Senior Mortgage Underwriter

Scottish Building Society; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent financial institution in the UK is seeking a Senior Mortgage Underwriter responsible for assessing complex residential mortgage applications. Successful candidates will have a minimum of 5 years' experience in mortgage underwriting, a good understanding of the UK mortgage market, and excellent decision-making skills. This role offers an opportunity to help shape the underwriting approach within a dynamic team environment.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5+ years of significant mortgage underwriting experience.
• In-depth knowledge of the UK mortgage market and FCA regulatory expectations.
• Comfortable with complex/self-employed income and LTV risk.

Responsibilities

• Assess mortgage applications in line with lending policy.
• Perform detailed affordability assessments.
• Provide technical guidance to junior underwriters.

Skills

Significant mortgage underwriting experience

Decision making skills

Proven analytical skills

Excellent communication skills

Education

CeMAP

AdvCeMAP

CICM

Tools

Finova's MSO platform

Job description

This role reports to the Mortgage Underwriting Manager. The Senior Mortgage Underwriter will be responsible for assessing complex residential mortgage applications, including manual underwriting, affordability analysis and risk‑based decision making. Working closely with lending and risk teams, they will help shape the future of our underwriting approach.

Key Responsibilities

• Assess mortgage applications in line with lending policy and regulatory standards (MCOB)
• Perform detailed affordability assessments, including non‑standard income and complex applicant profiles
• Apply manual underwriting judgement with freedom to apply common sense without the restrictions of rigid credit scoring
• Provide technical guidance to junior underwriters and administrative assistants
• Contribute towards underwriting policy reviews and process improvements
• Liaise with intermediaries and internal stakeholders to progress applications efficiently

This list is not exhaustive and the post holder is expected to carry out any other tasks that are required to fulfil the needs of the role. Management may add or subtract from the list of duties in order to meet the need of the business as they see fit and as per the terms and conditions of contract.

Measures of Success

• Risk management and policy adherence
• Quality of underwriting decisions validated by Quality assurance
• Meeting agreed SLA Service Level Agreements
• Collaboration and influence, supporting great outcomes for staff and our broker introducers
• Continuous improvement, using experience to shape our underwriting processes, procedures and technology solutions

About You

Skills & Capabilities for the role

Qualifications: Advantageous but not required depending on experience

• CeMAP
• AdvCeMAP
• CICM

Experience required:

• Significant mortgage underwriting experience (Minimum 5+ years)
• Comfortable with complex/self employed income, LTV risk and layered affordability
• Able to use advanced origination software such as Finova’s MSO platform
• In depth knowledge of the UK mortgage market and FCA regulatory expectations
• Excellent decision making, analytical and communication skills
• Collaborative and calm under pressure with pragmatic approach to risk

Behaviours:

• Professional and ethical
• Strong interpersonal relationships
• Able to work with minimum supervision and to deadlines
• Willing to take on responsibility and accountability
• Ability to consider the needs, abilities and personalities of others
• Willing to work as part of a team and involve others
• Positive approach

Essential skills:

• Environmental awareness – Has a good understanding of the broker environment in which the Society operates and of underwriting best practice and key developments. Has a good awareness of the likely impact of economic, political, social and regulatory change on the Society’s business and overall aims.
• Proven analytical skills - Able to use analytical tools interpreting customer credit files, supporting documents with an ability to understand complex lending scenarios
• Decision making skills – Ability to source, collate and process all pertinent information to support final loan approval.
• Self/work organisation - Plans, co‑ordinates and controls the work and resources under their control. Maintains an awareness of team workloads not directly under their control and demonstrates flexibility in making most effective use of resources to achieve overall business objectives.
• Organisational awareness - Has a very good understanding of the Society’s overall aims, structures, policies and culture, together with a good knowledge of the policies, operations, systems and relevant strategies pertaining to specific areas of the business.
• Procedural/Specialist Knowledge – A very good knowledge of the relevant procedures and policies in Mortgage Underwriting, including interpretation and application of best practices, and able to use experience to act decisively.

PLEASE DO NOT APPLY FOR THIS ROLE UNLESS YOU HAVE RECENT DEMONSTRABLE AND RELEVANT EXPERIENCE.

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