Strategy Lead, iwoca
Acquisition, Germany
+ Employee equity incentive scheme
Online loans for small businesses
Posted today
Online loans for small businesses
201-500 employees
Posted today
+ Employee equity incentive scheme
201-500 employees
Company mission
To fund one million small businesses.
Role
Who you are
- The scope of this role is broad and we're not looking for someone with deep expertise in every domain the team covers – spanning strategy, analytics, product development, and data science – but rather someone intellectually curious, and skilled at asking the right questions
- Strong commercial mindset with proven experience driving go-to-market strategy and measurable acquisition growth
- Experience in growth strategy, revenue operations, or a highly analytical commercial role with a track record of driving tech-enabled or product-led growth
- Proven people management or team leadership experience, with the ability to build culture and establish operating rhythms in a newly formed team
- Fluency in German and strong written communication skills tailored to customer-facing environments
- Strong analytical capability and experience with experimentation frameworks and A/B testing tools
- Experience working with (or a strong desire to learn about) technical models such as lead scoring, predictive targeting, or qualification logic
- Ability to work from first principles and thrive in ambiguity with curiosity and autonomy
Desirable
- Experience in fintech, lending, B2B SaaS, or regulated products
- Experience working closely with engineering, product, or data science teams to ship features or models
- Knowledge of the German SME ecosystem or B2B financial products
What the job involves
- The Acquisition Strategy and Tech team is the integrated growth engine for iwoca in Germany
- We bridge the gap between high-level commercial strategy and the technical systems that power our customer journey
- By combining growth analytics, performance modeling, and full-stack engineering, we own the end-to-end acquisition funnel – from the very first touchpoint to a completed loan application. Our Core Focus:
- Strategic Growth & Analytics: We serve as the central hub for our Direct Marketing and Sales channels
- We translate complex data into actionable strategies, ensuring our outreach is both scalable and profitably managed
- Technical Infrastructure: We build and maintain the proprietary systems and models that drive our German operations
- This includes optimizing the "User Experience" (UX) to ensure a frictionless onboarding process for small businesses
- Operational Excellence: We connect the dots between data-driven decision-making and real-world commercial impact
- Our mission is to ensure every potential customer receives a clear, relevant, and rapid understanding of how iwoca can fund their business
- We are a fast-moving, cross-functional unit designed to turn strategic hypotheses into measurable results
- Whether it’s refining a marketing model or shipping a new feature in the application journey, we ensure that iwoca’s expansion in the German market is backed by robust tech and a clear commercial North Star
- This role sits at the intersection of commercial strategy, data, and technology
- Reporting into the Head of Direct Acquisition, you will lead a high-performing, interdisciplinary team of three and own acquisition and activation outcomes for the German market
- Your primary objective is to co-define the growth strategy and partner closely with engineering and data teams to build the systems, onboarding journeys, and experiments that bring that strategy to life
- You'll define hypotheses, lead cross-functional initiatives, and own the roadmap for how iwoca engages with German businesses
- You will be accountable for measurable impact on acquisition and conversion, bringing ideas to life through rigorous commercial insight, strong customer empathy, and practical delivery
- As a Lead, you will also be responsible for coaching your team and establishing the operating rhythm for this new unit
- Market and problem understanding:
- Deeply understand the German SME lending landscape, customer needs, and competitive context to sharpen our go-to-market strategy
- Translate market and customer insight into clearly defined product problems and prioritised commercial opportunities
- Inform targeting and segmentation strategies to help Marketing and Sales reach the right customers
- Product build and optimisation:
- Own the roadmap for acquisition and onboarding, working with engineers and data scientists to develop tools such as lead scoring systems, eligibility checkers, and onboarding journeys
- Work with marketing and sales to evolve website content, sign-up flows, and decisioning logic to increase conversion
- Influence future team capability by helping define priorities, roles, and processes as we scale
- Experimentation and insight:
- Design, run, and interpret A/B tests across messaging, targeting, onboarding tools, and product flows
- Identify opportunities using first-principle reasoning supported by data, customer research, and funnel analysis
- Cross-functional collaboration:
- Manage, coach, and develop a team of at the beginning two commercial strategy analysts and a data scientist focused on acquisition strategy and operational excellence
- Lead cross-functional initiatives, aligning engineering, data, marketing, and commercial stakeholders around clear goals, hypotheses, and success metrics
- Translate high-level business goals into testable hypotheses and actionable briefs for our technical teams
- Help establish the operating rhythm, rituals, and roadmap processes for this new team
Our take
UK SMEs are the backbone of a complex economy that is constantly changing, so the need for fast and responsive access to finance is becoming more and more important to ensure their success and growth. iwoca allows SMEs access to business loans in less than a minute, with its API and business marketplace partnerships.
