Director of Operations
Residential Private Lending Operations Leadership Lakeland, FL
Build the Operating System Behind One of the Fastest Growing Private Lenders.

As Director of Operations, you'll own the operational engine that powers Central Lending.

You'll oversee the complete lending lifecycle while leading cross-functional operational teams responsible for processing, underwriting support, closing, servicing, and execution.

But this role goes far beyond people management.

You'll constantly ask questions like:

• How can we remove friction?
• How can we automate this?
• How can we close faster without increasing risk?
• How do we create an exceptional borrower experience while lowering operational costs?

This is a builder's role.

You'll report directly to the Founder/CEO and become one of the key leaders responsible for scaling the company over the next several years.
What You'll Do
Lead Lending Operations

• Oversee the operational execution of every loan from submission through funding
• Improve communication and accountability across departments
• Ensure processing, underwriting, closing, and servicing operate as one unified system
• Create visibility into every stage of the loan pipeline

Build Better Systems

• Identify bottlenecks and eliminate unnecessary operational friction
• Design scalable workflows that improve efficiency and customer experience
• Continuously refine SOPs, KPIs, dashboards, and operational reporting
• Drive measurable improvements in speed, quality, and profitability

Partner with Engineering

• Translate operational challenges into software improvements
• Help prioritize new features and workflow enhancements
• Test and implement new functionality
• Drive automation and AI initiatives throughout the organization

Lead High-Performing Teams

• Coach and develop department leaders
• Create accountability through clear KPIs and scorecards
• Foster collaboration across multiple operational departments
• Ensure every team member understands how their work contributes to company goals

What Success Looks Like

Within your first 6-12 months:

• Loan closing timelines are significantly reduced
• Operational costs continue trending downward
• Departments work together with greater clarity and accountability
• Customer experience improves across every stage of the lending process
• AI and automation replace repetitive manual work
• Leadership spends less time solving operational problems and more time growing the business
• Central Lending continues gaining market share through operational excellence

Who We're Looking For

We're looking for someone who's already helped build what we're trying to become.

The ideal candidate brings experience from residential private lending, hard money lending, bridge lending, RTL, mortgage banking, or a similar lending environment and understands how to scale operations without sacrificing quality.

You thrive in fast-moving environments where every improvement matters.

You're highly analytical, detail-oriented, and naturally think in systems.

Most importantly, you're a builder-not a maintainer.

Requirements
Qualifications
Required

• 5+ years leading operations within residential private lending, mortgage banking, bridge lending, hard money, RTL, or similar lending environments
• Experience managing multi-disciplinary operations teams
• Strong understanding of the residential loan lifecycle
• Experience improving operational efficiency through systems, technology, automation, or process redesign
• Comfortable working alongside software engineers to improve internal technology
• Strong leadership, communication, and organizational skills

Preferred

• Experience with proprietary lending platforms
• AI implementation or workflow automation experience
• Strong understanding of APIs, integrations, and operational systems
• Experience leading operational transformation within a high-growth organization
• Advanced experience with Monday.com or similar workflow platforms

Compensation

• $150,000-$175,000 base salary + additional annual bonus

Benefits
Ready to Build Something Exceptional?

If you've successfully scaled lending operations, enjoy solving complex operational challenges, and want the opportunity to build systems that will shape the future of a growing company, we'd love to hear from you.

Apply today with your resume and complete the following job fit assessment:
https://TeamArchitects.asmt.io/X6FXPPWH6/DirectorofOperationsJob-Assessment