Torchora
Back to Home

Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Vice President, Mortgage Specialists

💰 $ - $

MortgageLendingLeadershipRisk ManagementSales

🎯 Role Definition

The Vice President, Mortgage Specialists is a senior leader who designs and executes mortgage sales and portfolio strategies across retail, correspondent, and broker channels. This role blends commercial leadership, credit and underwriting expertise, and strong regulatory awareness to ensure consistent, profitable growth in loan production while maintaining risk discipline and an exceptional borrower and partner experience. The VP acts as a strategic partner to executive leadership, sales, operations, and capital markets to align product, pricing and distribution for maximum market competitiveness.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Director / Director, Mortgage Sales or Production
  • Head of Retail or Correspondent Lending
  • Senior Sales Leader in Mortgage Banking or Secondary Marketing

Advancement To:

  • Head of Mortgage Lending / Chief Lending Officer
  • Executive Vice President, Mortgage Banking
  • Chief Revenue Officer with mortgage responsibilities

Lateral Moves:

  • Head of Correspondent/Wholesale Lending
  • Senior Leader, Secondary Marketing & Capital Markets

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Lead, mentor and scale a high-performing team of mortgage specialists and account executives; set clear production targets, coaching plans and KPIs to drive consistent loan origination, pipeline conversion and retention across purchase and refinance channels.
  • Own the development and execution of go-to-market strategies for mortgage products, including conventional, FHA, VA, jumbo, conforming and government-insured programs; coordinate product launches with marketing, operations and partner channels to maximize uptake.
  • Define and manage pricing and execution strategy in collaboration with secondary marketing and capital markets to optimize margin, hedge risk, and maintain a competitive position in primary and correspondent markets.
  • Establish underwriting and risk policies for exceptions and escalations; partner with credit, compliance and underwriting leaders to ensure sound credit adjudication, consistent exceptions handling and timely decision-making on complex loan scenarios.
  • Drive borrower and broker partner acquisition and retention programs by developing relationship management strategies, incentive programs, training and tools that increase loyalty, share-of-wallet and referral volume.
  • Manage correspondent and third‑party partner relationships, including onboarding, performance reviews, pricing agreements, and quality control standards to grow profitable correspondent production.
  • Collaborate with operations and technology teams to streamline the loan origination lifecycle: improve turn times, reduce operational costs, eliminate manual handoffs, and enhance borrower and broker digital experiences.
  • Monitor loan pipeline, conversion metrics, fallouts and pull-through rates; produce executive-level reporting and actionable insights that inform strategic decisions and operational improvements.
  • Lead the design and execution of compensation, incentive and quota structures for mortgage specialists that align individual behavior with corporate profitability and compliance goals.
  • Serve as the primary escalation point for complex credit, pricing and pipeline issues; make timely, well-documented decisions and ensure appropriate delegation and governance.
  • Oversee quality control and post-closing review processes to identify systemic defects and implement remediation plans that protect the bank from repurchase risk and regulatory penalties.
  • Develop and maintain a clear understanding of secondary market dynamics, investor guidelines, and hedging strategies; work with capital markets to optimize execution and investor allocations.
  • Ensure regulatory compliance across all mortgage activities (e.g., RESPA, TILA/TRID, HMDA, ECOA) and lead responses to audits, exams, and internal inquiries; partner with legal and compliance to update policies and training.
  • Identify and execute tactical and strategic pricing promotions, limited-time offers and program adjustments to capture market share during rate volatility and competitive cycles.
  • Partner with marketing to create differentiated sales plays, digital campaigns and content targeted at key borrower segments (first-time homebuyers, renovators, high-net-worth, seasoned investors).
  • Implement and oversee training curricula for sales and underwriting teams to elevate product knowledge, credit judgment, and sales effectiveness; measure results and iterate curriculum.
  • Lead cross-functional initiatives to integrate new acquisition channels (e.g., fintech partnerships, MLS integrations, referral networks) and evaluate their revenue and operational impact.
  • Drive continuous improvement through root-cause analysis of fallout, pull-through, process defects and customer complaints; sponsor projects to reduce cycle time and increase borrower satisfaction.
  • Set and manage the departmental budget, forecasts and P&L levers for the mortgage specialists function; provide variance analysis and recovery plans when needed.
  • Build and maintain a strong pipeline of talent through recruiting, succession planning and strategic hires that align with growth plans and market expansion.
  • Represent the organization externally with investors, correspondent partners, regulators and industry groups; articulate the company’s mortgage strategy and risk posture to stakeholders.
  • Champion data-driven decision making by defining key performance indicators, leveraging analytics, and ensuring the team uses timely data to manage pipelines, pricing and marketing effectiveness.

