Position Summary
The Mortgage Underwriting Manager oversees the daily operations of the underwriting department, ensuring mortgage loan applications are evaluated accurately, consistently, and in compliance with investor, regulatory, and internal guidelines. This role balances risk management with efficient loan production, supporting on time closings while protecting credit quality.
The Underwriting Manager leads and develops a team of underwriters, reviews complex or high risk loan files, and continuously improves underwriting workflows as production scales.
Duties & Responsibilities
- Lead, train, mentor, and manage the underwriting team to ensure consistent, high quality credit decisions
- Support continuous development of underwriters through ongoing coaching, file reviews, certifications and feedback
- Monitor individual and team performance, identifying training needs as volume and complexity increase
- Foster culture, accountability, collaboration, and professionalism within the underwriting team
- Ensure underwriting decisions comply with FHA, VA, Conventional, investor, and non-QM guidelines
- Review complex, layered risk, or higher risk loan scenarios and provide guidance to underwriters
- Maintain strong documentation standards to support defensible credit decisions
- Identify trends in underwriting errors, conditions, or re work and take corrective action
- Act as the senior point of review for complex or unusual loan scenarios
- Apply established guidelines and escalation protocols consistently
- Escalate true policy exceptions or elevated credit risk decisions to the Director of Mortgage Operations
- Serve as a technical underwriting resource to sales, processing, and operations teams
- Oversee underwriting pipelines to maintain acceptable turn times as volume grows
- Optimize underwriting workflows to reduce unnecessary touches, delays, and re work
- Partner with Processing and Closing to improve handoffs and file flow
- Assist leadership with capacity planning through workload visibility and trend analysis
- Leverage the LOS, Automated Underwriting Systems (AUS) and use AI tools to improve underwriting efficiency and consistency
- Work with Operations and Mortgage Systems to optimize system workflows and tools
- Work closely with Sales, Processing, Closing, and Compliance to support timely, accurate closings
- Provide guidance to Loan Officers regarding underwriting expectations and common issues
- Support rollout of new products or guideline updates by helping translate requirements to the underwriting team
Skills & Qualifications
- 5–10+ years of residential mortgage underwriting experience
- Prior supervisory or lead underwriting experience strongly preferred
- Strong knowledge of mortgage lending principles and credit risk
- Extensive familiarity with FNMA, FHLMC, FHA, and VA underwriting guidelines
- Working understanding of regulatory and compliance requirements
- Proficient in Loan Origination Systems (LOS)
- Experience using Automated Underwriting Systems (AUS)
- Comfortable working with underwriting technology and compliance tools
- Certifications (Preferred)
- FHA Direct Endorsement (DE)
- VA SAR / LAPP
- Strong analytical and credit judgment skills
- Effective leadership and coaching ability
- Clear, professional communication with internal teams
- Sound decision making in a fast paced production environment
This job description is intended to provide a high-level of general requirements for this position. It is not a complete statement of duties, responsibilities, or requirements. Other duties not listed here may be assigned as necessary to ensure proper operations.
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