Dual Mandated Underwriter

Vida Bank provides competitive savings products through Vida Savings and specialist mortgage solutions through Vida Homeloans. Our mortgage business supports Buy to Let (BTL) and residential borrowers (ROO) who find themselves underserved elsewhere. Our mortgage customers range from Buy to Let investors to the self-employed and customers with multiple jobs. Our savings proposition is delivered online via our website and is focused on providing savers with fair, transparent and competitive rates. Our typical customers are active savers, who tend to look beyond their current account provider for savings accounts.

Our business model and strategy are underpinned by our core purpose to ‘Help More People Find a Place to call Home’. We are here to help the underserved, especially those with more nuanced personal circumstances or borrowing needs who are not able to access a mortgage from a mainstream mortgage lender. Working exclusively with intermediary partners, we combine cutting-edge technology with skilled and caring underwriting expertise to solve complex customer problems.

As a fully regulated UK based bank with ambitious growth aspirations, we recognise the importance of having a clearly articulated culture strategy and the need to actively manage how it embeds in the business together with the behaviours which exemplify it. As a recognised Best Companies Top 100 mid-sized company to work for in the UK and a finalist at the Financial Reporter Women’s Recognition Awards, we take pride in our diverse workforce, championing both ethnic and gender diversity through our EDI commitments. Having met the target set by being a member of the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter, we have 50% of senior management roles filled by women.

With offices in London, Newcastle and Skipton, we bring our teams together regularly to collaborate and empower our colleagues to have more choice around when and where they work on the days they are not in the office, with colleagues working remotely in various locations across the UK.

Our Culture

We are proud to have built a culture founded on an ethos of caring, and that sits at the heart of our Vida Values, driving the way we run our business, support our customers and other stakeholders on a daily basis. We genuinely care about delivering the right outcomes for all our stakeholders who we consider through the cultural framework as our customers, colleagues, company and communities that we operate in. By joining Vida you will have a sense of belonging in what is a diverse and collaborative environment, where you will be empowered to take responsibility for driving delivery. We embrace a diversity of backgrounds and experiences in our people, in the deeply held belief that better outcomes are achieved for customers when our colleagues are better placed to empathise with and understand their unique circumstances. From application to interview, we place inclusion at the heart of all we do.

Role Overview:

The successful candidate will be a suitably qualified and experienced Underwriter in the specialist mortgage market, having held a Residential & Buy to Let lending mandate for a minimum of 5 years (£500k desirable).

Key Responsibilities:

• Underwrite and decision complex Residential and BTL mortgage applications ensuring you deliver exceptional customer service.
• Operate effectively to achieve agreed production and quality targets and objectives and take responsibility for highlighting any areas of concern.
• Consider mortgage applications outside standard lending policy where a justifiable business reason exists.
• Ensure responsibilities regarding Consumer Duty, the Prevention of Financial Crime (including AML, identification, and reporting of fraud) and responsible lending are carried out effectively and in accordance with the Company’s policies.
• Develop and maintain knowledge of mortgage products and bespoke underwriting capability with an emphasis on understanding of Vida’s risk appetite, products, and criteria.
• Ability to manage and organise own caseload in line with the priorities of the business.

Requirements:

• Extensive experience of specialist mortgage manual underwriting, the mortgage intermediary market, its products, marketing approach and processes.
• Held a specialist residential and BTL lending mandate for a minimum of 2 years.
• A detailed understanding of complex Residential & BTL lending types, such as: Portfolio Buy to Let, SPVs, New Build, Help to Buy/First Home Fund, Contractors, Ex-Pats, Self-Employed, Credit Repair, HMOs and MUBs.
• Regulation / Legislation Awareness - Knowledge of the Regulated Financial Services environment.
• Demonstrable understanding of Consumer Duty, responsible lending and regulatory knowledge.
• CeMap qualified or industry equivalent – desirable but not essential.
• Able to demonstrate a proactive, hardworking, flexible and able to work under own initiative but also a team player.
• Proficient in MS Office, credit risk decision systems.

Our Values

Our values are well established and recognised throughout our organisation. They provide a frame of reference for the behaviours expected from our colleagues every day. We find ways to break old conventions, especially those which cause exclusion or customer harm. We look for these qualities when hiring new talent into the organisation, and they underpin our approach to personal development and performance management for all our people. At the heart of this is the fact we care about our Customers, Our Colleagues and our Communities. We are:

• Visionary - We innovate and break old habits, thinking big and pushing boundaries together as one team.
• Inclusive - We value each other’s differences and work to see people for who they really are.
• Dynamic - We are flexible and fast, cutting through complexity and never accepting second best.
• Authentic - We are honest and genuine, what you see is what you get.

We offer a comprehensive benefits package to support our employees’ professional and personal needs. Further details can be provided upon application.