Community Investment Operations Specialist

Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago•Chicago, IL

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago (FHLBank Chicago) is seeking a Community Investment Operations Specialist. This role is responsible for ensuring compliance with federal regulations and program policies, and for providing customer success support for operational processes related to grants awarded through the Bank’s Affordable Housing Program (AHP) General Fund Community Investment program. The Operations Specialist will contribute to optimizing processes, developing tools for streamlining, and building reports. The FHLBank Chicago is a government-sponsored enterprise created by Congress in 1932 to support mortgage lending and community investment, serving members in Illinois and Wisconsin. They are member-owned and member-focused, with members including banks, credit unions, insurance companies, and CDFIs.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Economics, Urban Studies, Public Administration or Policy. Post graduate education may substitute for work experience.
2-4 years’ experience in affordable housing finance, community development, or community economic development.
2-4 years’ experience with direct customer success or customer service engagements.
Familiarity with local, state, federal, and/or community development programs, grant application processes, and how they are used in various financing structures.
Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and Access.
Working knowledge of Tableau and SQL.
Excellent written and verbal communications and ability to tailor messaging to different audiences.
Ability to take initiative in a fast-paced work environment, work effectively under pressure, either independently or as a member of a team.
Ability to cultivate strong relationships and work across teams and departments.

Responsibilities

Ensuring compliance with federal regulations and program policies.
Performing a key customer success role supporting operational processes for grants awarded through the Bank’s Affordable Housing Program (AHP) General Fund Community Investment program.
Assisting in optimizing processes, developing tools to streamline existing processes, and building reports.
Increasing Member engagement with AHP by providing technical assistance with the AHP Online application process for Members and Sponsors.
Supporting the creation of new housing units and the support of local organizations district-wide through review of and lifecycle support for AHP projects.
Enhancing the Community Investment Operations team skillset with affordable housing finance and grant-making expertise.
Providing quality customer service and technical assistance to program users of the AHP related to program eligibility, project feasibility, scoring commitments, system issues and all other support related to application submission.
Providing quality customer service and technical assistance to program users, including guidance for submitting requests, supporting documentation, and ongoing certifications and/or reporting.
Performing comprehensive analysis of multi-family rental and owner-occupied projects for regulatory and programmatic compliance during the full AHP application lifecycle.
Analyzing and tracking grant performance and disbursements of awarded funds.
Building and maintaining tools to create efficiencies around existing processes and procedures.
Supporting the reporting of operational occurrences, events, and other reportable issues related to AHP round activity in Community Investment operations, ensuring any SARs are filed as needed.
Making recommendations and updates to existing AHP General Fund program policies, procedures and user guides.
Assisting with system support through data analysis, reporting, and participation in user acceptance testing.
Performing other duties as assigned, including supporting other Community Investment programs during high volume times.