What You'll DoThe Director of Commercial & Construction Loan Operations provides leadership and strategic direction for the Credit Union's commercial loan production operations, commercial portfolio servicing, and residential and commercial construction loan servicing.
This role is accountable for the operational execution of commercial loans from application through processing, documentation, closing, funding, ongoing servicing, and payoff, as well as the administration of residential and commercial construction loans throughout the construction loan cycle.
The Director directly supports commercial lending growth by building scalable processes, maintaining strong operational controls, improving turnaround times, developing high-performing teams, and creating an efficient and consistent experience for members and lending partners.
The Director serves as a key operational partner to Commercial Lending, Credit, SBA Lending, Mortgage, Compliance, Risk, Accounting, Legal, and other internal teams, ensuring commercial and construction loans move efficiently through the lending lifecycle while maintaining accuracy, quality, and regulatory compliance.
Commercial Loan Production, Closing, and Funding- Lead the operational functions supporting commercial real estate loan production from application through closing and funding.
- Oversee commercial loan processing, due diligence coordination, documentation preparation, closing, and funding activities.
- Monitor commercial loan pipeline activity to ensure timely movement of loans through processing, documentation, closing, and funding.
- Partner with Commercial Loan Officers, Credit and Underwriting, SBA Lending, Legal, Title, Accounting, and other internal and external partners to resolve documentation and closing requirements.
- Serve as a senior operational resource for complex transactions, documentation requirements, due diligence, and closing issues.
- Ensure loan documentation and closing packages accurately reflect approved credit terms and applicable Credit Union requirements.
- Establish service expectations and turnaround standards that support commercial loan growth while maintaining quality and accuracy.
Commercial Portfolio Servicing- Lead the ongoing servicing and administration of the commercial loan portfolio.
- Establish clear ownership, service standards, and operating procedures for commercial loan servicing activities.
- Ensure servicing requests are completed accurately and timely and in accordance with loan documents, credit approvals, policies, and regulatory requirements.
- Oversee loan maintenance, collateral requirements, payoffs, partial payoffs, releases, and other post-closing servicing activities.
- Partner with Commercial Loan Officers and lending leadership on servicing requests requiring credit or management approval.
- Maintain strong controls while providing responsive and professional service to commercial members.
Residential and Commercial Construction Loan Servicing- Lead the servicing and administration of residential and commercial construction loans throughout the construction lifecycle.
- Oversee construction draw administration, including draw requests, budget reviews, inspections, documentation, disbursements, and project monitoring.
- Ensure construction disbursements align with approved budgets, project completion, loan requirements, and Credit Union policies.
- Establish and maintain controls designed to prevent overfunding and identify project delays, budget concerns, documentation deficiencies, and other construction-related risks.
- Ensure required inspections, title requirements, lien-related documentation, and other construction controls are completed prior to disbursement.
- Maintain effective working relationships with Commercial and Mortgage Lending, members, builders, contractors, inspectors, title companies, and other construction partners.
- Ensure construction servicing practices remain compliant with applicable state requirements as the Credit Union's construction lending footprint expands.
Operational Performance and Quality Control- Establish and manage performance standards across commercial loan production, closing, funding, servicing, and construction administration.
- Develop and maintain quality-control processes that promote accuracy, completeness, consistency, and regulatory compliance.
- Monitor pipeline volume, closing activity, turnaround times, construction draw activity, service levels, quality results, and team capacity.
- Use operational data and performance trends to identify bottlenecks, capacity constraints, recurring errors, and opportunities for improvement.
- Establish clear accountability for operational performance and proactively remove barriers affecting production or service delivery.
- Keep senior management informed of production risks, operational trends, staffing needs, and significant challenges.
People Leadership and Talent Development- Build and sustain a high-performing, knowledgeable, and member-focused Commercial & Construction Loan Operations team.
- Provide leadership to employees supporting commercial loan production, commercial portfolio servicing, and construction loan servicing.
- Establish clear roles, responsibilities, performance expectations, and accountability throughout the department.
- Recruit, hire, onboard, train, coach, and develop employees as the commercial and construction portfolios continue to grow.
- Develop career paths and succession plans that create opportunities for professional growth and advancement.
- Build technical expertise and cross-training throughout the department to strengthen operational coverage and reduce key-person dependency.
- Identify and develop future leaders and subject-matter experts.
- Promote a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, collaboration, professional development, and exceptional member service.
Technology and Process Improvement- Lead continuous improvement initiatives across commercial loan production, servicing, and construction administration.
- Identify opportunities to streamline workflows, eliminate unnecessary handoffs, reduce duplication, improve turnaround times, and strengthen operational controls.
- Develop standardized and scalable processes capable of supporting continued commercial and construction lending growth.
- Maximize utilization of existing lending, servicing, construction management, and workflow technology.
- Participate in the evaluation, selection, implementation, testing, and optimization of new systems, software, automation, upgrades, and technology.
- Establish procedures and training to support successful adoption of new technology and workflow changes.
- Use technology and operational data to improve efficiency, capacity, quality, and the member experience.
Member Experience and Service Delivery- Own the operational member experience throughout commercial loan processing, closing, funding, servicing, and construction draw administration.
