Data Analytics Consultant

About the role

MeridianLink is seeking a Data Analytics Consultant with a strong foundation in credit risk analysis and consumer lending performance to support financial institutions in optimizing their underwriting and decisioning strategies. This role focuses on analyzing credit data, loan performance, and bureau information to help clients improve approval rates, manage risk, and enhance portfolio health. In this role, you will partner closely with clients and internal teams to evaluate credit policies, interpret credit reports and performance trends, and translate analytical findings into practical lending recommendations. You will lead multiple client engagements, guiding institutions through data-driven insights that support responsible growth and sound risk management. As a trusted advisor within the Analytics Team, you will help clients understand how MeridianLink's decisioning platforms and analytics tools can be used to strengthen underwriting, improve member experience, and drive sustainable lending outcomes. This role is ideal for individuals who are passionate about consumer credit, enjoy working directly with financial institutions, and take pride in delivering clear, actionable insights that influence lending strategy.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Investigate and dissect the structure of MeridianLink decisioning platforms, including MeridianLink Consumer and DecisionLender, to map how applications traverse the underwriting and approval process.
• Audit credit bureau data, application data, and loan performance data to uncover portfolio risk, approval trends, and delinquency patterns with a rigorous analytical lens.
• Scrutinize underwriting guidelines, scorecards, and decision rules to surface opportunities for optimization and enhanced decisioning logic.
• Decode consumer credit reports by examining tradelines, inquiries, utilization, and public records to support detailed risk profiling and policy recommendations.
• Measure and interpret key lending metrics such as approval rate, decline rate, capture rate, delinquency, charge-offs, and loss rates to quantify portfolio health.
• Partner with clients to balance risk management and growth objectives through meticulously researched data-backed policy and strategy recommendations.
• Synthesize complex analyses into client-facing reports and dashboards that communicate portfolio performance and risk trends with precision and clarity.
• Facilitate and lead client meetings to present findings, explain credit risk drivers, and collaboratively discuss optimization strategies with stakeholders.
• Work in tandem with internal analytics, engineering, and product teams to design and deliver high-quality analytics solutions that meet institutional needs.
• Uphold accuracy and consistency across all analytical deliverables through rigorous validation and quality assurance practices.
• Contribute to internal best practices, documentation, and training initiatives focused on credit risk management and consumer lending analytics.
• Build and refine scalable tools and templates that enable efficient portfolio monitoring and in-depth underwriting analysis over time.
• Advise clients on industry best practices in credit risk management and consumer lending, positioning MeridianLink as a trusted strategic partner.
• Explore emerging trends and data signals in consumer credit to continuously refine analytical approaches and client value propositions.
• Maintain strict adherence to data integrity principles, ensuring that insights derived from complex datasets remain reliable and actionable.
• Support the iterative enhancement of analytical frameworks to adapt to evolving client portfolios and regulatory considerations.

Requirements

• Hold a Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business, Statistics, Mathematics, Data Analytics, or a related field as a foundational academic qualification.
• Bring 3-6 years of professional experience in credit risk analysis, underwriting, lending analytics, or financial services consulting to the table.
• Demonstrate prior experience working with consumer credit data, bureau reports from Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, or loan performance data as a core competency.
• Show a solid understanding of consumer lending fundamentals, including underwriting workflows, risk tiers, scorecards, and policy rules that govern decisioning.
• Have hands-on experience analyzing loan performance, delinquency trends, and loss metrics within a portfolio management context.
• Exhibit strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities, with a proven ability to translate complex data into clear business recommendations.
• Possess demonstrated expertise in SQL, with the ability to write, debug, and optimize queries against relational databases.
• Show proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint to support detailed analysis and the creation of polished client presentations.
• Have advanced competency in business intelligence tools such as Power BI, Sisense, or similar platforms for dashboarding and reporting.
• Display strong project management and organizational skills to effectively manage multiple client engagements simultaneously.
• Communicate excellent written and verbal skills, with the ability to tailor explanations of credit risk concepts for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Maintain high attention to detail and a strong commitment to data quality and accuracy in every phase of analysis.
• Thrive in a client-facing capacity, demonstrating professionalism, empathy, and integrity when advising financial institutions.
• Leverage a growth mindset to continuously learn new methodologies, data sources, and decisioning frameworks within the credit analytics space.

Nice to have

• Preferred experience with MeridianLink's specific decisioning suites and implementation projects.
• Familiarity with regulatory and compliance considerations relevant to consumer lending and credit risk analytics.
• Background in consultative selling or solution-based selling within the financial services technology space.
• Experience supporting model validation or model monitoring activities related to credit risk scoring.
• Knowledge of data visualization best practices and storytelling techniques for executive-level audiences.

Practical notes

This is a full-time remote position based in the United States. The role requires frequent client interaction, occasional after-hours analysis during global business cycles, and adherence to strict data governance standards. Travel is not required, and candidates must be eligible to work in the United States without sponsorship. This position does not have a specified expiration date, but early application is encouraged due to the volume of qualified candidates.