Chief Lending Officer

WomenVenture; Saint Paul (MN); On-site; USD 126,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Competitive benefits

Job summary

WomenVenture is seeking a Chief Lending Officer in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area to provide executive leadership for the Lending Department. The CLO will shape lending strategy, credit policy, and capital deployment to expand access to capital for underserved entrepreneurs.

Working with the CEO, CFO, and external partners, the CLO builds relationships with banks, investors, and community organizations while guiding underwriting and governance to align with our mission and risk framework.

Qualifications

• Minimum seven years of commercial, small business, community development, or mission-based lending experience.
• Minimum five years of senior leadership experience in lending, credit, portfolio management, or banking.
• Strong portfolio management, credit risk assessment, and capital deployment expertise.
• Experience developing and implementing lending strategy and credit policy.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and relationship management skills.
• Ability to mentor staff and foster a positive team culture.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office including Excel and Co-Pilot.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the organization's annual lending strategy and production goals.
• Establish loan origination targets and monitor pipeline.
• Identify opportunities to expand lending partnerships and capital access.
• Lead governance of credit policies and underwriting standards.
• Collaborate with CFO to align capital resources with production goals.
• Represent WomenVenture at conferences and in the lending community.
• Mentor the Director of Lending and guide EOS implementation.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory and grant requirements.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Communication

Relationship management

Mentoring

Attention to detail

Meeting facilitation

Financial acumen

Tools

Microsoft Office

Excel

Co-Pilot

Dynamics

Job description

About the Organization WomenVenture is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to empower women to achieve their economic goals by building profitable and sustainable businesses that transform communities. We execute on this mission through providing clients access to business capital, coaching, and community. Our core values are to make meaningful change, engage with empathy, and persist boldly, and we seek out candidates who exemplify these characteristics.

EOE Statement We are an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. WomenVenture values diversity of background and experience and encourages people from all backgrounds to apply for this position.

Position Title: Chief Lending Officer

Supervisor: Chief Executive Officer

Department: Lending

FLSA Status: Full time, exempt

Salary Range: $126,000 – 140,000

Location: Hybrid (60% virtual, 40% in person)

Must be in Minneapolis/St. Paul area

Applications will be accepted until September 18th, 2026. Phone screens will be conducted from 9/20 – 9/25. In person interviews will occur between 9/27-10/9 with an estimated start date by the end of October 2026.

Organization Summary:

WomenVenture is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to empower women to achieve their economic goals by building profitable and sustainable businesses that transform communities. We deliver on this mission by providing clients access to business capital, coaching, and community. Our core values are to make meaningful change, to engage with empathy, and to persist boldly, and we seek candidates who exemplify these characteristics.

Position Summary:

The Chief Lending Officer (CLO) provides executive leadership and strategic direction for WomenVenture's lending function. The CLO is responsible for developing and executing lending strategies that expand access to capital, achieve loan production goals, strengthen lending partnerships, and ensure high-quality credit decision-making consistent with the organization's mission and risk objectives.

The CLO oversees lending strategy, credit policy, capital deployment, lending program development, and external lending relationships while providing leadership and accountability through the Director of Lending. This role serves as WomenVenture's senior lending executive and primary subject matter expert on lending products, credit policy, market opportunities, and community development lending.

Working closely with the Executive Leadership team, Board of Directors, Loan Committees, investors, banks, and community partners, the CLO helps position WomenVenture as a leading source of accessible business capital for entrepreneurs. The CLO collaborates with the CFO to align lending production goals with available lending capital and funding requirements.

This position emphasizes organizational growth, lending innovation, strategic partnerships, and responsible deployment of capital. The CLO is expected to lead with a commitment to equity, expanding access to affordable capital and fostering economic empowerment in underrepresented communities. This commitment, combined with the organizational value to engage with empathy, will be at the core of evaluating risk, implementing team procedures, engaging with volunteer loan committees, and supporting clients who need additional resources.

Primary Accountability

Develop and execute lending strategies that responsibly deploy capital, grow annual loan production, expand strategic partnerships, and advance WomenVenture's mission of increasing access to capital for underserved entrepreneurs.

Core Duties and Responsibilities:

Lending Strategy & Loan Production Leadership (35%)

• Develop and execute the organization's annual lending strategy and production goals.
• Establish loan origination targets aligned with strategic and impact objectives.
• Monitor lending pipeline performance and identify opportunities to increase loan volume and client access to capital.
• Partner with Programs, Marketing, and Finance teams to strengthen the client-to-capital pathway.
• Identify emerging market opportunities and recommend new lending products and services.
• Evaluate production results and adjust strategies to achieve annual lending goals.
• Drive department performance through goal setting, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Champion an exceptional client experience by ensuring the Director of Lending leads a team that consistently uses established client experience tools, processes, and communication practices to support responsive, accurate, and client-centered service.

