Director, Compliance

Kiavi is one of the nation’s largest private lenders to residential real estate investors (REIs). We harness the power of data & technology to offer our customers a simpler, more reliable, and faster way to access the capital they need to scale their businesses. 

Formerly known as LendingHome, we’re committed to helping REIs revitalize the approximately $25 trillion worth of aged U.S. housing stock to provide move-in ready homes and rental housing for millions of Americans across the country.

Combining our technology and industry expertise, Kiavi has grown to a team of over 400 and has won many awards over the years including Forbes Fintech 50, Finovate Awards, Best Digital Mortgage Platform, Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, and many more. 

• Loans Funded: $27 billion in loans funded
• Homes financed: 100,000+ projects funded for our customers across the country
• Geography: 45 states + D.C. where we lend to REIs so they can revitalize neighborhoods
• Employees: Over 450 employees with competitive benefits and perks

This position can be based remotely in any of our approved hiring regions. Our hybrid distributed workforce philosophy allows us to find the best talent in the country and build diverse teams, while allowing our colleagues to work from the location that works best for them. 

Job Summary:

The Compliance Officer is a key leadership role responsible for building, managing, and executing the compliance functions and the operational risk framework at Kiavi. This individual will oversee compliance, fraud, and internal audit ensuring that all operational processes are robust, effective, and aligned with the company's risk appetite. The Compliance Officer will report directly to the Chief Risk Officer (CRO) and be crucial in mitigating operational threats and maintaining the integrity of Kiavi's systems and processes.

• Compliance / Operational Risk Management: Develop and maintain a strong compliance and operational risk framework to identify, assess, monitor, and report on risks across the entire organization. This includes addressing incomplete or outdated operational documentation.
• Compliance / Operational Risk Roadmap: Develop, enhance and implement a roadmap of compliance and operational risk initiatives with clear timelines, ownership, and execution plans

• Internal Audit: Lead and build an independent audit function from the ground up, responsible for conducting regular audits to evaluate the effectiveness of internal controls, processes, and systems
• Compliance Oversight: Manage the compliance team, ensuring the company meets all external regulatory obligations and internal policies. 
• Fraud Prevention and Detection: Lead the fraud function, with a specific focus on developing and implementing an algorithmic fraud detection process. This includes implementing solutions for monitoring systems to prevent fraudulent activities.
• Team Leadership: Lead and mentor a team of professionals within the internal audit, compliance, and fraud functions, fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

Education & Experience:

• A bachelor's degree in a relevant field such as finance, business administration, or legal.
• A minimum of 7-10 years of experience in compliance, operational risk, legal or a related field, with at least 3-5 years in a leadership or managerial role.
• Proven experience in a financial services or technology-driven environment, with a strong understanding of lending and real estate operations.
• Preferred: Strong understanding of business-purpose lending (bridge, rental, new construction) and real estate operations involving non-consumer borrowers/entities.

Skills & Competencies:

• Strong knowledge of operational risk frameworks, internal audit methodologies, and regulatory compliance requirements including AML/BSA, HMDA, FCRA, Privacy Laws.
• Demonstrated experience in implementing new processes and technologies, particularly in fraud detection and data analytics.
• Measurable ability for automating processes with outcomes that result in significant gains in efficiency and accuracy over legacy systems. 
• Exceptional leadership and team-building skills, with the ability to manage diverse functions under a single organizational structure.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to present complex information clearly and concisely to senior management.
• Experience in resource planning and in producing actionable roadmaps while solving for internal/external constraints. 
• Detail-oriented and analytical, with a proven ability to identify and mitigate risks effectively.
• A proactive and independent mindset, capable of building and running a new, independent audit function.

Kiavi takes a market-based approach to pay, and pay may vary depending on your location. The expected annualized base pay range for this full-time role to be performed remotely is 150K to 220K plus 15% bonus + benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries. Within the range, the successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. Your recruiter can share more about the specific base pay range for your preferred location during the hiring process. Please note that the pay range listed above reflects the base salary only, and does not include the target value of bonus or benefits.

Benefits and Perks 

• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance: Kiavi offers free employee-only coverage for medical, dental, and vision plans. Dependents receive a heavily discounted premium, competitively placed in the 90th percentile for cost.
• Health Savings Account (HSA): For those enrolled in a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP), Kiavi provides an annual employer contribution to HSAs: $500 for individual coverage and $1,000 for dependents.
• Disability and Life Insurance: Immediate access to short-term and long-term disability insurance, as well as group life and AD&D insurance, with coverage at 1x annual salary.
• Remote Work Policy: Kiavi supports working remotely for day to day activities for most roles and occasionally may ask employees to gather in person for key meetings, trainings, team building etc. For remote workers, Kiavi offers a one-time office setup reimbursement of up to $500 and a monthly $85 stipend for internet and phone expenses. For in-office workers, Kiavi offers employer contributions to commuter benefits account, either for parking or public transportation.
• Flexible Time Off: Employees are empowered to manage their own time off, with no strict limits, as long as it's approved by their manager.
• Paid Leaves: Up to 8 weeks of paid leave for medical or caregiver purposes, and 12 weeks of paid maternity/paternity leave. Short-term disability leave is also available for birthing mothers.
• 401(k) & Company Match: A 401(k) plan managed by Fidelity, with Kiavi matching 100% of contributions up to 3% of compensation or $6,000 (whichever is less). All employer contributions are immediately vested.

Protect yourself from recruitment scams:

• If you are offered an interview or a role with Kiavi, this will be communicated with you through email, via an official email address ending in @kiavi.com or @lendinghome.com. 
• You will never be asked for payments of any kind during the process.
• We also never communicate with candidates via Whatsapp at any point during the recruitment process. 
• We won’t ask for personal information or data via text message. If you have any concerns regarding how genuine a text message is, please contact your recruiter.
• You can find our official Kiavi careers page here. We advise you to check that the page details and website addresses match if you have any concerns.