Role & responsibilities
1. US Mortgage Title Search Operations
- Manage end-to-end title search and full search operations for US residential and/or commercial properties.
- Ensure accurate and comprehensive searches of public records to establish property ownership and identify potential title issues.
- Review property records, deeds, mortgages, liens, judgments, tax records, and other relevant documents.
- Verify the chain of title and identify ownership transfers, outstanding mortgages, releases, and other recorded interests.
- Ensure that all required documents and search findings are captured accurately in title search reports.
- Review property legal descriptions, parcel identification numbers, owner names, and other key property details.
- Identify discrepancies, missing documents, unreleased liens, and potential title defects for further investigation.
- Ensure compliance with client-specific search instructions, procedures, and quality requirements.
2. Full Search and Title Examination
- Oversee full title searches covering the required search period and scope as defined by client and state-specific requirements.
- Examine historical property records to establish the chain of ownership and identify recorded encumbrances.
- Review deeds, mortgages, assignments, satisfactions, releases, tax liens, judgments, and other relevant public records.
- Ensure that title searches cover the appropriate records, jurisdictions, and search periods.
- Validate search findings and ensure that exceptions, defects, and outstanding issues are appropriately documented.
- Coordinate with title examiners, abstractors, and quality teams to resolve complex search discrepancies.
- Ensure timely escalation of potential title issues requiring additional research or legal review.
3. Team Management and Leadership
- Lead, supervise, and mentor a team of title search analysts, researchers, and senior associates.
- Allocate workloads based on order volumes, complexity, turnaround times, and team capacity.
- Monitor individual and team performance against productivity, quality, and SLA targets.
- Conduct regular team meetings, performance reviews, coaching sessions, and feedback discussions.
- Identify training needs and develop team members' technical knowledge of US title search processes.
- Support employee engagement, performance improvement, and succession planning.
- Ensure adequate staffing and effective workload management during peak volumes.
4. Quality Assurance and Process Compliance
- Monitor quality scores and conduct periodic reviews of title search reports and supporting documentation.
- Identify recurring errors, process gaps, and root causes of quality issues.
- Implement corrective and preventive actions to improve accuracy and reduce rework.
- Ensure adherence to standard operating procedures, client guidelines, and applicable state-specific recording practices.
- Work closely with quality assurance teams to improve process consistency and operational controls.
- Maintain proper documentation and audit trails for completed title searches.
5. SLA and Operational Management
- Ensure timely completion of title search orders within agreed turnaround times.
- Track daily production, pending orders, aging cases, productivity, and quality metrics.
- Prepare and present operational reports, dashboards, and management updates.
- Identify bottlenecks and implement strategies to improve throughput and efficiency.
- Manage priority orders, urgent requests, and escalations from clients and internal stakeholders.
- Ensure effective coordination across operations, quality, training, and client management teams.
6. Client and Stakeholder Management
- Coordinate with clients and internal stakeholders to clarify search requirements and resolve operational issues.
- Participate in client calls, performance reviews, and business review meetings as required.
- Communicate updates on production performance, quality trends, and improvement initiatives.
- Support new client onboarding, process transitions, and changes to search guidelines.
- Ensure timely resolution of client feedback, complaints, and service-related escalations.
7. Process Improvement and Risk Management
- Identify opportunities to streamline title search workflows and improve operational efficiency.
- Drive initiatives to reduce turnaround time, improve first-time-right accuracy, and minimize rework.
- Support automation and technology initiatives related to public records research and title search processing.
- Assess operational risks and ensure appropriate escalation of complex or unclear title findings.
- Maintain awareness of changes in state and county recording practices and relevant industry requirements.
Preferred candidate profile
- Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Real Estate, or a related field preferred.
- 58 years of experience in US mortgage title search, title examination, property research, or title services.
- Prior experience managing a team or supervising title search operations.
- Strong understanding of the US property title search process and public records research.
- Hands-on experience with full title searches and chain-of-title verification.
- Knowledge of deeds, mortgages, assignments, lien searches, judgments, tax records, and mortgage releases.
- Familiarity with county recorder offices, county clerk records, assessor records, and other public record sources.
- Understanding of title commitments, Schedule A, Schedule B exceptions, and title-related documentation is an advantage.
- Experience handling complex searches, discrepancies, and title-related escalations.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, decision-making, and organizational skills.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Proficiency in MS Excel, reporting tools, and title search platforms.