Credit & Underwriting Governance (25%)

• Establish and maintain credit policies, underwriting standards, and delegated lending authorities.
• Ensure consistent and equitable application of lending policies across all lending programs.
• Provide guidance on complex credit decisions, loan restructures, and modifications.
• Maintain alignment between lending practices, mission objectives, and risk tolerance established by leadership.

Capital Deployment & Lending Program Management (15%)

• Collaborate with the CFO to align loan production goals with available capital resources.
• Ensure compliance with lending requirements associated with grants, investors, and loan funds.
• Monitor utilization of lending capital and recommend adjustments to deployment strategies.
• Lead implementation of new lending programs and products, including research to understand market needs, and ensuring loan products meet all compliance requirements as they are developed..

Strategic Partnerships & Business Development (15%)

• Build and maintain relationships with banks, referral partners, community organizations, economic development agencies, SBA representatives, and CDFI peers.
• Identify opportunities to expand lending partnerships and referral networks.
• Secure additional lending capital and programmatic partnerships working closely with CEO, CFO and Chief Advancement Officer.
• Represent WomenVenture at conferences, training events, industry associations, and community events.
• Promote WomenVenture's programs and mission within the broader business and lending community.

Governance, Board & Committee Leadership (5%)

• Serve as staff liaison to the Loan Committees and Board of Directors
• Prepare committee materials and lending recommendations.
• Present lending production, credit quality, policy recommendations, and program performance to board committees.
• Drive committee recruitment, training, and governance activities.

Leadership Team & Organizational Leadership (5%)

• Serve as a member of the Executive Leadership Team.
• Provide strategic guidance regarding lending trends, product development, and access-to-capital initiatives.
• Strengthen organizational strategic planning and cross-department collaboration.
• Develop and mentor the Director of Lending.
• Champion organizational culture, values, and EOS implementation.

Other duties, tasks, and responsibilities that may be assigned at any time

Confidentiality:

This position requires having access to confidential records and information, including but not limited to client information. To perform this job strict confidentiality must be maintained.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Deep commitment to gender equity and WomenVenture’s mission
• Minimum seven years of commercial, small business, community development, or mission-based lending experience.
• Minimum five years of senior leadership experience in lending, credit, portfolio management, or banking.
• Demonstrated expertise in portfolio management, credit risk assessment, and capital deployment.
• Experience developing and implementing lending strategy and credit policy.
• Strong understanding of loan portfolio analytics and risk management frameworks.
• Experience working with boards, investors, and external funding partners.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and relationship management skills.
• Ability to mentor and develop staff and foster a positive team culture
• Attention to detail, ability to follow complex tasks through to completion and document actions in record-keeping systems
• Excellent meeting facilitation skills, including the ability to effectively present information to a wide variety of audiences
• Intermediate to advanced in Microsoft Office applications including Co-Pilot, Dynamics, Excel, data security, and ability to learn and adapt to proprietary industry software products
• Ability to write effective reports and business correspondence
• Ability to read, analyze and interpret general business information, professional journals, technical procedures, or governmental regulations

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• CDFI lending experience.
• SBA lending experience.
• Nonprofit leadership experience.
• Experience managing complex loan funds and multiple capital sources.
• Familiarity with impact lending and community development finance.
• Knowledge of EOS and organizational performance management systems.
• High level of engagement and confidence in finding solutions, resourcefulness, and ownership of solution implementation
• High financial acumen; ability to interpret income statements, balance sheets and cash flow projections; aptitude in determining relationships among sets of related data
• Strong cultural competency and ability to collaborate across diverse backgrounds and perspectives
• Familiarity with EOS, AI and technology tools including but not limited to ninety.io, LenderFit and DownHome

Application Procedure:

Interested candidates should submit their applications using the link provided and will be contacted via email for next steps.

Benefits:

WomenVenture takes great pride in providing exceptional benefits to our staff. Employees are eligible for 18 paid holidays and 18 PTO days starting their first year. The WomenVenture office is also closed annually between the holidays of Christmas Day and New Years Day. Staff have this paid time off from work, and it is not counted towards staff’s PTO. WomenVenture offers medical, dental, vision, short term disability, long term disability, and life insurance. WomenVenture offers a paid paternity leave, health savings account, flexible spending account, pre-tax transportation, and an employee assistance program. Employees can also participate in a retirement plan with an employer match.

Work Environment/Physical Demands:

While performing the duties of this position, the employee is frequently required to sit for extended periods and may be required to stand for an extended period. The employee may occasionally move items weighing up to 25 pounds. Reasonable accommodation will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.

This position description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this position. It is not intended to be an entire list of all activities, tasks, and skills required of people in the position.

WomenVenture is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

This position is currently accepting applications.