Underwriting Manager

***No agencies or 3rd party Recruiters please. Thank you! ***

Who we are:

Cornerstone Home Lending, a division of Cornerstone Capital Bank, is a unique national home lender with a reputation of amazing service, customer satisfaction, employee retention, and happiness. We employ people who are passionately committed to Cornerstone’s Mission, Vision & Core Convictions. Our brand is known for on-time closings - a key core conviction of Cornerstone. We have successfully navigated our company through many industry cycles and changes in regulations.

We honor God by using our talents to make a positive difference in the lives of our Team Members, Clients, Shareholders, Communities, and the People who provide services to us.

Who we are looking for:

The Residential Underwriting Manager is responsible for leading and overseeing the residential mortgage underwriting team, ensuring credit decisions are accurate, timely, compliant, and aligned with investor, agency, and company guidelines. This role provides leadership, coaching, quality control oversight, and operational support to ensure exceptional customer service while maintaining sound credit risk management practices.

The Residential Underwriting Manager partners closely with Production, Operations, Secondary Marketing, Quality Control, Compliance, and Executive Leadership to achieve production goals, maintain service level agreements, and drive continuous process improvement.

 Key Responsibilities:

• Manage, coach, mentor, and develop a team of residential mortgage underwriters.
• Monitor underwriting pipelines and workload distribution to ensure timely loan decisions.
• Serve as a subject matter expert for underwriting guidelines and credit policy interpretation.
• Conduct performance evaluations and establish performance expectations and accountability measures.
• Ensure accurate and consistent underwriting decisions in accordance with agency, investor, and company guidelines.
• Review and approve complex, high-balance, exception, and escalated loan files.
• Provide guidance and support on challenging credit, income, asset, collateral, and compliance scenarios.
• Maintain a thorough understanding of underwriting guidelines for:
  • Fannie Mae
  • Freddie Mac
  • FHA
  • VA
  • USDA
  • Jumbo and Non-QM products
• Ensure compliance with federal and state lending regulations, including:
  • RESPA
  • TILA/TRID
  • ECOA
  • Fair Lending requirements
  • HMDA
  • Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements
• Partner with Sales and Operations leadership to balance production goals and credit risk.
• Evaluate and manage exception requests within delegated authority limits.
• Assist with recruiting, onboarding, training, and retention of underwriting staff.

What you’ll need to be successful:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Accounting, Economics, or related field preferred.
• Equivalent mortgage lending experience may be considered in lieu of degree requirements.
• Minimum 7-10 years of residential mortgage underwriting experience.
• Minimum 3-5 years of underwriting leadership or management experience.
• DE (Direct Endorsement) Certification preferred.
• VA SAR (Staff Appraisal Reviewer) designation preferred.
• Extensive knowledge of agency, government, jumbo, and non-QM underwriting guidelines.
• Experience working within delegated underwriting authority environments.
• Strong understanding of mortgage operations and secondary market requirements.
• Strong credit analysis and risk assessment skills.
• Deep understanding of income calculation, asset review, and collateral evaluation.
• Excellent leadership, coaching, and team development abilities.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Effective communication and conflict-resolution skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.

What we offer: 

Because we recognize and reward hard work, we offer a competitive salary, Medical, Dental, Vision, , Accidental Death, Long-Term Disability, Short-Term Disability, FSA, HSA, 401K, Basic Life, Voluntary Life, and Paid Parental Leave benefits, as well as the opportunity for a performance based bonus based on position and department. 

What to do next: 

If Cornerstone sounds like the place for you (and if you have the qualifications, drive, and passion to match), we invite you to become a member of our winning team! And remember, once you're a part of our Cornerstone team, we'll continue to invest in you as a valuable asset to our company. As many of our team members can tell you, there's something special about working at Cornerstone.