Payroll Lending Manager – Public Sector

At Strivo Labs, we are passionate about helping businesses scale with speed and precision. We specialise in providing end-to-end digital solutions, from custom design and MVP development to automation and content creation. We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Payroll Lending Manager - Public Sector

Location: Ikeja, Lagos Role Overview We are seeking an experienced Payroll Lending Manager – Public Sector to drive the growth and performance of the public-sector payroll lending portfolio. The successful candidate will be responsible for developing and managing government/MDA partnerships, driving loan origination and disbursement, managing portfolio performance, and ensuring effective check-off deductions, remittance, credit risk management, and regulatory compliance. The role requires strong stakeholder and relationship management skills, particularly within government and public-sector environments, as well as the willingness to travel extensively across Nigeria.

Key Responsibilities

Lending Growth & Strategic Partnerships: Build, onboard, and manage relationships with government MDAs, payroll administrators, employers, corporates, and SMEs to establish and sustain salary deduction and check-off arrangements. Drive loan origination, disbursement volumes, and portfolio growth across public and private-sector segments in line with approved targets and risk appetite. Identify and develop new MDA mandates, employer partnerships, and business development opportunities to expand the payroll lending pipeline. Collaborate with Sales, Business Development, Credit, Risk, and other relevant teams to drive portfolio growth. Develop and maintain strong relationships with key public-sector stakeholders to support business growth and protect existing lending arrangements. Underwriting, Deduction & Loan Management: Develop and continuously improve underwriting criteria for public and private-sector borrowers, considering factors such as grade level, years to retirement, deduction limits, employer standing, industry risk, employment tenure, income verification, and deduction reliability. Coordinate with government payroll platforms and employer HR/payroll teams to validate employment status, salary, deduction consent, and ongoing remittance. Monitor deduction and remittance performance and promptly resolve issues relating to non-remittance, partial remittance, or deduction stoppages. Track employment changes, including redeployment, promotion, transfer, retirement, resignation, termination, and change of employer, to minimise repayment disruptions and portfolio delinquency. Manage repayment transitions where payroll deductions cease, including moving affected accounts to direct collection arrangements where required. Portfolio Risk, Compliance & Recovery: Monitor government policies, public-sector pay structures, employer restructuring, salary delays, financial distress, and other risk indicators that may affect portfolio performance. Adjust lending exposure where necessary based on emerging portfolio and employer-level risks. Own portfolio quality across the payroll lending book, including Portfolio-at-Risk (PAR) and Non-Performing Loan (NPL) performance. Drive appropriate remedial, collections, and recovery actions on delinquent accounts. Work closely with Legal, Compliance, Credit, and Risk teams to ensure lending activities, deduction arrangements, and employer partnerships comply with applicable regulatory and internal requirements. Maintain an appropriate balance between portfolio growth, credit quality, risk management, and regulatory compliance. Stakeholder & Relationship Management: Maintain effective relationships with MDA officials, government payroll administrators, pension administrators, treasury officials, employer HR/payroll teams, and other relevant stakeholders. Protect existing deduction arrangements and identify opportunities for portfolio expansion. Proactively resolve stakeholder, operational, payroll, deduction, and remittance-related issues that could affect loan repayment or portfolio performance. Navigate complex public-sector and government stakeholder environments while maintaining strong professional relationships. Reporting & Performance Management: Prepare periodic management reports covering loan origination, disbursement, portfolio growth, PAR, NPL, remittance rates, MDA mandates, employer partnerships, and other key portfolio indicators. Track loan approval and disbursement turnaround times and drive improvements against agreed service and performance targets. Monitor portfolio performance against agreed growth, quality, and operational targets. Provide management with actionable insights on portfolio performance, emerging risks, deduction trends, and business growth opportunities.