Director, Secondary Market

First Merchants Corporation•Fort Wayne, IN

About The Position

First Merchants Bank is seeking a Director, Secondary Market to join our team! This position will provide strategic leadership and oversight for all secondary market and portfolio mortgage activities, including post-closing. Proactively evaluate market conditions, pricing, investor relationships, loan-sale opportunities, and portfolio risks to develop recommendations that support mortgage profitability, competitiveness, operational effectiveness, and the Bank’s overall business objectives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, economics, accounting, management, or a related field
A minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in mortgage secondary marketing, mortgage banking, capital markets, mortgage pricing, loan sales, or a related area.
Demonstrated knowledge of secondary market mortgage operations, including loan pricing, investor relationships, loan-sale execution, mortgage pipeline management, and applicable investor requirements.
Experience analyzing market conditions, interest-rate trends, pricing results, margins, and other business information to identify risks and opportunities.
Demonstrated ability to develop and communicate strategic, data-informed recommendations to senior leadership.
Experience proactively identifying market, pricing, profitability, operational, or investor-related concerns and recommending appropriate solutions.
Strong analytical and financial decision-making skills, with the ability to balance competitiveness, profitability, risk, and organizational objectives.
Demonstrated ability to evaluate business processes, systems, policies, and controls and recommend improvements that support efficiency, consistency, and scalability.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to clearly explain complex mortgage and secondary market information to a variety of audiences.
Demonstrated ability to build effective working relationships with investors, mortgage leadership, business partners, and other stakeholders.
Proficiency with mortgage pricing technology, secondary market systems, and standard business reporting and analytical tools.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute strategies for the Bank’s secondary market and portfolio mortgage activities in alignment with organizational goals.
Proactively monitor economic conditions, interest-rate trends, housing market activity, and other relevant factors that may affect mortgage pricing, loan demand, or profitability.
Analyze secondary market performance and provide timely, data-informed recommendations to mortgage and Bank leadership.
Identify opportunities to improve mortgage pricing, loan-sale execution, profitability, competitiveness, and operational effectiveness.
Evaluate potential risks associated with market changes, investor requirements, pricing decisions, loan delivery, and mortgage pipeline activity.
Recommend strategies to manage interest-rate exposure, pricing risk, investor risk, and other secondary market considerations.
Sell mortgage loans to approved investors in the secondary market.
Develop and maintain productive relationships with investors and evaluate opportunities to expand or improve investor options.
Assess investor pricing, guidelines, service levels, and execution to recommend investor relationships that best support the Bank’s objectives.
Set and communicate daily mortgage interest rates to Mortgage Loan Originators.
Manage and maintain the mortgage pricing engine used to determine loan pricing and profitability, including updating rates in the applicable mortgage system.
Ensure pricing strategies appropriately balance competitiveness, profitability, risk, and organizational objectives.
Monitor mortgage rates, products, and pricing offered by competitors and communicate relevant trends, risks, and opportunities to leadership.
Analyze loan-sale activity, pricing results, margins, investor performance, and relevant secondary market trends.
Develop and present reports, forecasts, recommendations, and other decision-support information to mortgage and Bank leadership.
Anticipate market or business changes and recommend proactive adjustments to pricing, products, processes, investor strategy, or risk controls.
Partner with mortgage leadership and other business areas to support mortgage product development, business planning, and strategic initiatives.
Serve as a subject-matter resource regarding secondary market trends, mortgage pricing, investor requirements, and loan-sale strategies.
Identify opportunities to improve the effectiveness, consistency, and scalability of secondary market processes and technology.
Oversee and recommend updates or improvements to secondary market policies, procedures, systems, and internal controls.
Ensure changes to pricing strategies, investor requirements, policies, or procedures are communicated and implemented effectively.
Ensure applicable Bank policies, investor requirements, regulatory requirements, and internal procedures are consistently followed.