Secondary Functions

  • Support integration of CRM and LOS systems to ensure seamless lead flow, improved reporting and higher conversion rates.
  • Coordinate with risk analytics and business intelligence teams to develop predictive models for pipeline attrition and borrower behavior.
  • Contribute to corporate strategic planning by identifying new markets, product opportunities and cost efficiencies in the mortgage value chain.
  • Participate in board or executive committee presentations to summarize mortgage performance, strategic risks and opportunities.
  • Develop contingency plans for rate shocks, liquidity constraints or investor capacity changes to preserve revenue and maintain capital requirements.
  • Lead vendor selection and ongoing vendor management for originations, pricing engines, and fulfillment partners.
  • Oversee customer experience initiatives to reduce complaints, shorten time-to-close and increase NPS for mortgage servicing and originations.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Deep knowledge of mortgage products (conventional, jumbo, FHA, VA, USDA) including investor guidelines, overlays and documentation requirements.
  • Expertise in secondary marketing, hedging strategies, pipeline risk management and investor delivery processes.
  • Strong command of loan origination systems (LOS), secondary marketing platforms, pricing engines and CRM tools; experience with industry platforms (e.g., Ellie Mae/Encompass, Calyx, MSP, Optimal Blue) preferred.
  • Financial modeling skills for pricing, P&L forecasting, mortgage servicing rights (MSR) valuation and stress testing.
  • Familiarity with mortgage regulatory requirements (TILA/RESPA/TRID, HMDA, ECOA, Fair Lending) and practical experience managing audits and regulatory examinations.
  • Data literacy: ability to define KPIs, interpret dashboards, and work with BI teams to translate data into actionable business decisions.
  • Contract negotiation and vendor management skills for correspondent relationships, fintech partners and fulfillment vendors.
  • Advanced proficiency in Excel and experience leveraging analytics tools (SQL, Python, Tableau, Power BI) to analyze pipeline and pricing performance.

Soft Skills

  • Strategic leadership with the ability to create focus and alignment across sales, credit, operations and capital markets teams.
  • Exceptional communication skills — able to present complex mortgage and risk topics clearly to executive leadership, boards, partners and regulators.
  • Strong commercial acumen with a bias for measurable results and disciplined risk management.
  • Excellent coaching and talent development capability to build a scalable, high-performance sales culture.
  • Resilience and adaptability in a fast-moving interest-rate and regulatory environment.
  • Problem-solving mindset with the ability to make timely decisions on exceptions and escalations.
  • Collaborative orientation: builds cross-functional partnerships and influences without direct authority when needed.
  • Customer-centric mindset focused on improving borrower and partner experience while preserving profitability.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business Administration, Economics, Accounting, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

  • MBA, Master’s in Finance, or equivalent graduate degree.
  • Professional certifications such as NMLS licensure, Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB), or relevant compliance certifications are highly desirable.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Finance
  • Business Administration
  • Economics
  • Real Estate
  • Accounting

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 10–18+ years in mortgage banking or consumer lending with progressive leadership responsibilities.

Preferred:

  • 12–20 years of combined experience in mortgage sales, underwriting oversight, secondary marketing and correspondent channels, including significant P&L ownership and people leadership at the senior director/VP level.
Explore More Careers