Vice President, Consumer Loan Operations

SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union; Tustin (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 245,000; Full time

Job summary

SchoolsFirst FCU is seeking a Vice President of Consumer Loan Operations to lead underwriting, processing, and funding functions. The role focuses on strategy, governance, and performance across multiple teams, with emphasis on efficiency, accuracy, and Member experience.

The position requires extensive leadership experience in consumer lending, strong risk and compliance awareness, and the ability to drive complex operational and technology changes in a fast-paced credit union environment.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of prior relevant experience
• 10+ years of prior management experience
• Bachelor's Degree in a related field or equivalent years of experience
• Master's Degree in a related field preferred

Responsibilities

• Collaborates with senior leadership to establish strategy, goals, and priorities for consumer loan underwriting, processing, funding, and quality.
• Leads a high-performing organization across underwriting, processing, funding, and systems to achieve objectives.
• Ensures timely, accurate, compliant execution of underwriting, processing, and funding activities.
• Owns design and improvement of operating procedures, SLAs, controls, and handoffs to improve efficiency and Member experience.
• Establishes and monitors performance measures across underwriting, processing, funding, and lending systems.
• Partners with stakeholders to evaluate credit performance and adjust strategies and authority structures.
• Governance for underwriting authority, exception management, and decision quality; ensures adherence to lending standards.
• Oversees governance of automated decisioning, AI, data integrity, and fair-lending outcomes.
• Maintains an integrated operational quality framework and drives corrective actions.
• Maintains first-line controls and manages risk across related functions.
• Represents Consumer Loan Operations in audits and compliance reviews.
• Leads complex operational, credit, process, and technology changes with readiness and training plans.
• Develops workforce, capacity, and contingency plans aligned with forecasted volumes.
• Partners with enterprise functions to ensure smooth handoffs and coordinated member communications.
• Establishes escalation, reconsideration, and service-recovery practices for complex loan decisions.

Skills

Executive leadership

Strategic planning

Cross-functional collaboration

Operational risk management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

High School Diploma or GED

Job description

We're always looking for diverse, talented, service-oriented people to join our exceptional team.

Vice President, Consumer Loan Operations

Scheduled Weekly Hours

40

Salary range:

$190,000-$245,000 base, plus incentive eligibility.

What You'll Be Doing

• Collaborates with the SVP, Consumer Lending and senior leadership to establish and execute the strategy, goals, and priorities for consumer loan underwriting, processing, funding, operational quality, and lending systems.
• Builds and leads a high-performing organization of managers and specialized teams across underwriting, processing, funding, and business systems to achieve Credit Union objectives.
• Leads the timely, accurate, consistent, and compliant execution of direct and indirect consumer loan underwriting, processing, and funding activities.
• Owns the design and continuous improvement of operating procedures, service-level expectations, controls, and handoffs across underwriting, processing, funding, and consumer lending systems to improve efficiency, accuracy, scalability, and the Member experience.
• Establishes and monitors performance measures across underwriting, processing, funding, and lending systems, including decision turnaround time, processing and funding cycle time, right-the-first-time quality, productivity, rework, backlog aging, service-level attainment, funding timeliness, Member effort, operational incidents, and control effectiveness.
• Leads the consistent execution of approved credit strategies, underwriting guidelines, exception practices, and delegated authorities. Partners with the SVP, Consumer Lending, Compliance, Finance, and other stakeholders to evaluate credit performance and recommend changes to credit strategies, policies, decision rules, and authority structures.
• Establishes governance for underwriting authority, exception management, reconsideration practices, and decision quality to promote sound judgment, consistent Member treatment, and adherence to approved lending standards.
• Partners with Credit Risk, Enterprise Risk Management, Compliance, Data, and Technology to support appropriate governance of automated decisioning and artificial intelligence, including decision quality, model performance, data integrity, explainability, fair-lending outcomes, exception trends, change controls, and appropriate human review.
• Establishes an integrated operational quality framework across underwriting, processing, funding, and lending systems. Ensures quality findings, errors, complaints, exceptions, audit issues, and control breakdowns are analyzed for root causes and addressed through sustainable corrective action.
• Maintains effective first-line controls across underwriting, processing, funding, and lending systems. Identifies, evaluates, and manages credit-execution, operational, compliance, fraud, technology, data, third-party, conduct, and reputational risks within the area.
• Ensures consumer loan operations are executed in accordance with approved policies, procedures, controls, and applicable requirements.
• Represents Consumer Loan Operations in audits, examinations, compliance reviews, risk assessments, and control-testing activities. Ensures requested documentation is accurate and timely and that findings are addressed through clearly owned, sustainable corrective-action plans.
• Serves as the senior business owner for consumer lending operational systems. Defines business requirements and priorities; partners with Technology, Data, Risk, Compliance, and operational stakeholders; supports testing and implementation readiness; and evaluates adoption, system performance, control effectiveness, and realized business benefits.
• Leads complex operational, credit, process, and technology changes by defining desired outcomes, assessing operational impacts, engaging stakeholders, establishing readiness and training plans, monitoring adoption, and confirming expected Member, operational, financial, and control benefits.
• Develops and maintains workforce, capacity, and contingency plans that align staffing, skills, operating schedules, and resources with forecasted application volume, underwriting complexity, funding demand, technology changes, and service-level expectations.
• Provides strategic oversight of indirect underwriting, processing, and funding operations, including service performance, operational efficiency, accuracy, exception management, and adherence to established credit and compliance standards.
• Partners with Consumer Loan Originations, Consumer Loan Servicing, Branch Operations, Member Care, Technology, Risk, Compliance, and other enterprise functions to establish effective handoffs, clear ownership, consistent information, and coordinated Member communications supporting consumer loan underwriting, processing, and funding activities.
• Ensures effective escalation, reconsideration, and service-recovery practices for complex loan-decision, processing, funding, and account-error matters. Uses escalation, complaint, exception, and error trends to identify root causes and implement systemic improvements.
• Establishes effective governance of relevant technology vendors, service providers, and operational partners, including performance standards, service levels, issue escalation, change management, third-party risk coordination, business continuity, and value realization.
• Ensures appropriate business-continuity, technology-disruption, third-party disruption, peak-volume, and operational recovery plans are maintained and tested for underwriting, direct funding, indirect funding, processing, and other critical Consumer Loan Operations functions.

