Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Director of Lending

🎯 Role Definition

The Director of Lending is a senior leader accountable for the complete lending lifecycle — from product design and origination through underwriting, servicing, collections and portfolio optimization. This role sets credit policy, governs risk appetite, drives growth targets, ensures regulatory compliance, and partners with sales, product, operations and finance to deliver scalable, profitable lending programs across commercial, consumer, mortgage or specialty loan products. Ideal for experienced lending executives with deep credit expertise, strong operational instincts, and demonstrated success building high-performing lending teams and digital lending capabilities.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Credit Officer / Head of Underwriting
VP of Consumer or Commercial Lending
Head of Loan Operations or Head of Credit Risk

Advancement To:

Chief Credit Officer (CCO)
Chief Lending Officer / Head of Consumer & Commercial Banking
Head of Asset & Liability Management or Chief Risk Officer (for broader risk remit)

Lateral Moves:

Head of Mortgage or Head of Commercial Banking
Head of Credit Strategy / Lending Product Management

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead the strategic vision and execution for the lending organization, defining target markets, product mix (commercial, consumer, mortgage, specialty), pricing, and growth objectives to achieve top-line and margin targets.
Own portfolio performance metrics (delinquency, non-accrual, charge-offs, ROA/ROE) and design interventions — including underwriting adjustments, pricing changes, and collection strategies — to protect asset quality and profitability.
Develop, maintain, and enforce credit policy and underwriting standards across all lending channels; ensure policies align with the institution’s risk appetite and regulatory expectations.
Oversee end-to-end loan origination and underwriting processes, ensuring consistent credit decisions, efficient turn-times, and high-quality documentation across all product lines.
Build and lead a high-performing lending organization including hiring, coaching, performance management, succession planning and fostering a culture of compliance and continuous improvement.
Partner with Sales and Business Development to design lead generation, referral, and distribution strategies that scale high-quality loan flow while maintaining credit discipline.
Manage relationships with strategic third parties (mortgage vendors, loan servicing vendors, brokers, credit bureaus, and technology providers) and negotiate service-level agreements to support operations and product delivery.
Own the lending budget, P&L forecasting, and resource allocation; provide regular reporting to the executive team and Board on portfolio health, earnings drivers, and capital requirements.
Drive digital lending and automation initiatives (LOS, CRM, decisioning engines, e-signature) to reduce cycle times, lower origination cost, and improve borrower experience.
Ensure robust risk management: conduct portfolio stress testing, scenario analysis, early-warning indicator monitoring, and concentration risk controls for geography, industry, or customer segments.
Lead regulatory examiner engagements and internal/external audits related to lending; ensure remediation plans are executed timely and lessons learned are integrated into process and policy updates.
Create and implement loss mitigation, collections and workout strategies for distressed accounts, including foreclosure, restructuring, and foreclosure avoidance when appropriate.
Manage secondary market execution for mortgage or other sellable assets — pricing, hedging, investor relations, and pipeline management to optimize spread and funding reliability.
Collaborate with Product, Legal and Compliance to design new lending products and promotional programs that meet customer needs while satisfying regulatory, fair lending and consumer protection obligations.
Establish and track key performance indicators (KPIs) for originations, underwriting quality, time-to-close, net charge-offs, efficiency ratio, and recovery rate and use data-driven insights to drive continuous improvement.
Lead cross-functional initiatives for margin expansion such as fee optimization, cross-sell programs, and pricing governance consistent with competitive intelligence and customer segmentation.
Implement credit models, scoring systems and policy exceptions framework; validate model performance and coordinate periodic re-calibration with analytics and risk teams.
Develop and present clear, data-backed business cases for new products, geographic expansion, or strategic investments in lending technology to executive leadership and the Board.
Ensure accurate and timely financial reporting for lending portfolios and support regulatory reporting requirements (CALL Reports, HMDA, Basel-related filings where applicable).
Champion a customer-centric lending experience that balances speed, clarity and compliance — including borrower communications, servicing transitions and dispute resolution.
Oversee training and development programs for underwriters, loan officers and operations staff to maintain consistent credit quality and regulatory competency.
Monitor competitor and market trends (rates, spreads, product innovations, regulatory changes) and adjust strategy to preserve market share and profitability.
Coordinate with Treasury and Finance on funding strategies, liquidity management and balance sheet allocation to support lending growth while protecting capital ratios.
Drive initiatives to improve operational resiliency and disaster recovery for lending systems, including business continuity planning for critical lending processes.

