Completions Team Leader

Fintelligent Search; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A UK mortgage lender is seeking a Completions Team Leader for their 1st Charge Mortgages department. This permanent role demands strong operational leadership and a detailed understanding of mortgage completions. Ideal candidates should have hands-on experience and a background in complex lending environments, alongside knowledge of FCA regulations. Duties include managing a team, overseeing high-risk cases, and ensuring compliance. This position offers an opportunity to influence workflows and improve client outcomes.

Qualifications

• Strong, hands-on experience in 1st charge mortgage completions.
• Background in a specialist or complex lending environment preferred.
• Detailed understanding of the mortgage completion lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and manage the 1st Charge Completions team.
• Act as the senior escalation point for high-risk completions.
• Oversee completions from offer through to release of funds.

Skills

Hands-on experience in 1st charge mortgage completions

Background in complex lending environments

Team leadership experience

Knowledge of FCA regulations

Education

CeMAP or equivalent qualification

Job description

Completions Team Leader – 1st Charge Mortgages (Permanent) – UK mortgage lender – First charge residential & specialist lending

Why this role?

• Genuine operational leadership – Senior escalation point for complex or high‑risk completions, real authority over decisions and outcomes.
• Technical depth, not volume processing – Role for someone who understands completions risk, legal documentation and regulatory obligations.
• Influence over how things are done – Shape workflows, contribute to policy and procedural updates, improve turnaround times without compromising compliance.
• Specialist lending exposure – Ideal for candidates who value complexity and judgement over purely vanilla residential work.

Key responsibilities

• Lead, coach and manage the 1st Charge Completions team against agreed SLAs and quality standards.
• Allocate workloads, monitor performance and support capability development within the team.
• Act as the senior escalation point for complex, high‑risk or time‑critical completions.
• Oversee completions from offer through to release of funds.
• Review and approve Certificates of Title and solicitor requests for funds.
• Authorise release of mortgage funds within delegated authority.
• Maintain effective working relationships with solicitors, brokers, valuers and internal stakeholders.
• Resolve completion‑related issues quickly to avoid delays or customer detriment.
• Ensure adherence to FCA requirements, the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders' Handbook, and internal policies.
• Identify and manage operational, legal and fraud risks within the completions process.
• Support audits, QA reviews and regulatory requests.
• Review workflows, track KPIs and implement process improvements where needed.

What we’re looking for – Essential experience

• Strong, hands‑on experience in 1st charge mortgage completions.
• Background in a specialist or complex lending environment (preferred).
• Previous experience leading a team or operating at senior case manager level.
• Detailed understanding of the mortgage completion lifecycle and legal documentation.
• Sound knowledge of FCA regulation and mortgage compliance requirements.

Desirable

• Exposure to specialist products such as adverse credit, self‑employed, complex income or buy‑to‑let.
• Working knowledge of the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders' Handbook.
• CeMAP or equivalent qualification.

What matters in this role – How you work

• Detail‑focused, calm under pressure, comfortable making risk‑based decisions.
• Confident dealing with solicitors and senior internal stakeholders.
• Commercially aware, but uncompromising on compliance and customer outcomes.