Head of Underwriting

Role Overview

• Manage commercial Underwriting policies and processes for asset based trucking, equipment and other small business loans across a variety of industries, products, channels, and collateral situations utilizing financial spreading and cash flow analyses, ratio analyses, personal and business credit reports, and other factors to decision deals in a timely and accurate manner.
• Continuously improve AOF’s loan underwriting process by balancing algorithms, scorecards, and automated criteria with appropriate human judgment, with the goal of delivering a smooth, predictable, and borrower-friendly experience.
• Oversee execution of the underwriting and credit process from credit decisioning to funding the loans.
• Lead asset-based underwriting across equipment finance and commercial vehicle/trucking portfolios, including evaluation of collateral quality, equipment valuations, loan-to-value analysis, and residual value risk to ensure sound credit decisions across secured lending products.
• Partner with the VP, Credit Risk & Policy to continuously improve the end-to-end credit approval process and establish best practices that deliver expected portfolio performance and impact results.
• Manage and develop a team of Underwriters, fostering a culture of credit excellence, clear risk articulation, and consistent application of credit policy.
• Support a culture of talent development aligned to the organization’s strategy and goals.
• Support training of Sales and Document Verification teams on credit risk, underwriting processes, and policies to enable a smooth and efficient operation.
• Collaborate with Operations, Product, Sales, Data, Engineering, and Compliance teams to identify needs and contribute to solutions that support organizational goals.
• Establish and monitor SLAs for the underwriting team, maintaining consistent and proactive communication with Sales teams on queue status, progress, and issues.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, Accounting, or Business Administration, or equivalent experience.
• Master’s degree in quantitative field is preferred.
• 7+ years of experience in credit analysis, underwriting, and risk management, with a meaningful portion of that experience in small business asset based lending including SBA loans.
• 3+ years of experience managing or leading a team of underwriters, preferably in small business or commercial lending.
• Strong working knowledge of the principles of credit, market, liquidity, strategic, operational and compliance, and reputational risks.
• Knowledge and understanding of lending/SBA regulations and strong attention to compliance and controls.
• Familiarity with commercial credit profit and loss drivers and their impact on portfolio performance.
• Proven ability to lead, manager, and develop a team.
• Ability to collaborate with internal partners to communicate and execute on organizational goals.
• Experience identifying and implementing process improvements that positively impact business operations, performance, and client experience.

Benefits

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience.
• An environment that values work-life balance and monthly remote work reimbursements.
• 100% company-funded Medical, Dental, Vision, Life & Disability coverage for employees (Based upon your plan selection).
• 90% company-funded dependent coverage (Based upon your plan selection) as well as Flexible Spending Accounts.
• Voluntary benefits with payroll deduction for Supplemental Life & AD&D insurance and legal plans.
• Tax deferred & Roth 403(b) Retirement Plan with employer match.
• Unlimited paid vacation days, 12 paid holidays, 1 floating paid holiday, 10 Sick days, and paid parental leave.