Secondary Functions

Participate in cross-functional strategy workshops to align lending product roadmaps with marketing, digital, and customer success initiatives.
Support ad-hoc senior leadership requests such as strategic due diligence, M&A assessments, and investor presentations related to lending performance and risk.
Contribute to enterprise-wide risk committees and capital planning discussions to align lending activities with broader enterprise objectives.
Lead pilot programs for emerging products (fintech partnerships, embedded lending, point-of-sale financing) and evaluate scalability and regulatory risk.
Facilitate interoperability between lending systems and core banking, CRM, and data warehouses to ensure seamless data flow and reporting.
Mentor high-potential managers across operations, underwriting and product to develop future leaders and strengthen organizational depth.
Represent the bank/credit union in industry forums, regulatory working groups and professional associations to influence and stay current on best practices.
Drive ESG considerations into lending frameworks where applicable, including sustainable lending programs and community reinvestment initiatives.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Deep expertise in credit underwriting and loan structuring across commercial, consumer and mortgage products, with demonstrated ability to write and enforce credit policy.
Strong portfolio management skills including stress testing, concentration risk analysis, reserve modeling and loss forecasting.
Proficient with loan origination systems (LOS) and servicing platforms; experience with Encompass, LOS alternatives, or custom banking platforms preferred.
Hands-on experience with credit modeling, scorecard development, and model governance; familiarity with statistical and machine learning approaches is a plus.
Financial modeling and P&L ownership skills — ability to build and interpret sensitivity analyses, IRR/CIR calculations and contribution margin by product.
Knowledge of regulatory and compliance requirements relevant to lending (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rules, HMDA, ECOA, Truth in Lending, RESPA, OCC/FDIC/State regulations).
Experience with secondary market mechanics, MBS execution, hedging strategies and investor reporting (for mortgage portfolios).
Familiarity with loan servicing, default management and loss mitigation tools and workflows.
Advanced data literacy, ability to interpret loan-level data, build reports and partner with analytics teams to drive data-driven decisions.
Hands-on experience negotiating vendor contracts and managing third-party risk for lending-related technology or service providers.
Practical knowledge of digital lending technologies (e.g., decisioning engines, e-docs, APIs) and experience implementing automation to scale originations.

Soft Skills

Executive leadership and people management: proven track record of building, scaling and mentoring high-performing teams.
Strategic thinker with strong commercial orientation and the ability to translate market insights into actionable lending strategies.
Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills — comfortable presenting to executive leadership and Boards.
Strong problem-solving orientation with a bias for operational excellence and continuous improvement.
High ethical standards, sound judgment and the ability to make difficult credit decisions under uncertainty.
Collaborative mindset — ability to work effectively across product, risk, compliance, finance and IT functions.
Change management skills and experience driving adoption of new systems, policies and ways of working.
Customer-focused with an ability to balance speed of execution and regulatory obligations to deliver great borrower experiences.
Negotiation and influencing skills for partnership, vendor and investor relationships.
Resilience and crisis management skills to lead through stressful economic cycles or portfolio stress events.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business Administration, Accounting or related field.

Preferred Education:

MBA, Master’s in Finance, or advanced degree in Risk Management or equivalent professional certifications (CFA, FRM, CRCM).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Finance
Economics
Business Administration
Accounting
Risk Management / Quantitative Finance

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

10+ years in lending, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership or head-of-lending role; combination of credit, operations and product experience.

Preferred:

Proven track record scaling profitable lending portfolios in community banks, regional banks, credit unions, fintech lending platforms or mortgage banks.
Experience leading multi-product lending organizations (commercial, consumer, mortgage) and managing regulatory exam processes.
Demonstrated success implementing digital lending transformations, vendor integrations and data-driven underwriting approaches.