Senior Underwriter

Business Unit: COO, Mortgage Operations
Salary range : £32,800 – £41,000 per annum
Location: UK Remote with travel to a Hub when required

Get out of your comfort zone. Live a life more Virgin.

Our Team

Our Senior Underwriting team plays a key role in our Mortgage Operations, handling the assessment of high-risk mortgage applications and guiding customers through the journey from decision in principle to mortgage offer.

It’s a big responsibility, we take pride in making thoughtful, responsible lending decisions that protect both our customer and the bank. By putting customers at the heart of everything we do, we ensure they feel supported and confident at every step of the process.

We’re innovative but careful, using our expertise not only to make sound lending decisions but to support the wider business and continuously enhance the customer experience.

What you’ll be doing

• Making lending decisions up to £1.5m that comply with the Banks risk appetite, policy requirements, internal underwriting guidelines and are within your mandated authority limits
• Ensuring all lending decisions comply with regulatory requirements such as MCOB, Responsible Lending, Consumer Duty.
• Where appropriate, identify and agree high quality exceptions to standard lending policy to support the banks growth aspirations.
• Communicating with customers to fully explaining lending decision rationale.
• Proactively manage your own performance, monitoring your success and taking action to improve your performance and capability.
• Consistently delivering agreed targets and Service level Agreements, demonstrating a strong commitment to delivery high quality lending decisions.
• Identify improvements to policy and process and suggest ways to maximise efficiency, increase capability and reduce rework.

We need you to have

• A minimum of two years mortgage experience and currently hold an Active Full Discretionary mortgage Lending Mandate of at least £500,000.
• Detailed knowledge of the regulatory framework which applies to mortgages and apply this consistently to all decisions. Regulations include: MCOB including responsible lending principles, FCA vulnerable customer guidance, PRA Portfolio Landlord lending standards.
• Demonstrated experience applying strong analytical and numerical skills to drive results
• Great communication skills and are confident engaging with customers and stakeholders (both internal and external) to gather relevant information, relay decisions, and maintain accurate and appropriately detailed records of underwriting decisions and their supporting rationale.
• The ability to be empathetic and flexible in underwriting decisions is key, always aiming to deliver the best outcome for both customer and the Bank.
• Proven ability to build and maintain strong internal and external relationships, with relationship building skills being fundamental to success in this role.
• Enthusiasm and drive to deliver great service ethos internally and externally to support the mortgage strategy.
• Ability to manage your own performance, monitoring your success and taking action to improve your performance/capability.
• Proven enthusiasm and drive to deliver exceptional service, both internally and externally, in support of the mortgage strategy.

It’s a bonus if you have but not essential

• Proven track record of delivering continuous improvement
• Banking Qualifications
• Coaching and Development Experience

Red Hot Rewards

• Generous holidays – 38.5 days annual leave (including bank holidays and prorated if part-time) plus the option to buy more.
• Up to five extra paid well-being days per year .
• 20 weeks paid, gender-neutral family leave (52 weeks in total) for expectant parents and those looking to adopt.
• Market-leading pension.
• Free private medical cover, income protection and life assurance.
• Flexible benefits include Cycle to Work, wellness and health assessments, and critical illness.

And there's no waiting around, you'll enjoy these benefits from day one.

Feeling insatiably curious about this role? If we’re lucky to receive a lot of interest, we may close the advert early and would hate you to miss out.

We're all about helping you Live a Life More Virgin , so happy to talk flexible working with you.

Say hello to Virgin Money
We’re making great strides towards achieving our ambition of becoming the UK’s best digital bank. As a full-service digital bank with a heritage stretching back over 180 years, we`re a workforce to be reckoned with. We're putting the full power of our experience behind disruptive ideas that reinvent the role a bank plays in people's lives. We're customer obsessed and work tirelessly to create positive experiences for our millions of customers and deliver on our purpose, ‘Making You Happier About Money.’ Our customer centric culture means that we're able to do banking differently and by innovating and working together we can make a real difference. Join us and Live a Life More Virgin that empowers you with choice and flexibility in how you work.

Be yourself at Virgin Money
Our purpose is to make people happier about money, this means seeing and feeling the world as our customers do by creating a workforce that reflects the rich diversity of our customers and communities. We’re committed to creating an inclusive culture where colleagues feel safe and inspired to contribute, speak up and be heard.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we're committed to removing any obstacles to inclusion. If you need any reasonable adjustments or support making your application, contact our Talent Acquisition team

Now the legal bit
Living A Life More Virgin allows our colleagues to be based anywhere in the UK (if the role allows it), but we'll need you to confirm you have the right to work in the UK.

If you're successful in securing a role with us, there are some checks you need to complete before starting. These include credit and criminal record checks and three years' worth of satisfactory references. If the role is part of the Senior Manager Regime and Certification Regime, it requires enhanced pre-employment checks – we'll ask for six years of regulatory references, and once in the role, you'll be subject to periodic employment checks.