Head of Underwriting - Mortgage Lending

We are one of the country’s premier housing platforms, with a nationwide footprint and rapidly expanding mortgage operation focused on non-QM products, including DSCR, fix-and-flip/RTL, and consumer loans. We operate in a performance-driven environment with a strong emphasis on speed, quality, and risk management.

We are seeking an experienced Head of Underwriting to build, lead, and scale a high-performing underwriting organization. This role will own credit policy, underwriting quality, and decisioning speed, ensuring we balance risk management with aggressive growth targets.

Responsibilities

• Team Leadership and Management: Build, lead, and manage a non-QM underwriting team across DSCR, RTL, and consumer products. Establish clear performance expectations and hold the team accountable to SLAs, quality standards, and productivity metrics.
• Credit Policy Ownership: Develop, refine, and enforce underwriting guidelines across all products. Continuously evolve credit policy based on performance data, market conditions, and investor requirements.  Present guidelines and metrics to Investors and Sr Management.
• Underwriting: Review files prior to submission to Correspondent Lenders.  Be able to articulate positions to ensure proper loan conditions and approvals. 
  
  
• Underwriting Operations: Own end-to-end underwriting workflows, including file review, conditions, exception handling, and final credit decisions. Ensure consistent, high-quality decisioning across the portfolio.
  
  
• Loan Delivery: Ensure loans are structured, underwritten, and delivered in line with credit policy and investor requirements. Manage conditions, exceptions, and file quality to drive clean submissions and efficient execution.
  
  
• Turn Time & Throughput Management: Drive underwriting speed and efficiency by managing pipelines, setting SLAs, and removing bottlenecks to support origination volume.
  
  
• Risk & Credit Oversight: Monitor portfolio performance, identify emerging risks, and implement adjustments to credit policy and underwriting standards to protect loan performance.
  
  
• Quality Control: Establish and enforce QC processes to ensure accuracy, consistency, and compliance across all underwriting decisions.
• Exception Management: Define and manage exception frameworks, ensuring disciplined approvals with appropriate documentation and risk controls.
  
  
• Reporting & Analytics: Track and report on key underwriting metrics, including turn times, approval rates, exception rates, and loan performance. Provide actionable insights to leadership.
  
  
• Compliance: Ensure all underwriting activity complies with applicable federal and state regulations, as well as internal policies and investor guidelines.
  
  
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with sales, capital markets, and operations to align credit policy with growth objectives while maintaining disciplined risk management.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of mortgage underwriting leadership experience.
• Deep experience with non-QM products, including DSCR, bridge/RTL, and investor lending.
• Strong understanding of credit risk, loan structuring, and income/asset analysis across complex borrower profiles.
• Experience building or scaling underwriting teams and processes in a high-growth environment.
• Strong familiarity with LOS systems and underwriting workflows.
• Ability to balance speed and risk in a production-driven environment.
• Excellent analytical, decision-making, and leadership skills.

Skills

• Strong credit judgment and risk assessment
• Operational leadership and process optimization
• Data-driven decision making
• Attention to detail and consistency
• Ability to operate in a fast-paced, high-growth environment