Head of Credit Underwriting, Home Builder Finance

Head of Credit Underwriting, Home Builder Finance

Build the credit underwriting rails for a platform connecting underbanked homebuilders to institutional capital.

About The Company

Our client is a real estate finance and technology platform focused on unlocking American housing production. Small and regional builders create a meaningful share of U.S. housing, but many are still underbanked by traditional capital markets. The company is building the governance infrastructure, data systems, and capital partner model needed to connect those builders to institutional capital at scale.

This is a ground-floor build role inside a new credit platform. The company is not hiring someone to inherit a mature loan desk or simply process an existing pipeline. The right person will help create the underwriting function, shape credit policy, and build a scalable operating model for residential homebuilder finance.

The Role

The Head of Credit Underwriting, Home Builder Finance will own upstream credit diligence for residential builder and developer financing opportunities. You will evaluate construction loans, pressure-test builder financials and project economics, develop credit recommendations, and create the underwriting discipline needed for a platform that intends to become a full originator.

You will partner closely with sourcing, capital markets, asset management, product/operations, and executive leadership. The work includes hands-on underwriting and memo writing, but also the judgment to build a repeatable credit process in a company that is still creating the rails.

What You Will Own

• Underwrite residential construction, spec, pre-sold, and build-to-sell homebuilder financing opportunities.
• Analyze builder financial statements, tax returns, project pro formas, liquidity, leverage, DSCR, net worth, LTC, LTV, interest reserves, contingencies, and global cash flow.
• Review draw schedules, cost-to-complete analysis, lien waivers, title insurance, inspections, appraisals, absorption assumptions, comparable sales, lot pricing, and market demand.
• Prepare clear credit memos and present recommendations to investment committee, capital partners, and senior leadership.
• Push back constructively on sourcing when a deal does not hold up to credit scrutiny, while still building productive relationships with builder-facing teams.
• Help define underwriting policy, scoring frameworks, governance standards, and scalable workflows for a new credit line of business.
• Partner with product and operations teams on loan origination systems, data tooling, and AI-assisted underwriting workflows.
• Support capital partner confidence by making the risk framework credible, repeatable, and transparent.

What Makes This Opportunity Different

• You will help build the underwriting function, not just operate inside one.
• The company has credibility in residential real estate and has managed over $1B in assets, while the credit platform is still early enough for this hire to shape the playbook.
• The business is moving from referral and white-label revenue toward on-platform originator capability.
• You will sit at the intersection of construction finance, institutional capital, data, AI-enabled underwriting, and housing production.

Required Experience

• 7+ years of experience in construction lending, homebuilder finance, residential real estate credit, or closely related specialty finance.
• Direct experience underwriting construction loans or credit facilities for residential builders or developers, including single-family, townhome, or small-to-mid-scale multifamily projects.
• Strong command of construction loan mechanics, including draw schedules, lien waivers, title, inspections, cost-to-complete analysis, interest reserves, LTC/LTV, contingencies, and project feasibility.
• Strong financial analysis skills across builder financials, tax returns, pro formas, liquidity, leverage, DSCR, net worth, and global cash flow.
• Ability to evaluate appraisals, collateral assumptions, local market absorption, comparable sales, lot pricing, and execution risk.
• Excellent written credit communication, including clear, concise, persuasive credit memos.
• Comfort operating in a build-stage environment with ambiguity, limited existing process, and a need for hands-on ownership.

Preferred Experience

• Experience at a bank, credit union, private debt fund, non-bank lender, CDFI, or specialty finance platform with dedicated construction or homebuilder finance exposure.
• Experience building or improving credit policies, underwriting frameworks, loan origination workflows, or portfolio governance.
• Exposure to capital partners, investment committee presentations, or institutional credit decisioning.
• Experience with loan origination systems, data platforms, AI-assisted underwriting tools, or credit automation.
• Track record managing or underwriting a construction loan portfolio of $50M+ in commitments.
• Familiarity with HUD/FHA construction programs, GSE guidelines, state housing finance agency programs, RESPA, TILA, Reg B/ECOA, or state-specific construction lending rules.
• CMB, CFA, MBA, MS Finance, or other relevant designation.

Compensation

• Base salary: $175,000 to $200,000
• Performance bonus
• Equity participation
• Company-paid medical, vision, dental, and wellness benefits for employees and dependents
• Flexible vacation and sick days
• Paid parental leave

Location

This is a U.S.-based role. Sun Belt and high-growth housing markets are preferred, including markets such as Charlotte, Austin, Atlanta, Birmingham, and similar regions. Strong candidates outside those markets will still be considered when the construction/homebuilder finance profile is compelling.

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