Head of Underwriting & Credit Operations

City + Capital are currently representing an established and ambitious short-term property finance lender who have retained our services to appoint a Head of Underwriting and Credit Operations at an exciting time of growth.

Our client has recently achieved large investment with the onboarding of new funding lines. Due to this, the team and loan book looks set to grow.

This is a brand-new role created within the current hierarchy and requires an individual with a strong background in bridging or development finance underwriting and credit management.

It is also a role that comes with additional progression potential too, where excellent performance is delivered.

The Company

Our client is a longstanding player in the short-term property finance lending market and are renowned for supporting property investors & developers with access to funds for key real estate projects.

The business has built a strong reputation and operates with an experienced senior leadership team combining extensive backgrounds across property lending, investment and development.

Due to the increase in investment, the team is set to expand, making this a critical appointment at an exciting time, for both the business, as well as the underwriting and credit operation.

Role Overview

The Head of Underwriting and Credit Operations will take a leading role in the oversight of the assessment & management of short term property finance transactions, taking personal responsibility for larger and more complex loan requests.

Working closely with the board and as a key member of the lending committees, you will oversee activity driven by sales and will ensure strong oversight of the loan pipeline, driving individuals to achieve borrower SLAs.

Critically, you will be charged with building the department and team in your own style and in line with business growth. You may expect to grow the team of case management and underwriting/credit specialists as business growth demands & from day one will proactively seek opportunities to improve and enhance lending processes, policies, strategies and activity to deliver on important lending objectives.

This is a critical appointment at an exciting time with the successful candidate potentially moving to the lenders 'CRO' role quickly, if excellent performance is delivered. More on that later.

Responsibilities

• Oversight of lending activity to make recommendations on loan approvals
• Ensure detailed credit papers and recommendations for Investment Committee
• Ensure due diligence across borrowers, assets and proposed transactions
• Oversight of valuations, credit reports, bank statements, legal docs & titles
• Identify, assess and mitigate credit and fraud risks
• Seek to identify & improve underwriting policies and processes
• Make recommendations on credit or product enhancements
• Drive MI and reporting for your department to the board
• Ensure accurate loan and credit information across internal systems
• Improve underwriting processes and standard operating procedures

Candidate Requirements

The successful candidate for this role must be highly experienced in short-term property finance lending, ideally from a credit or underwriting position, and with a minimum of 8 years' experience in the sector. Those with less cannot be accepted for this role.

Our client is happy to consider current 'Head of' level candidates, but also those 'ready to step up' into their first senior role.

The other element is the ability to commute to our client's London offices. This is a hybrid role, but attendance in London HQ will be critical for 'office days.'

You will ideally be someone who enjoys remaining hands-on with transactions while also having the experience and ambition to influence how a lending function operates.

• Significant short-term property finance underwriting experience
• The ability to assess applications manually, commercially & bespoke
• Experienced handling complex and higher-value short-term transactions
• A good understanding of both bridging and development financeStrong knowledge of financial crime, AML / KYC
• Happy to deal with funding lines directly
• Previous management, mentoring or team leadership experience advantageous
• Strong analytical, numerical and organisational skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication

On Offer

As above, our client is willing to consider a range of current seniority and are therefore open to offering salaries based on experience. We would expect this to be between £70k - £100k, though higher offers could be considered for exceptional experience and talent.

Salary will be complemented by access to our client's favourable bonus scheme too, to boost annual income significantly.

Most notably, and as mentioned, this is a role that comes with an immediate longer-term plan, where the successful candidate performs highly. The lender is aware that they will be looking to appoint a Chief Risk Officer (CRO) soon. The preference would be to 'promote' this person from within, should a suitable option be available.

The belief is that the best placed individual will be the individual successful in winning this role, offering a genuine early 'growth' target for you personally, where you can make a big impact in this role.

Therefore, this is much more of a 'career opportunity' as opposed to 'another job!'

Next Steps

There is a reasonable amount of urgency to fill this position in line with objectives.

Due to the nature of the role & opportunity, we do not expect it to be on the market for long!

Once we have reviewed your application, we will be in touch with an update. We look forward to hearing from you.

The City + Capital Team

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