With offerings like iwoca's, gone are the days where waiting up to eight weeks for a loan decision was viable. Its simplified business loans of £1,000 - £500,000 come with no fees attached, and applying online takes no more than five minutes. The ready availability of iwoca loans gives business owners a level of certainty, so that they can make instant decisions to help their business grow.
iwoca has made a number of partnerships with other players in the business finance space, including an impressive industry-first invoice checkout integration with QuickBooks. Funding raised by the company, which is now operating at net profitability, will enable it to meet a recent surge in demand for corporate loans and offer more to larger SMB businesses. And the company has made several billion in funding available to over 100,000 businesses since launching, positioning itself as a leading European fintech.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Aug 2025
$16m
SERIES D
Aug 2019
$13.5m
GRANT
Total funding: $114.3m
Company benefits
- Work where you work best: Twice a year we rent houses in places like Sicily and the French Alps where each team can work together for a week poolside. We champion flexible working in all our teams
- Invest in iwoca: We want people to be invested in iwoca's success so after six months you'll be awarded share options
- Keep yourself healthy: We offer comprehensive health insurance and cash plans. You'll also get gym discounts and we host yoga classes in the office every week
- Start (and end) your day right: Each floor of iwoca HQ has a fully stocked fridge for breakfast and every Friday we unwind with beers and wine
- Life-work balance: We know your life outside of work comes first. We offer enhanced maternity and paternity leave for new parents plus a nursery benefit. We also have unlimited unpaid leave
- Learning and development: Whether you want to learn to code, experiment with motion design, or beat cognitive biases, you'll have time and budget to invest in your professional development
Company values
- Motivated: Going to work shouldn't feel like a slog, so we want everyone in the team to personally care about what they're working on. We stay motivated by celebrating our wins, learning from our mistakes, and always looking for new gaps to step into
- Smart: At iwoca being smart isn't about what you know, it's about how you think. Smart thinking means looking at each problem by asking ‘why’ first, then figuring out ‘how’
- Humble: We know all ideas are flawed, all code has bugs, and everyone makes mistakes - it’s how we learn. For us, being humble means you question yourself first, rather than your team
- Growth Mindset: We think there's always a better way to solve a problem. So we never let ourselves get comfortable with being good enough
Company HQ
Fitzrovia, London, UK
Articles
Leadership
Christoph Rieche
(Co-Founder & CEO)Previously spent 7 years at Goldman Sachs as a Vice President before co-founding iwoca in 2011.
Joost Versteeg
(CMO)Joost initially joined iwoca in 2017 as an Intern. Since then, they have held a number of roles, from Growth Analyst to Head of Commercial Strategy and became CMO in 2024.
People progressing
Serita joined as a Customer Onboarder, before moving into the Broker Team. Most recently they have been promoted to Partnership Manager.
Leo joined in 2018 as a Client Onboarder. Since then, they have worked in a number of roles and now serve as the Product Manager.
Jenny originally joined the Client Onboarding team and now leads the Customer Success department for the German business.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at iwoca
- We work hard to make iwoca a place where everyone feels welcome, where you can confidently be yourself. We understand that diversity isn't an optional add-on, it's the core ingredient of what makes us great.
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