Director of Compliance

McCormack Baron Companies•St. Louis, MO

5d•Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Compliance provides enterprise leadership for affordable-housing compliance across McCormack Baron Management’s national portfolio. This position establishes the compliance strategy, operating standards, quality controls, reporting cadence, and accountability structure necessary to protect residents, ownership interests, subsidy, tax credits, and the company’s reputation. The Director leads the corporate compliance team and partners closely with Portfolio Management, Regional Property Managers, site teams, Asset Management, Operations, Accounting, Legal, Information Technology, and public and private housing partners. The Director is accountable for maintaining audit-ready files and systems; ensuring timely and accurate certifications, recertifications, reporting, and agency responses; identifying risk before it becomes a finding; and driving corrective action through verified closure. The role requires a hands-on leader who can translate complex regulatory requirements into practical site-level processes, train teams, analyze performance, and act with urgency when resident subsidy, program eligibility, or owner compliance is at risk.

Requirements

Advanced knowledge of LIHTC and HUD affordable-housing occupancy requirements; working knowledge of PBV, HOME, RAD, bond, and other layered programs strongly preferred.
Ability to interpret statutes, regulations, handbooks, regulatory agreements, agency guidance, and partner requirements and convert them into clear operating procedures.
Strong audit, analytical, root-cause, project-management, and quality-assurance skills with exceptional attention to detail.
Ability to lead through influence, set firm expectations, manage competing deadlines, and hold multiple levels of the organization accountable.
Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and training skills; able to communicate technical requirements to both executive and site-level audiences.
High proficiency with Microsoft 365, especially Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams; experience with affordable-housing property-management and compliance platforms required. Fortress experience is preferred.
Ability to travel regularly, respond to time-sensitive compliance matters, and work beyond normal business hours when critical deadlines or agency responses require it.
Bachelor’s degree in business, real estate, public administration, finance, accounting, or a related field required; equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience may be considered.
Minimum seven years of progressively responsible affordable-housing compliance experience, including at least three years leading compliance staff or a multi-property compliance function.
Demonstrated experience with layered affordable-housing programs and regulatory agreements across a multi-state portfolio.
Proven record of leading complex audits, correcting material findings, improving file quality, and establishing sustainable internal controls.
Experience partnering with housing authorities, state housing finance agencies, HUD, investors, syndicators, lenders, owners, and third-party compliance reviewers preferred.
Certified Occupancy Specialist (COS), Tax Credit Specialist (TCS), Housing Credit Certified Professional (HCCP), National Compliance Professional (NCP), or equivalent recognized certification.
Certified Professional of Occupancy (CPO), Blended Occupancy Specialist, Fair Housing certification, or additional program-specific credentials are strongly preferred.
Active certifications must be maintained in good standing; continuing education is expected.

Nice To Haves

Working knowledge of PBV, HOME, RAD, bond, and other layered programs strongly preferred.
Fortress experience is preferred.
Experience partnering with housing authorities, state housing finance agencies, HUD, investors, syndicators, lenders, owners, and third-party compliance reviewers preferred.
Certified Professional of Occupancy (CPO), Blended Occupancy Specialist, Fair Housing certification, or additional program-specific credentials are strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Develop, implement, and continuously improve MBM’s enterprise compliance program, policies, procedures, internal controls, and annual compliance work plan.
Maintain current working knowledge of applicable federal, state, local, lender, investor, syndicator, owner, and housing-agency requirements; communicate changes and operational impacts promptly.
Provide authoritative guidance regarding LIHTC, HUD multifamily and Public Housing/Section 8 programs, including PBV and other project-based subsidy requirements, HOME, Housing Trust Fund, RAD, bond, and layered-financing restrictions applicable to the portfolio.
Create a risk-based monitoring framework that prioritizes properties with late certifications, unresolved findings, subsidy interruptions, occupancy challenges, new lease-ups, management transitions, or repeated quality-control failures.
Escalate material compliance risks with a clear statement of impact, required action, accountable owner, suspense date, and verification standard; immediately elevate threats to subsidy, tax-credit delivery, resident eligibility, or agency standing.
Advise senior leadership on compliance exposure, emerging trends, staffing capacity, system limitations, and recommended corrective or preventive action.
Establish and enforce standardized requirements for applicant eligibility, initial certifications, annual and interim recertifications, lease and addendum execution, student status, income and asset verification, utility allowances, rent limits, and required notices.
Oversee pre-approval, quality-control, and post-review processes for tenant files, including new move-ins, recertifications, acquisitions, lease-ups, and management transitions.
Ensure certifications and recertifications are completed accurately and on time and that electronic and physical records are complete, secure, consistent, and audit ready.
Monitor EIV and other required verification activities, discrepancy resolution, repayment agreements, special claims, subsidy documentation, and program-specific reporting as applicable.
Partner with Operations and site leadership to correct documentation gaps without creating unnecessary barriers for applicants or residents, while maintaining full program integrity.
Confirm that rent and income limits, utility allowances, program set-asides, unit designations, and regulatory agreement requirements are implemented timely and accurately.
Plan and lead readiness for owner, investor, syndicator, lender, housing-agency, state allocating agency, HUD, MOR, occupancy, file, and other regulatory reviews.
Coordinate requested documentation, validate submissions, assign owners, track suspense dates, and serve as a primary compliance contact for external reviewers when designated.
Review findings and observations, conduct root-cause analysis, develop corrective-action plans, and verify sustainable closure through documented evidence rather than verbal confirmation.
Maintain a centralized log of audits, findings, responses, due dates, appeals, cure documentation, repeat findings, and final closure letters.
Coordinate with Facilities and Operations on compliance elements connected to NSPIRE and other physical inspections, including resident notices, regulatory responses, evidence retention, and timely cure of cited deficiencies.
Conduct targeted property reviews and portfolio-wide thematic audits when trends indicate elevated risk.
Recruit, lead, coach, and evaluate compliance managers, specialists, auditors, and other assigned team members; establish measurable goals and service-level expectations.
Define clear ownership between Corporate Compliance, Regional Property Managers, site teams, Operations, and third-party reviewers so that work is completed once, correctly, and on time.
Develop and deliver onboarding, refresher, and role-based compliance training; maintain training records and evaluate effectiveness through file quality and performance outcomes.
Partner with Human Resources and operational leaders on performance concerns when noncompliance results from repeated failure to follow established standards.
Collaborate with IT and system owners to improve workflows, permissions, dashboards, document retention, validation rules, and data integrity within Fortress and other approved platforms.
Support due diligence, acquisitions, dispositions, new business, lease-ups, conversions, and management transitions through compliance assessment, document review, and implementation planning.
Develop and maintain an executive compliance dashboard with property, regional, and portfolio-level performance indicators.
Monitor and report on late or upcoming recertifications, file-review volume and pass rates, unresolved findings, response timeliness, training completion, subsidy interruptions, and repeat deficiencies.
Validate that system reports reconcile to source documentation and that corrective notes, approvals, and supporting evidence are retained in the approved system of record.
Provide concise weekly and monthly reporting to senior leadership, highlighting status, business impact, trends, decisions needed, and owners of next actions.
Use data to identify systemic causes, prioritize resources, measure improvement, and recommend policy, staffing, training, or technology changes.
Ensure confidential resident and applicant information is handled in accordance with company policy and applicable privacy, security, and records-retention requirements.