VP, Credit Model Development (L12)

Job Description:

Role Title:  VP, Credit Model Development (L12)
 

Company Overview: Synchrony (NYSE: SYF) is a premier consumer financial services company delivering one of the industry’s most complete digitally enabled product suites. Our experience, expertise and scale encompass a broad spectrum of industries including digital, health and wellness, retail, telecommunications, home, auto, outdoors, pet and more.

• We have recently been ranked #2 among India’s Best Companies to Work for by Great Place to Work. We were among the Top 50 India’s Best Workplaces in Building a Culture of Innovation by All by GPTW and Top 25 among Best Workplaces in BFSI by GPTW. We have also been recognized by AmbitionBox Employee Choice Awards among the Top 20 Mid-Sized Companies, ranked #3 among Top Rated Companies for Women, and Top-Rated Financial Services Companies.

• Synchrony celebrates ~52% women diversity, 105+ people with disabilities, and ~50 veterans and veteran family members.

• We offer Flexibility and Choice for all employees and provide best-in-class employee benefits and programs that cater to work-life integration and overall well-being.

• We provide career advancement and upskilling opportunities, focusing on Advancing Diverse Talent to take up leadership roles.

Organizational Overview: Credit Team decisions credit actions across the lifecycle of a customer – from acquisition to account management to collections and recover – we work towards managing credit and fraud losses and elevating customer experience through powerful and proprietary insights on customer risk and credit behaviors. The actionable insights are driven by access to numerous alternative data sources, new age technologies, focused strategies, emerging algorithms, and predictive precision. Spread across 10 pillars the credit team in India caters to the entire gamut of decision sciences, from data management to model development to strategy design, and bringing it all to life through technology, and managing within the guardrails of our regulatory requirements. As part of the team, you will have access to some unique product propositions, functional and leadership training, interaction with executive leadership team and a myriad of diverse perspectives.
 

Role Summary/Purpose:

Synchrony’s Credit and Capital Management team is looking VP, credit model development. The role requires an experienced credit risk professional who has proficiency in model development and model lifecycle management across the entire lifecycle of a credit. The experience should focus on both credit risk and fraud (preferably in Credit Cards or Consumer Lending). The role requires the individual to have a combination of statistical/quantitative as well as software/programing skills using big data. The incumbent will manage a team and serve as a Project Lead in developing robust and cutting-edge modeling solutions by executing on key responsibilities outlined below.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead model projects working closely with vendors and/or cross-functionally

• Support the design, development of consumer credit statistical / econometric models supporting credit risk and fraud models across the entire lifecycle of credit from acquisition, account management, collections, and recovery

• Maintain comprehensive model documentation needed to meet regulatory requirements.

• Adapt automation, alternative data and machine learning algorithms, data frameworks and implementation platforms to enhance the modelling outcomes and to meet incremental objectives

• Assist with successful annual quantitative and qualitative assessments/remediations and submission of existing models with respect to internal (model validation/audit) and external (regulatory) guidelines 

• Lead the model monitoring process, including root cause drivers of any material shifts in model performance, manage discussions with Model Owners, maintain model change logs

• Manage model approval process with legal/compliance, model validation & development, business user and other governance teams

• Assist the model sponsor and model owners in providing model technical documentation and responses related to model risk management for internal/ external reviews

• Manage audit and validation requests, and develop remediation plan for timely resolution on any issues uncovered through those requests

• Operate as a doer-leader, manage a team, with a focus on prioritizing deliverables / timelines, upskilling talent to latest techniques and technologies, as well as providing cross functional experiences 

• Perform other duties and/or special projects as assigned 

Required Skills/Knowledge:

• Bachelor’s degree with quantitative underpinning (i.e., Risk, Economics, Finance, Mathematics,  Statistics, Engineering) with minimum 8+ years’ experience in an analytical/quantitative role related to consumer lending or in lieu of a degree 10 years’ of relevant experience in an analytical/quantitative role related to consumer lending.

• Strong programing skills in SAS, SQL, Python. Proven hands-on experience utilizing using either SQL, Python, SAS etc. to perform statistical analysis, query relational databases, and manage large amounts of data

• Minimum 4+ years of progressive experience in model development or validation

• Minimum 3+ years hands on programming experience leveraging tools such as SAS/SQL/R/Python etc.

• Experience in credit risk and fraud model development or validation end-to-end in areas such as application scorecards, behavioral models – account and customer level, roll rate prediction models, self-cure models, recovery model etc.

• Experience managing a team of data scientists and/or model developers and providing thought leadership to support model development activities 

• Strong communication skills to facilitate complex discussions in productive and collaborative manner positive mindset under tight timelines / critical deliverables 

• Deep familiarity with model risk management under SR 11-7 model governance requirements 

Desired Skills/Knowledge:

• Strong working knowledge of transactional and credit bureau data e.g., FICO, Transunion, Equifax as well as knowledge of alternative data sources to enhance model development

• Experience in data visualization (Tableau) and reporting solutions 

• Excellent time management with ability to manage multiple competing initiatives and deliver results within deadlines with accuracy and attention to detail 

• Extensive experience with Compliance/ legal in interpreting and implementing quantitative regulatory requirements within business settings

• Understanding of Heightened Standards, fair lending, CECL, and/or the OCC Model Risk Management Examiner Handbook

• Ability to explain how an AI model or machine learning system reached a decision, prediction, or recommendation in a way that humans can understand

Eligibility Criteria:

Bachelor’s degree with quantitative underpinning (i.e., Risk, Economics, Finance, Mathematics,  Statistics, Engineering) with minimum 8+ years’ experience in an analytical/quantitative role related to consumer lending or in lieu of a degree 10 + years’ of relevant experience in an analytical/quantitative role related to consumer lending.

Work Timings: This role qualifies for Enhanced Flexibility and Choice offered in Synchrony India and will require the incumbent to be available between 06:00 AM Eastern Time – 11:30 AM Eastern Time (timings are anchored to US Eastern hours and will adjust twice a year locally). This window is for meetings with India and US teams. The remaining hours will be flexible for the employee to choose. Exceptions may apply periodically due to business needs. Please discuss this with the hiring manager for more details. 

For Internal Applicants:

• Understand the criteria or mandatory skills required for the role, before applying

• Inform your manager and HRM before applying for any role on Workday

• Ensure that your professional profile is updated (fields such as education, prior experience, other skills) and it is mandatory to upload your updated resume (Word or PDF format)

• Must not be any corrective action plan (First Formal/Final Formal, PIP)

• L10+ Employees who have completed 18 months in the organization and 12 months in current role and level are only eligible.

• L10+ Employees can apply

Grade/Level: 12

Job Family Group:

Credit