Underwriting Manager

Salary: DOE
Location: Wimborne, Dorset / Hybrid
Full Time - 35 hours per week (Monday - Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm

About the role

We're looking for an experienced and people-focused Underwriting Manager to lead our underwriting function, ensuring excellent customer outcomes, robust risk management, and the delivery of responsible lending solutions.

This is an exciting opportunity for a proven underwriting professional who combines strong technical expertise, with experience in manual underwriting, with outstanding leadership skills. You'll play a pivotal role in managing a talented manual underwriting team, supporting strategic lending initiatives, and helping drive the continued growth and success of the Society.

As a Certified Role under SM&CR, the postholder is accountable for maintaining their own fitness and propriety and upholding the FCA Conduct Rules.

 

Responsibilities

Team Management

  • Leading and managing the Underwriting/Underwriting Support Team’s to deliver effective underwriting and customer outcomes with a solution based underwriting approach to support the Society’s growth plans
  • Provide technical underwriting guidance to team members
  • Ensure decisions within the department remain compliant with Lending Policy, credit risk appetite, and regulatory expectations in accordance with relevant MCOB rules
  • Ensure discretion afforded to underwriters is correctly utilized to provide responsible lending solutions within credit risk appetite 
  • Ensure underwriting of cases, post completion contract variations and review of case referrals are completed within SLA’s
  • Ensuring the team are kept informed to changes to Lending Policy and wider processes which impact them
  • Maintain relevant processes and procedures
  • Effective team management, including creation and roll-out of annual PDRs, monthly, quarterly and annual 1-2-1s, quality control feedback, training and development, mandate recommendations, application decline review and confirmation, and Incident Reporting (Lets Fix It) action setting 
  • Completion of the teams quarterly T&Cs

Underwriting Mandate

  • Maintain a mandated position 
  • Underwrite mortgage applications regardless of amount focusing on the assessment of out of policy and more complex mortgage loans across a mix of residential lending types

Wider Responsibilities

  • Investigating and responding, where required, with requests relating to both internal and external audits to ensure their effective completion
  • Provide technical/regulatory support to BDM’s, Broker Support, Intermediaries, Internal Mortgage Advisors, Underwriters, Mortgage Servicing and the wider business
  • Liaise with external partners and manage those relationships (such as LGSS, MIG, L&G, RSM UK, etc.).
  • Proactively consider and where appropriate implement process and other improvements that optimise the effectiveness and efficiency of the Underwriting team
  • Complete other tasks as required by the Chief Lending & Lending Officer
  • Ensuring the delivery of an effective underwriting team utilising the skills of new and experienced manual underwriters
  • Ensure applications are underwritten competently and within risk appetite 
  • Ensure submitted applications are processed to an acceptable level and within SLA’s
  • Ensure servicing sales referrals are completed to an acceptable level and with acceptable timeframes
  • Ensuring the work completed within the department meets regulatory and internal compliance requirements
  • Look to identify and deliver operational efficiency whilst maintaining acceptable levels of control/oversight
  • Keeping up to date with, and maintaining a knowledge of, credit risk and regulatory rules/guidance connected with the assessment of mortgage applications 
  • Keeping all policy and supporting literature up to date 

 

About you

Essential qualifications/experience:

  • Experience of managing teams and developing staff working on own initiative
  • Experience of manually underwriting both standard and (Specialist (Complex) areas of lending where discretion has been afforded
  • Understanding of credit risk 
  • Understanding of individual and company accounts for the purpose of understanding the sustainability of current or potential income
  • Understanding of Property Risk
  • Analytical, thorough and able to interpret and communicate personal financial information in a practical way
  • Clear communicator with a history of liaising with Intermediaries/BDM’s, Credit Committee and the wider business
  • Ability to train and support colleagues with Specialist application assessments, documenting and tracking progress and ongoing development

Desirable:

  • Completion of case review/T&C of underwriters
  • Maintaining Policies and procedures
  • Working knowledge of MCOB and other regulation

 

What we offer

  • Competitive salary and annual performance bonus
  • Comprehensive training and ongoing professional development
  • 27 days’ holiday + bank holidays
  • Pension scheme and life assurance
  • Employee wellbeing scheme
  • Opportunities for career progression within a growing organisation

Details

Find out more information about  the full role profile.

Apply now

To apply for this role please send your CV and a covering letter (a maximum of one page in length please) to jobs@teachersbs.co.uk. The covering letter should summarise the experience and skills you have which would be an asset to this role and why you believe you should be shortlisted for this position.