Property Credit Manager – Basingstoke

Castle Trust Group; Basingstoke; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Performance bonus

Pension (employer contribution)

Life Assurance

25 days holiday + buy/sell 5 days

Private healthcare

Gym discounts

Season ticket travel loans

Volunteering day

Job summary

Castle Trust Bank is seeking an experienced Property Credit Manager to own complex credit decisions and influence policy. You will manage a £5m delegated mandate and bridge Front Line with Risk, ensuring robust governance across a diverse property lending portfolio.

The role is based in Basingstoke with a hybrid pattern (4 days in the office, 1 day from home). You will lead underwriting, policy ownership, and risk management activities while coaching others to maintain high standards.

Qualifications

• Underwrite and assess Buy‑to‑Let, bridging and specialist residential lending proposals.
• Make lending decisions within delegated authority.
• Operate within lending policies, governance frameworks and regulatory requirements.
• Provide coaching, mentoring or quality assurance on underwriting.
• Own first‑line risk, controls, incidents and remediation actions.
• Manage service levels, pipelines and priorities in a fast‑paced lending environment.
• Understand FCA, PRA and AML regulatory requirements.

Responsibilities

• Assess and approve property lending proposals within delegated mandate (up to £5 million).
• Present recommendations with rationale to senior stakeholders and approval committees.
• Provide robust credit assessments across property lending products.
• Build relationships across Origination, Operations and Risk.
• Own ongoing lending policy reviews and governance alignment.
• Conduct underwriting audits and support risk reviews.

Skills

Buy‑to‑Let underwriting

Bridging & specialist residential

Credit risk assessment

Lending decision‑making

Governance & regulatory awareness

Coaching / QA

First‑line risk ownership

Stakeholder management

Regulatory knowledge (FCA/PRA/AML)

Risk governance experience

Education

Degree‑level qualification or equivalent

Job description

“Shape Credit Decisions. Influence Policy. Drive Excellence”

At Castle Trust Bank, we're committed to doing things differently. As an innovative challenger bank, we combine specialist lending expertise with a customer-first approach to deliver outstanding outcomes for our customers, brokers and partners.

The role and what you’ll be doing:

We're looking for an experienced Property Credit Manager to join our team. This is a unique opportunity to take ownership of complex credit decisions, influence lending policy, and play a key role in maintaining strong governance and risk management across our property lending portfolio.

With delegated authority of up to £5million, you'll be trusted to make sound lending decisions while acting as a key bridge between our Front Line and Risk functions.

This role is based in our Basingstoke office on a hybrid basis working 4 days in the office and 1 day from home.

Credit Underwriting & Decision Making

• Assess and approve property lending proposals within a delegated mandate of up to £5 million.
• Ensure lending decisions align with risk appetite, lending policy and regulatory requirements.
• Deliver robust, balanced credit assessments across a range of specialist property lending products.

Escalations & Referrals

• Act as the primary referral point for cases outside delegated authority.
• Present recommendations and rationale to senior stakeholders and relevant approval committees.
• Support timely, commercially balanced decision making on complex cases.

Stakeholder Management

• Build strong relationships across Origination, Operations and Risk functions.
• Act as a trusted adviser on policy interpretation and credit risk matters.
• Influence decision making through expert technical knowledge and sound judgement.

Policy Ownership & Governance

• Own the ongoing review and development of lending policy.
• Ensure policies remain aligned to regulatory requirements, market conditions and risk strategy.
• Communicate policy updates and support consistent application across the business.
• Contribute to governance forums, audits and risk reviews.

Underwriting Audit & Quality Assurance

• Conduct regular reviews of underwriting decisions to ensure consistency and policy adherence.
• Identify trends, development opportunities and areas for process improvement.
• Provide coaching, feedback and recommendations to continuously improve underwriting quality.
• Support the maintenance of underwriting mandates, audit programmes and risk registers.

What you’ll bring:

We are looking for someone with strong analytical and credit decision-making skills, excellent attention to detail, and the confidence to challenge constructively while building strong stakeholder relationships. You'll be highly organised, risk-aware and proactive, with experience using data and MI to support decisions, a commitment to strong governance standards, and a track record of driving continuous improvement and operational efficiency.

In addition, you will have:

Essential

• Strong technical underwriting experience across Buy-to-Let, Bridging and Specialist Residential lending.
• Proven credit risk assessment and lending decision-making capability within delegated mandates.
• Experience operating within lending policies, governance frameworks and regulatory environments.
• Previous underwriting experience with responsibility for coaching, mentoring or quality assurance activities.
• Demonstrable first-line risk ownership, including managing risks, controls, incidents and remediation actions.
• Experience managing service levels, pipelines and priorities within a fast-paced lending environment.
• Understanding of FCA, PRA, AML and wider regulatory requirements.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Degree-level qualification or equivalent professional experience.

Why join Castle Trust Bank?

• Competitive salary
• Performance bonus (based on individual and company performance)
• Generous contributory pension through Hargreaves Lansdown
• Life Assurance
• 25 days’ holiday + option to buy/sell 5 days
• Additional paid volunteering dayPrivate healthcare through Equipsme (includes cash back for Dental and Optical treatment)
• Free access to BHSF Rise EAP to support colleague health and wellbeing
• Gym discounts
• Season ticket travel loans (if applicable)
• A supportive, inclusive culture where your work has real impact

Caught your attention?

If so, we’d love to talk to you and tell you more about what it’s like to work at Castle Trust Bank - The Place To Work!

Castle Trust Bank is an equal opportunity employer where we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all our colleagues to thrive. We welcome applications from all and will not discriminate against any status/characteristic protected by law and will always base our decisions on merit.

We are proud to support people with disabilities and are committed to be a Disability Confident employer. If you are a person with a disability and meet the minimum criteria for the role you will be offered an interview. Should you require any reasonable adjustment to support you in your application for one of our opportunities, please contact [e-mail]

https://www.castletrust.co.uk/careers/who-we-are