approval thresholds aligned with company growth objectives.

Enterprise & Complex Deal Support

• Lead underwriting for large, complex, and strategic enterprise opportunities, including bespoke risk structures and contract negotiation support.

• Partner with Sales, Partnerships, and Product teams to structure deals that balance growth, risk, and customer experience.

• Provide risk advisory on new verticals, geographies, and product expansions.

Policy, Compliance & Governance

• Design and implement underwriting policies covering credit, fraud, KYC/KYB, and transaction risk across all payment flows.

• Ensure alignment with regulatory requirements, including NACHA, card network rules, sponsor bank requirements, and applicable banking regulations.

• Partner closely with Legal, Compliance, and bank partners to maintain strong governance and audit readiness.

Portfolio Risk Management

• Oversee ongoing monitoring of the merchant and client portfolio across acquiring, issuing, and ACH products.

• Identify and mitigate emerging risks, including credit exposure, fraud trends, chargebacks, returns, and operational risks.

• Develop early warning systems and escalation protocols.

Technology & Automation

• Collaborate with Engineering and Data teams to build automated underwriting and decisioning tools.

• Drive the use of data, analytics, and machine learning to improve approval rates, speed, and risk outcomes.

• Lead vendor strategy for third-party data providers, identity verification, and risk scoring tools.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner with Product to embed risk considerations into new product development (e.g., issuing programs, embedded finance, lending adjacencies).

• Work with Sales and Customer Success to optimize onboarding and lifecycle risk management.

• Serve as a key stakeholder with sponsor banks, networks, and external partners.

Team Leadership

• Build, lead, and scale a high-performing underwriting and risk team.

• Establish KPIs, reporting frameworks, and executive-level dashboards.

• Foster a culture of accountability, curiosity, and continuous improvement.

What Success Looks Like:

• Leading the underwriting team to consistently meet/exceed SLA’s and continue to identify and implement process improvements that focus on customers, partners, and shareholders.

• Building an underwriting organization that is highly automated, analytics driven, and scalable across all businesses which will enable faster decisions without sacrificing risk quality.

• Having defined, auditable underwriting policies and procedures that meet the requirements of sponsor banks, card networks, and regulators.

• Ensures alignment between underwriting, risk and partner teams on strategic initiatives, business objectives, and goals that materially impact the business.

• Being a trusted strategic partner to Product, Sales, Compliance, and external partners for product designs, market expansion, and deal structures.

Candidate Requirements:

Minimum

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.

• 10–15+ years of experience in underwriting, credit risk, or payments risk within fintech, payments, banking, or financial services.

• Proven leadership experience managing underwriting or risk teams in high-growth environments.

Preferred

• Deep expertise across payment ecosystems, including:

  • Merchant acquiring (card-present and card-not-present)

  • Card issuing programs

  • ACH and alternative payment rails

  • Embedded finance / banking-as-a-service

• Experience supporting large enterprise or platform-based deals with complex risk structures.

• Strong understanding of KYC/KYB, fraud prevention, and transaction monitoring frameworks.

• Familiarity with sponsor bank relationships and regulatory expectations.

• Highly analytical with strong business judgment and decision-making capabilities.

• Excellent communicator with the ability to influence executive stakeholders and external partners.

• Experience building underwriting systems, workflows, and automation at scale.

Work Environment & Culture:

We believe that performance and experience go hand in hand - an exceptional employee experience is earned through contribution. We are a results-driven team, grounded in our core values: ownership, authenticity, service, trust, innovation, and camaraderie.

Our culture is built for those who want to make an impact. We challenge each other to grow, celebrate progress, and support one another through shared goals and real connection. Whether you're building technology, serving clients, or supporting internal teams, you’ll be part of a company that empowers you to perform at your best and be known for results.

Compensation and Benefits:

Compensation range: $150k-$170k
We invest in the whole employee - personally and professionally. Our benefits package is designed to support your well-being, growth, and success - both inside and outside of work.

Financial Wellness

• Bonus programs

• 401(k) match

• Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP)

• HSA and FSA options

• Financial wellness resources and employee discount programs

Health & Well-being

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage

• Mental health support for employees and dependents through Lyra Health

• Family planning and women’s health benefits through Carrot

• Gym membership reimbursement and virtual wellness programs (including yoga)

Time Off

• 3 weeks PTO to start, with unlimited PTO after year one

Growth & Development

• Education expense reimbursement

• Leadership development programs

• Certified Payments Professional (CPP) certification support

We believe great performance starts with feeling supported - and we’ve built our benefits with that in mind.

Traditional Physical Requirements:

• Requires prolonged sitting, standing, bending, stooping and stretching.

• Requires the ability to lift 10 pounds.

• Requires eye-hand coordination, manual dexterity and a normal range of hearing and vision (with or without correction).

Join our team at Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. and be part of a dynamic and innovative company that is transforming the financial technology landscape. Together, we can shape the future of payments and banking solutions while providing unmatched value to our clients.