Team Lead, Lending Lab

Branch Overview

Branch is a leading AI-based lending fintech with 50M+ downloads across India and Africa. We use alternative data to reach millions of people that are largely excluded from the financial sector.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley with operations in India, Nigeria and Kenya, Branch is a for-profit, socially conscious company built for scale and impact. Our mission-driven team—founded and led by the former CEO of Kiva.org—now spans 400+ employees globally. We're backed by investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Visa, and the IFC.

Job Overview

Branch is launching Branch Lending Lab — a new team focused on discovering and validating the next suite of lending products for Branch. The Lending Lab team will serve as a sandbox for 0-to-1 prototypes and experimental credit products that can unlock long-term growth and financial inclusion.

As the founding Lead of Branch Lending Lab, you will head this new team. You will work closely with senior leaders across product, engineering, credit, and marketing to incubate new ideas, structure experiments, and determine what's worth scaling. Your role will sit at the intersection of product strategy and entrepreneurial exploration - with the freedom to move quickly and the responsibility to prioritize ruthlessly.

As a company, we are passionate about our customers, fearless in the face of barriers, and driven by data. As a product-driven org, we value bottom-up innovation and decentralized decision-making. We believe the best ideas can come from anyone in the company, and create an environment where everyone feels empowered to propose solutions to the challenges we face.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a small, high-caliber innovation team focused on early-stage prototyping, user testing, and validation
• Work cross-functionally with product, engineering, and broader organization to test ideas and deliver working prototypes within weeks—not quarters.
• Define the review, success, and transfer criteria for experiments; ensure learnings are documented and decisions are data-driven
• Collaborate with the executive team to ensure Lending Lab's efforts align with Branch's long-term mission, vision, and technical capabilities

Qualifications

• You have 5+ years of experience in entrepreneurship and/or innovation leadership, ideally with experience building 0→1 products in startup or venture environments, while driving both product and P&L.
• You have experience working on consumer-facing products. Prior experience with financial services is a plus.
• Deep understanding of experimentation frameworks and lean product development; you're comfortable killing 90% of ideas to find the 10% that matter
• Strong technical fluency—you've worked with engineers and data scientists to build from scratch, and can model systems-level thinking
• Exceptional communication and collaboration skills across distributed teams; you can inspire without micromanaging
• You know that startups are a team sport. Your effective communication and powerful collaboration are critical to succeed at Branch.
• You are resourceful. You know how to do more with less, and you've worked on lean teams that have had a big impact. You are not afraid of big challenges, and you do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Benefits of Joining

• Mission-driven, fast-paced and entrepreneurial environment
• Competitive salary and equity package
• A collaborative and flat company culture
• Remote first, with the option to work in-person occasionally
• Fully-paid Group Medical Insurance and Personal Accidental Insurance
• Unlimited paid time off including personal leave, bereavement leave, sick leave
• Fully paid parental leave - 6 months maternity leave and 3 months paternity leave
• Monthly WFH stipend alongside a one time home office set-up budget
• $500 Annual professional development budget
• Discretionary trips to our offices across the globe, with global travel medical insurance
• Team meals and social events- Virtual and In-person

Branch International is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The company does not and will not discriminate in employment on any basis prohibited by applicable law. We're looking for more than just qualifications -- so if you're unsure that you meet the criteria, please do not hesitate to apply