Additional Job Functions

• Leads and develops managers, teammembers and functional capabilities by establishing workforce strategies, operational plans and budgets to achieve organizational objectives.
• Leverages data, analytics, market intelligence and industry trends to optimize performance, support strategic decision-making and drive continuous improvement.
• Builds and maintains strategic relationships with stakeholders, vendors and business partners to enhance organizational capabilities and business results.
• Provides leadership and influence across assigned functions, driving performance, innovation and a strong Member-focused service culture.
• Appropriately identifies, evaluates, and manages risk within area and implements risk mitigation strategies and activities as appropriate.
• Performs other duties as assigned
• Complies with regulatory compliance and assigned training requirements including but not limited to BSA regulations corresponding to their specific job duties. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary and other employment related actions.

Qualifications

• High School Diploma or GED required
• Bachelor's Degree in a related field or equivalent years of experience required
• Master's Degree in a related field preferred
• 15+ years of prior relevant experience required
• 10+ years of prior management experience required

Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities

• Strategic operations leadership and executive-level judgment, with the ability to translate enterprise strategy into clear operating priorities, controls, accountability, and measurable outcomes.
• Deep understanding of consumer loan underwriting, direct and indirect processing and funding, credit policy administration, delegated authorities, exception practices, and downstream servicing dependencies.
• Strong knowledge of consumer lending laws, regulations, and control expectations, including fair lending, adverse action, credit reporting, privacy, Member protection, and third-party oversight.
• Strong understanding of operational risk, first-line controls, quality assurance, audit and examination support, issue remediation, and sustainable corrective-action practices.
• Demonstrated proficiency using data and analytics to define performance measures, diagnose root causes, forecast demand, monitor decision and operational quality, make decisions, and evaluate results.
• Strong understanding of loan-origination systems, decision engines, automation, artificial intelligence, workflow, system controls, testing, implementation readiness, and technology-enabled performance management.
• Strong financial and business acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, workforce and capacity planning, resource allocation, investment evaluation, and vendor value management.
• Ability to balance speed, accuracy, Member advocacy, service quality, operational efficiency, financial outcomes, and risk.
• Proven ability to lead organizational change and complex operational and technology transformations while maintaining engagement, quality, controls, and business continuity.
• Exceptional relationship-building, negotiation, vendor-governance, and cross-functional stakeholder-management capabilities.
• Strong executive presence with excellent verbal, written, presentation, and influence skills, including the ability to communicate complex credit, operational, technology, financial, Member, and risk matters clearly.
• Ability to build, develop, engage, and retain high-performing leadership and specialized technical teams and strengthen succession and critical-role readiness.
• High ethical standards, sound judgment, integrity, professionalism, and commitment to the Credit Union’s values and Member Service philosophy.
• Results-oriented, organized, and adaptable, with the ability to manage competing priorities in a dynamic, high-volume environment.
• Experience leading consumer loan underwriting, processing, funding, quality, and lending systems functions.
• Experience governing automated decisioning, operational controls, and complex lending technology changes.
• Experience developing operating scorecards, capacity plans, business-continuity strategies, and sustainable remediation plans.

SchoolsFirst FCU is committed to Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Hiring

At SchoolsFirst FCU we are dedicated to building and growing a diverse, inclusive, and authentic Dream Team, so if you're excited about a position or wanting to make a career change but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. Many skills are transferrable and you may be just the right candidate for the position, or for other roles we are working on.

SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity and inclusion. SchoolsFirst FCU is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities and prohibits discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, political affiliation, or genetic information.

This organization participates in E-Verify.