Manager, Underwriting Support

Overview

Lead a growing India-based mortgage operations team of Underwriting Support Specialists, delivering accurate, timely and scalable support across the U.S. residential underwriting lifecycle.

What you'll do

• Lead, coach and develop a team of Underwriting Support Specialists, setting clear expectations and fostering accountability, sound judgment, collaboration and professional growth.
• Own daily team operations, including queue management, workload allocation, staffing coverage and prioritization based on service levels, loan urgency, customer commitments and business priorities.
• Oversee assigned loan-file reviews, documentation and data validation, and workflow activities to ensure accurate, complete, consistent and timely execution.
• Monitor team performance through turnaround time, service-level adherence, productivity, backlog aging, defect rates and rework, and use insights to address gaps and improve results.
• Conduct regular quality reviews and calibration sessions, identify recurring defects, and implement coaching and corrective actions that improve first-pass accuracy and reduce rework.
• Serve as the first point of escalation for support-related issues, resolving matters within assigned authority and promptly routing complex, high-risk, out-of-policy or time-sensitive scenarios to the appropriate Underwriter or functional leader.
• Partner with Underwriting, Processing, Closing, Quality Control, Credit Specialists and other mortgage operations teams to resolve file-level issues, clarify responsibilities and improve handoffs.
• Partner with Underwriting and Enablement leaders to support onboarding, training and readiness assessments, and reinforce consistent application of SOPs, checklists, documentation standards and escalation paths.
• Conduct regular one-on-ones and performance discussions, provide actionable feedback, and support individual development and career growth.
• Maintain and improve team SOPs, checklists, trackers and operating controls in partnership with process owners, ensuring changes are communicated and consistently applied.
• Drive continuous improvement by identifying process gaps and opportunities to simplify workflows, reduce manual effort and improve tools and system usage.
• Lead the team through evolving processes, systems, products and work assignments, and support the controlled introduction of additional underwriting-support activities.
• Ensure accurate system updates and loan-file records, and maintain the confidentiality and privacy of borrower, customer and employee information.

What you'll need

• 5+ years of experience in U.S. residential mortgage underwriting, underwriting support, quality control, loan processing, closing, credit review, fraud review or a related mortgage operations function.
• 1+ year of leadership or management experience.
• Strong knowledge of core residential mortgage documentation, underwriting principles, risk indicators and loan workflows, with an understanding of applicable agency guidelines, regulatory requirements and company policies relevant to assigned support activities.
• Sound judgment within defined authority and escalation requirements.
• Strong people leadership: sets clear expectations, builds trust, provides effective coaching and develops individual contributors.
• Experience managing high-volume operations, balancing team capacity, and delivering against quality, productivity and service-level expectations.
• Ability to use operational metrics and quality findings to identify trends, investigate root causes and implement measurable improvements.
• Analytical judgment to identify documentation inconsistencies, missing information, risk indicators and matters requiring escalation.
• Clear written and verbal communication, translating operational issues into concise, actionable updates for team members and cross-functional partners.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with distributed teams across functions and time zones, and to lead through change and ambiguity.
• Familiarity with Encompass or comparable mortgage workflow systems, and proficiency with Google Workspace or Microsoft Office.
• Comfortable working an office-based night-shift schedule aligned to U.S. business operations, as required.

Nice to have

• Experience leading underwriting-support, mortgage quality-control or related fulfillment teams supporting U.S. Underwriters.
• Experience with Conventional and FHA loan documentation and guidelines; VA familiarity is a plus.
• Experience in FinTech or high-growth mortgage environments where technology and processes evolve frequently.
• Experience leading teams through process changes, system migrations or the adoption of automated tools and loan origination system enhancements.
• Familiarity with Tableau, Highspot or comparable reporting and knowledge-management tools.

Details

• Location: Bengaluru, India (Zillow India office).
• Office position: regularly works at the Zillow India office for approximately 80 to 100 percent of their time each month; must live within a reasonable commuting distance of the office.
• Office-based night-shift schedule aligned to U.S. business operations, as required.