- Establish clear expectations for responsiveness, accuracy, professionalism, and proactive communication.
- Identify and eliminate unnecessary friction and delays throughout the commercial and construction lending process.
- Ensure members receive timely communication regarding documentation requirements, loan closings, servicing requests, and construction draws.
- Partner with Commercial Loan Officers and other lending teams to provide members with a coordinated and consistent experience.
- Assist with the resolution of complex or escalated member issues involving commercial or construction loan operations.
Risk Management, Compliance, and Audit Readiness- Ensure commercial and construction loan operations comply with Credit Union policies, lending requirements, regulations, and internal controls.
- Maintain strong operational controls across processing, documentation, closing, funding, servicing, and construction disbursements.
- Partner with Compliance, Risk, Credit, Accounting, and other stakeholders to identify and mitigate operational risk.
- Maintain departmental readiness for regulatory examinations, internal audits, accounting reviews, and third-party examinations.
- Coordinate loan file and documentation requests associated with NCUA, CUBG, FHLB, Accounting, internal audit, and other examinations or reviews.
- Ensure requested loan files and supporting documentation are accurate, complete, organized, and delivered timely.
- Identify recurring findings or control weaknesses and implement corrective actions to reduce future risk.
Cross-Functional and Strategic Leadership- Serve as the primary operational partner between Commercial Lending and the teams responsible for loan production, servicing, and construction administration.
- Collaborate with Commercial Loan Officers, the SVP of Commercial and SBA Lending, VP of Commercial Lending, Credit and Underwriting leadership, Mortgage, Compliance, Risk, Accounting, Legal, and other departments.
- Ensure effective communication and handoffs between origination, underwriting, processing, documentation, closing, funding, servicing, and construction administration.
- Identify cross-functional barriers affecting commercial lending growth, operational efficiency, or member experience and lead efforts to resolve them.
- Evaluate staffing, structure, and capacity needs as commercial loan production and portfolio volume grow.
- Recommend and implement organizational changes, new positions, processes, and technology necessary to support continued growth.
- Provide senior leadership with operational insights, performance trends, emerging risks, capacity needs, and recommendations.
- Serve as a key contributor to the continued development and scalability of the Credit Union's commercial and construction lending operations.
Who You AreYou are a growth-minded operational leader who understands that successful commercial lending requires more than originating great loans. It requires an operating system behind those loans that is accurate, responsive, controlled, scalable, and easy for both members and lending partners to navigate.
You understand the commercial loan lifecycle and can move comfortably between the details of a complex transaction and the broader needs of the operation. You can coach an employee through a difficult loan file, work with a Loan Officer to resolve a closing issue, identify a process bottleneck, evaluate staffing capacity, strengthen operational control, and help senior leadership think through what the department will need as UCCU continues to grow.
You understand the commercial loan lifecycle and can move comfortably between the details of a complex transaction and the broader needs of the operation. You can coach an employee through a difficult loan file, work with a Loan Officer to resolve a closing issue, identify a process bottleneck, evaluate staffing capacity, strengthen operational control, and help senior leadership think through what the department will need as UCCU continues to grow.
Most importantly, you build people and systems. You create clarity, develop expertise, establish accountability, and continuously look for better ways to serve members while protecting the Credit Union.
Most importantly, you build people and systems. You create clarity, develop expertise, establish accountability, and continuously look for better ways to serve members while protecting the Credit Union.
What You Bring- 5+ years of progressive experience in commercial lending operations, commercial real estate lending, loan servicing, construction lending, or a related financial services environment.
- Demonstrated leadership experience managing or developing lending operations teams.
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Accounting, Operations Management, or a related field preferred, or equivalent relevant experience.
- Strong understanding of the commercial loan lifecycle, including processing, due diligence, documentation, closing, funding, servicing, and payoff.
- Demonstrated knowledge of commercial real estate loan documentation and closing requirements.
- Experience with commercial portfolio servicing and post-closing loan administration.
- Experience with residential and/or commercial construction loan administration, including draw management, inspections, budgets, and disbursements, strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated ability to manage lending pipelines, priorities, service expectations, and operational capacity in a deadline-driven environment.
- Experience establishing or improving quality-control processes, operational controls, and audit readiness.
- Strong knowledge of credit union, banking, or regulated financial institution operations; familiarity with NCUA requirements preferred.
- Demonstrated experience improving processes, reducing turnaround times, and building scalable operating practices.
- Experience implementing or optimizing lending technology, workflow systems, automation, or other operational tools.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to use performance data to make staffing, capacity, process, and operational decisions.
- Proven ability to recruit, coach, develop, and retain high-performing employees while building career paths and succession plans.
- Strong cross-functional leadership skills and demonstrated ability to work effectively with Lending, Credit, Compliance, Risk, Accounting, Legal, Technology, and senior leadership.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate complex lending and operational matters clearly.
- Strong judgment, problem-solving ability, attention to detail, and commitment to operational excellence.
- Demonstrated ability to balance growth, speed, member experience, operational efficiency, compliance, and risk.
- Works a regular and predictable schedule.
What We Value•
Growth mindset. You are a controlled risk-taker with vision, not a steady-state operator. You hold yourself to a high standard and ow
