Mortgage Loan Underwriter
About The Position
The Senior Specialist, Mortgage Underwriting evaluates complex mortgage applications to balance credit risk, customer experience, and investor and regulatory requirements. This role leverages advanced underwriting judgment to assess income, assets, collateral, and credit profiles; resolve escalated scenarios; and support process improvements that enable Zillow’s mortgage business to scale responsibly. This role has been categorized as a Remote position. “Remote” employees do not have a permanent corporate office workplace and, instead, work from a physical location of their choice, which must be identified to the Company. U.S. employees may live in any of the 50 United States, with limited exceptions.
Requirements
- A minimum of 8+ years of recent residential mortgage underwriting experience
- Ability to Underwrite mortgage loan files for agency compliance and investor guidelines
- Experience reviewing and evaluating borrower profiles, including income documentation, personal and business tax returns, credit reports, preliminary title reports, and appraisals
- Ability to manage a large pipeline and effectively handle pressure and tight deadlines
Nice To Haves
- Experience underwriting Jumbo loans preferred
- Experience with recent manual underwriting
- Experience in a medium to large size nonbank lender preferred
- Encompass experience preferred.
Responsibilities
- Lead the end-to-end underwriting review for mortgage applications, ensuring accurate analysis of income, assets, liabilities, collateral, and credit.
- Apply investor, insurer, agency, and internal credit policies to render sound credit decisions, clearly documenting conditions, exceptions, and rationale.
- Review and resolve escalated or exception files, partnering with credit policy, capital markets, and compliance teams to balance risk, customer needs, and business objectives.
- Collaborate with mortgage sales, processing, and closing teams to clarify requirements, remove obstacles, and maintain a timely, high‑quality borrower experience.
- Identify trends in underwriting defects, overlays, and repurchase risk, and recommend process or guideline improvements to enhance quality and efficiency.
- Maintain service level and turn‑time standards while managing a high‑volume pipeline without compromising quality.
- Complete accurate, timely documentation in Encompass and respond to audits and post‑closing issues within required timeframes.
- Safeguard borrower confidentiality and stay current on agency/investor guidelines and regulatory or market changes that impact credit decisions.
- Mentor less experienced underwriters by sharing best practices, reviewing complex scenarios, and providing feedback that reinforces consistency and judgment.
- Continuously meet all underwriting departmental goals including but not limited to production, quality, and efficiency.
Benefits
- In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role are eligible for incentive compensation and equity awards.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
