VP Real Estate Lending

About the Role

Provides executive leadership for the Credit Union’s residential real estate lending operations, including underwriting, processing, pre-funding audit, funding, servicing, default management, loss mitigation, and system administration. Oversees portfolio management obligations, including portfolio performance, credit quality, pricing, risk, profitability, and compliance, while guiding product design and enhancement to meet member needs, market demand, and competitive conditions. Drives strategic transformation, technology modernization, operational effectiveness, regulatory compliance, loan quality, optimized turn-times, and member experience through process discipline, data-driven management, and adoption of emerging technologies.

Responsibilities

• Provides strategic and day-to-day leadership that aligns real estate lending operations with the Credit Union’s mission, strategic priorities, risk appetite, and corporate values.
• Leads a compliant, well-controlled operating environment that meets regulatory, investor, quality-control, and internal governance expectations.
• Leads end-to-end residential real estate operations, including underwriting, processing, pre-funding audit, funding, servicing, default management, loss mitigation, and related system administration.
• Develops and manages budgets, goals, and operating plans that support production, service, quality, risk management, and strategic transformation objectives.
• Establishes and monitors performance metrics for pipeline management, loan turn-times, cycle times, service levels, productivity, quality, risk indicators, pull-through, and member experience.
• Maintains policies, procedures, and operational controls that align with applicable laws, regulations, investor and secondary market requirements, including Fannie Mae Selling Guide and Servicing Guide requirements, service standards, and internal controls.
• Leads service design and workflow redesign initiatives that simplify the member and employee experience, reduce friction, improve communications, and optimize time from application to funding.
• Monitors market, regulatory, technology, and competitive trends and recommends products, services, strategies, and process enhancements that create member value.
• Guides product design, pricing, delivery strategies, and process enhancements that respond to member needs, market demand, competitive conditions, and the Credit Union’s growth, service, and risk objectives.
• Evaluates and manages third-party vendors, sub-servicers, and technology providers to ensure service quality, compliance, operational resilience, and value.
• Partners with Technology, Data & Analytics, Risk, Compliance, Finance, Sales, and other stakeholders to implement scalable systems, reporting, automation, and process improvements.
• Serves as a strategic advisor to executive leadership and committees, including ALCO and other governance forums, on performance, risk, quality, technology trends, and transformation opportunities.
• Leads staffing, workforce planning, and capacity management to support production demand, loan quality, service expectations, turn-time objectives, and transformation initiatives.
• Collaborates cross-functionally to ensure lending programs are compliant, financially sound, operationally scalable, and responsive to member and market needs.
• Establishes and executes the technology roadmap for real estate lending operations, including loan origination, servicing, and workflow systems, ensuring solutions are scalable, efficient, and aligned with strategic business objectives.
• Develops leaders and team members through coaching, performance management, succession planning, and a culture of accountability, innovation, service, and continuous improvement.
• Promotes and maintains a positive image of the Credit Union with employees, members, partners, and the community.

Requirements

• Minimum: 4 Year/Bachelor’s Degree (Bachelor's degree in business administration or equivalent).
• A minimum of 7 years of progressive leadership experience in residential real estate lending, mortgage operations, or a related financial services environment, including experience overseeing underwriting, processing, funding, servicing, and/or default management.
• Ten or more years of experience and prior leadership in a credit union, bank, or regulated mortgage lending environment preferred.
• Experience leading operational transformation, technology implementation, automation, process reengineering, turn-time improvement, or member experience initiatives.

Skills

• Thorough knowledge of the residential real estate lending lifecycle, including origination, underwriting, processing, pre-funding audit, funding, servicing, default management, loss mitigation, and system administration.
• Ability to evaluate portfolio performance, market trends, pricing, credit quality, production mix, delinquency, losses, and profitability to inform product design, growth strategies, and risk-based decision-making.
• Extensive knowledge of credit union policies and procedures, investor and agency guidelines, including Fannie Mae Selling Guide and Servicing Guide requirements, NCUA rules and regulations, and laws affecting real estate lending in a multi-state environment.
• Ability to interpret legal, regulatory, and investor requirements and translate them into practical operational policies, procedures, controls, and training.
• Experience leading process redesign, operational governance, vendor management, turn-time optimization, service-level management, and technology-enabled improvements across residential real estate lending operations.
• Demonstrates enterprise leadership, sound executive judgment, and the ability to influence cross-functional priorities, balancing member value, operational capacity, risk appetite, profitability, and long-term strategic relevance.
• Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office and data/reporting tools, with the ability to use performance metrics, dashboards, and analytics to manage operations and improve member experience.
• Adaptability to evolving job demands, market conditions, regulatory expectations, member needs, and technology changes to ensure the function remains relevant, effective, and aligned with Credit Union priorities.
• Familiarity with loan origination systems, servicing platforms, automated underwriting, workflow automation, digital document management, secondary market systems, and AI-enabled mortgage technologies is preferred, including the ability to identify practical use cases that improve speed, accuracy, scalability, member experience, operational efficiency, and measurable value creation.

Pay

USD $155,627.69 - USD $249,004.31 per year.